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 helping keep the flame alive is bringing a 160-seat, pop-up theatre to the town centre over the summer, launched with a free welcome weekend this Saturday/Sunday (April 27-28,10am-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 (a 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

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

Joan Littlewood Blackeyed Theatre Company Theatr Clwyd, The Mix April 23-27, 2024, 2 hrs This production is a timely revival to mark 60 years since Joan Littlewood's iconic production, which actually celebrated its 60th anniversary last year - the show has been touring since last September. The original Oh What a Lovely War aimed to capture the futility of warfare in World War I - waged by generals with little clue what they wanted to achieve and how it would affect the millions of volunteer and conscripted soldiers being manipulated by them. "Lions led by donkeys" was the famous phrase. This production did this admirably, yet was less successful in capturing the blind devotion to King and country that saw millions take the King's shilling merely because everyone else was doing so. The cast - Tom Benjamin, Tom Crabtree, Harry Curley, Alice E Mayer, Ghioma Uma and Euan Wilson, each playing multiple roles - is excellent. They are full of energy and enthusiasm and demonstrate copious talent, moving seamlessly from acting to playing various instruments. The team shows great imagination and sensitivity, interacting strongly with the audience. Stand out moments include the rendition of Keep the Home Fires Burning by Gioma Uma, and the ramping-up of tension as the show tells the events of the famed football match in the trenches between opposing forces in 1914. It helps if you have a working knowledge of the events of World War 1. The action is so fast-paced at times that some of it is hard to follow, and while the statistics, cleverly displayed at the entrance to a trench, are shocking, sometimes they are hard to read. The roots of this production lie in the original production, improvised by Littlewood and her famous company Theatre Workshop. The action here captures the not-terribly-subtle satire of the original, with the same clown costumes, make-up and end-of-the-pier-show style that was still popular in the 1960s, and the same nostalgic songs - It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and I Don’t Want to be a Soldier among them - to increase the pathos. Even if you don't pick up every last nuance, this play is an excellent watch, no less effective at highlighting the savagery of war and the seemingly inconsiderate attitudes of the powers that be than it was 60 years ago. It leaves the audience in no doubt about its intentions. More info and tickets here

Know your theatre: Clonter Opera Theatre, Congleton Clonter, sometimes called ‘the Glyndebourne of the North’, is on a working farm in the Cheshire countryside, not far from the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. Clonter began as informal gatherings in a barn, with seating on bales of straw. Today the venue has a 400-seat theatre (though a former hen house is still part of the backstage facilities), and a well-established programme of events. Clonter notably showcases young operatic talent, but also jazz and folk. Front of house now offers sufficient accommodation for the entire audience to enjoy a meal under one roof, either before or part-way through the performance (ordered from the house caterer or your own picnic), which is something even Glyndebourne cannot offer. Expect to meet the Cheshire set in full cry (especially after imbibing during a long interval) as your fellow opera-buffs, but this stage frequently offers future international stars in the making, so it can be worth it... Address: Swettenham Heath, Trap Rd, Congleton CW12 2LR Phone: General inquiries and box office: 01260 224514 (10am-4pm Mon-Fri and performance days). The theatre is large, the building boasting separate rooms of various sizes, allowing it to function as a theatre and for corporate hires and schools use throughout the year. The theatre website offers a range of accommodation choices for long-distance visitors. Disabled visitors are well catered for Facilities: Parking: There is a drop-off point outside the theatre entrance, and free parking. Eight bays close to the main entrance can be reserved for those with reduced mobility. Online box office: Go here if you haven't booked online at Clonter before, or here if you have. You need to open an account for online booking.

Know your theatre: Opened in 1887, the Coliseum was one of the oldest British theatres still operating, and was much loved by its loyal supporters – perhaps more so since its demise in March 2023. Once a circus, in the 1930s it was briefly a cinema before becoming the members-only Oldham Repertory Theatre. It was said to be one of the most haunted theatres in Britain, and a famous stage death occurred there in the 1940s. By the 1950s-60s the resident company helped to form the careers of Coronation Street stars Jean Alexander, Pat Phoenix, Roy Barra-clough, William Roache and local girls Barbara Knox and Anne Kirkbride. In 1978 it became the Arts Council and local authority-supported Oldham Coliseum, offering a mix of professional productions of its own and other touring shows, It was famous for its massively-popular annual pantomime. Plans for a new building were scrapped in late 2018 and the withdrawal of an Arts Council "NPO" grant in late 2022 led to the theatre's closure in March 2023. Plans are supposedly in place for a smaller replacement within three or so years, which might not retain the name. Coliseum Theatre, Oldham (closed Mar '23) Address: Oldham Coliseum Theatre, Fairbottom Street, Oldham OL1 3SW Phone: Facilities: Parking: Some on-street metered parking. Bradshaw Street car park is nearby, with a concessionary rate after 6pm. More information here Online box office:

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