The Dukes award-winning outdoor walkabout theatre show returns to Lancaster’s Williamson Park (July 19-August 25), with a new version of Alice In Wonderland. Set against the backdrop of the spectacular park, which has views out across Morecambe Bay, the annual summer show is for audiences of all ages, and follows Alice through the park landscape, through a topsy-turvy wonderland featuring the mischievous Cheshire Cat, tyrannical Queen of Hearts and the rest of the Wonderland characters. The Dukes' new CEO, Chris Lawson (formerly artistic director and CEO of Oldham Coliseum), said: “We have a fantastic creative team working on this production and we're excited to present what will be a show full of fantastic family fun. "This will be my first time working with the Dukes team on the Play in the Park, but I'm excited to see what we create. These shows always sell fast!" More info and tickets here

Opera North and Leeds Playhouse's "loverly" cast for their production of classic musical My Fair Lady will be headed by John Hopkins (Masters Of The Air, Poldark, Midsummer Murders) as Professor Henry Higgins and soprano Katie Bird as Eliza Dolittle. Katie steps up from Opera North’s acclaimed chorus to sing some of the most popular songs in musical theatre, including Wouldn’t It Be Loverly? and I Could Have Danced All Night. The much-anticipated revival is at the Playhouse from May 31-June 29. James Brining, Playhouse artistic director and director of My Fair Lady, said: "I'm delighted with the talent we have brought together to retell this well-loved story. Our collaboration with Opera North should be a sumptuous feast for the senses." The musical follows Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform Eliza into his idea of a “proper lady”. But who is really being transformed? The production features the chorus and orchestra of Opera North, with additional guest artists performing classic songs including Get Me to the Church on Time, On the Street Where You Live and I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face. Recent musical theatre collaborations between Leeds Playhouse and Opera North include critically-acclaimed revivals of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods (2016) and A Little Night Music (2021/22).

While the future of a permanent theatre building for Oldham continues to be debated - will it be a new building, or will the original historic Oldham Coliseum in Fairbottom Street be rescued? - the team keeping the flame alive is bringing a 160-seat, pop-up theatre to the town centre from April 27-28, with a free welcome weekend (10am-4pm, both days). Coliseum at the Roundabout, in the car park of the town centre's Queen Elizabeth Hall, will be home to a variety of live events and an artistic programme focusing on work made in Oldham. Free events this weekend include a drumming workshop, Mr Bubbles and a beatshop workshop. Over the coming months there will be opportunities for local community groups to use the space. Exisiting Coliseum groups, including Full Circle for the over 50s, Culture and Chips (an open group for discussions about arts and culture), and Roma Connections Ia project for Roma women), will also meet there. Cultivate, the Coliseum's week-long festival for anyone keen to get into the different areas of theatre, will be held and local theatremakers will be given a small budget to develop and showcase their work through Crafted at the Coliseum. August will see the return of the Khushi Festival. Named after the Urdu word for happiness, Khushi is an annual festival showcasing work by Oldham’s South Asian communities. More info 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