Strictly Come Dancing star Johannes Radebe is to star in a new UK tour of musical Kinky Boots next year. Nothern dates so far announced are Manchester Palace (February 4-8); Newcastle Theatre Royal (May 6-10); Leeds Grand (May 20-24) and Liverpool Empire (July 8-12). With a score by Cyndi Lauper and book by Harvey Fierstein, the show has been a Broadway and West End hit, based on a true story and the movie of the same name. After inheriting his family's failing shoe factory and with a relationship on the rocks, life is proving difficult for Charlie Price – until he meets Lola, a drag queen whose sparkle and unsteady heels might just hold the answer to saving the struggling business. South African born Johannes toured the world in the international dance show Burn The Floor before being head-hunted for Strictly Come Dancing. In 2021 he and his celebrity partner John Waite were the first all-male partnership on the show. His debut solo UK tour Freedom and follow up show Freedom Unleashed sold out across the UK, and he is currently on tour with this third show: House of Jojo. More info and tickets here

Independent theatre company Dangerous To Know takes hard-hitting, award-winning play On Me to Waterside Arts in Sale, Manchester (May 2) and Bolton Library (May 16-17). The play, by Manchester-based writer and actor Caroline Lamb, deals with sexual abuse, rape and the victimsation of women, whose fear and experiences can often be severely traumatising. Actors Shona and Christian have just started working together on a true-crime docudrama. Christian plays a cruel abuser-turned-killer and Shona his survivor. As filming progresses, their feelings for each other grow – along with fear, self-doubt, frustration and a creeping sense of danger. Two years ago the play received an Off West End OFFfest award, as well being shortlisted at the Greater Manchester Fringe awards for Best Drama and the Write for the Stage prize for new writing. The Waterside evening starts with the play, which will run for an hour, to be followed by a panel discussion featuring members of the creative team, workers from local charities and academics who helped to develop GMCA 's gender-based-violence strategy. Representatives of the Trafford Domestic Abuse Service and Trafford Rape Crisis will be present to help audience members who may be affected by the themes of the play. The evening is suitable for those aged 15 and over. More info and tickets here

The Royal Exchange Theatre's pop up sibling The Den returns to Stalybridge Civic Hall next spring for a second community festival, to build on the success of its first visit in 2019. Working closely with Tameside Council, schools, groups, organisations and residents across Tameside, the partnerships aim to build on local initiatives - such as the Dukinfield Craft Cafe with Jigsaw Homes - that arose from the previous festival. The Royal Exchange is working with a Hyde-based theatre maker and filmmaker and also runs programmes to expand skills offstage too.. Royal Exchange director of engagement Inga Hirst said: “We are excited to bring together a new group of local Exchange Ambassadors, who will help us find out what Tameside residents want and need to bring people together to make it a reality." Tameside Council assistant executive member for culture, heritage and digital inclusivity Councillor Sangita Patel, said: “This is fabulous news for Stalybridge and Tameside and a wonderful opportunity for local people to get more involved in the arts and enjoy the performances, workshops and activities that will form a part of the prestigious project." Tameside residents keen to find out more or get involved can find out more here.

Know your theatre: Theatre architect Frank Matcham's masterpiece sits on a windy street back from the prom, on an awkward corner site that was once a circus. Built between December 1893 and July 1894 at a cost of £20,000, today it is known as "Matcham’s masterpiece", a glorious, Grade II* listed, 1,100-seater four-level wonder of ornate gilded plasterwork. The Grand is one of several Matcham masterpieces, but for Blackpool he was asked to design “the prettiest theatre in the land”. There might be arguments about that (Matcham's Buxton Opera House anyone?), but as well as being beautiful it had innovations such as cantilevered tiers, which needed fewer pillars and offered unobstructed views. The theatre had been successful until the 1930s, but then faced competition from talking pictures. Outside summer seasons it also had to operate as a cinema. The vast, nearby Opera House in 1938, and later the arrival of TV, put the theatre into financial decline. Popular summer farces in the 50s and 60s couldn’t sustain it year-round, but thanks to Jeffrey Finestone of the Victorian Society, it was listed as Grade II* in 1972 and demolition plans proposed months later were rejected. After tortuous negotiations and time as a bingo hall, the Friends of the Grand, with Blackpool Council, bought the theatre in 1980 and it reopened with an Old Vic performance of The Merchant of Venice , with Timothy West and Prunella Scales. Vast amounts of fund-raising have produced a couple of major restorations since then, and the "Glorious Grand" is now the UK’s National Theatre of Variety, and Lancashire’s top touring-show theatre. Grand Theatre, Blackpool Address: 33 Church Street, Blackpool, FY1 1HT Phone: Box office 01253 290190. Theatre administration: 01253 290111 Facilities: As a late-Victorian theatre in a busy town, the Grand has the usual run of bars and a place for coffee and light snacks (Matcham Court Bar), but no restaurant. The theatre has relationships with a number of nearby chain restaurants, which sometimes offer deals on food for theatregoers. The theatre has baby-changing facilities and disabled loos (rear stalls). Assistance dogs are welcome. Parking: Online box office: The nearest car park to the Grand is West Street car park. The theatre offers a special parking ticket at this site only (£2.50, 5.30pm-12.30am, which is car park closing time), available only with a show ticket. Tickets can be purchased at the time of booking or on the evening at the box office. Go here and follow the booking route to your show choice

Know your theatre: Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool The Royal Court is the largest producing theatre in the Liverpool City Region, an historic art deco Grade II listed building, extensively modernised and refreshed. The theatre has developed its own unique style, producing eight plays a year, mostly comedies and musicals with a Liverpool theme, and a largely local cast and crew. Pre-show dining, cabaret-style stalls seating and a range of drinks are served before and after the show – a feature of a night out at the Court. The site has been at the heart of Liverpool culture for nearly 200 years, first as Cookes New Circus in 1826, renamed the Royal Court Theatre in 1881 but destroyed by fire in 1933. Rebuilt as an art deco showpiece, it reopened in 1938, with exemplary acoustics and sightlines and the largest revolve outside London. Astaire, Gielgud, Richardson, Olivier, Yul Brynner, Margot Fonteyn and Ken Dodd all appeared here; Judi Dench made her acting debut here in 1957 and is a patron of the theatre trust, having supported the £12m restoration campaign that over the past decade has created new foyer space, provided lifts to all parts, a 150-seat basement venue and new technical facilities, bars and toilets. Further improvements are still in the works. Address: 1 Roe Street, Liverpool, L1 1HL Phone: General inquiries: 0151 702 5890. Box office: 0151 709 4321 ​ ​ As we suggested above, a main feature of the 1,100-seat Royal Court is its auditorium layout. There are traditional seating rows in the circle and balcony, but cabaret-style seating in the stalls, at which meals are served for many of the shows (arrive an hour early minimum if you have ordered such). The Royal Court prides itself on its friendliness and social atmosphere, and apart from its local approach to theatre runs several groups, including a community choir, a playwriting group and even a gardening group to keep theatre planting tidy. There are extensive youth attractions too, including a youth theatre company. Facilities: Parking: Nearest parking is St Johns Shopping Centre car park which is £5.00 after 6pm for up to six hours. If not travelling by car, the theatre is close to Lime Street station and next to the Queen Square bus station. Timetables can be found here Online box office: Tickets can be bought online by finding the show here and following the links ​

Know your theatre: Contact Theatre, Manchester The most unusual-looking theatre building you’ll ever come across, Contact has undergone more radical changes of direction than your average performing arts organisation. Built as the performance space for Manchester University Drama Department, it was briefly used by the ‘69 Theatre Company before that became the Royal Exchange Theatre Company. In 1972 the building became home to the Manchester Young People’s Theatre, aka Contact, a sadly now little-remembered repertory company under the likes of Richard Williams, that presented many of Alan Bleasdale’s stage successes and gave young actors such as Mark Rylance and Rick Mayall early roles. The set-up later changed again to take Contact back to its young people's theatre roots, and a rebuild in 1999 produced the highly-distinctive current ventilation chimneys. Now fully open again after a £6.5m re-vamp in 2020, the emphasis is even more on young people doing it for themselves. Contact’s aim is to enable young people to change their lives through the arts as well as enabling audiences of all ages to experience new shows. Contact is the leading national theatre and arts venue to place young people at the decision-making heart of everything. Young people aged 13-30 lead the organisation, working alongside staff in deciding the artistic programme, making staff appointments and acting as full board members. Pic: Joel Chester Fildes Address: Contact Theatre, Devas Street, Oxford Road, Manchester M15 6JA Phone: Box office 0161 274 0600 (Mon-Fri 10am-5pm), General inquiries 0161 274 0646. Facilities: This fascinating - not to say quirky - architectural edifice near the university has a main 320-seat auditorium (Space 1) and an 80-seat studio. The redevelopment has produced new performance spaces, a new recording studio, an arts and health development space, new offices for organisations to hire and a new café/bar. The work also contributed to the building's emphasis on sustainable development: Contact is reckoned to be in the top one per cent of the North West's most environmentally-friendly buildings. Parking: Contact doesn't have its own parking, but visitors can use the university car park, which is directly outside and subject to charges. Online box office: Go here and follow the booking route to your show choice