Jacko tribute from fan

Long-time fan Ben Bowman recreates the Michael Jackson experience with a full production show including live band and dancers.

Box office: 0844 871 3018 or www.atgtickets.com

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre is touring a production of Gareth Farr’s Bruntwood Prize winning play Britannia Waves The Rules to a venue in Blackpool next week.

Gareth Farr’s poetic portrait of Carl, a young man adrift in the resort, is an intense account of a journey from Blackpool to Afghanistan.

It begins its tour at the Royal Exchange, Swan Street Studios, tomorrow but on Monday night visits the University Centre in Bennett Avenue, Blackpool.

Farr says: “I want to grab the audience by the scruff of the neck, drag them through the journey and have them leave feeling something strong about the world they’ve just witnessed.”

Luke Roskell makes his Exchange debut in the role of Carl. His credits have included Emmerdale, The Accidental Farmer, Moving On and The Revenge Flies Of Alistair Fury.

The cast is completed by Mandip Gill (Goldie) Fergus O’Donnell (Carl’s Dad/Lieutenant Thompson) and Bryan Parry (Bilko).

Box Office: 01253 290190 or www.leftcoast.org.uk

Remember the sultry bar-room singer from TV series Ally McBeal?

Singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard has just released her 14th album Rookie and brings an extensive UK tour to the region next week.

Harking back to the raw sound of the 70s, sometimes reminiscent of early Aretha Franklin, the songs showcase what someone can do with experience, talent and belief.

She has also recently debuted as a musical stage actress in Randy Newman’s Faust: The Concert.

The closest to home she plays next week is Bury Met arts centre next Friday.

Details: www.vondashepard.com

Multi award-winning theatre company 1927 brings Golem, their highly-visual satirical take on our misuse of technology, to HOME, Manchester’s new venue next week.

Mixing live performance and music with film and animation, Golem follows the life of the extraordinarily ordinary Robert Robertson, whose life is irrevocably disrupted when he buys a golem – a creature who will improve the efficiency of his daily affairs.

Funny, mischievous and eerily relevant to today’s technology-reliant society, Golem is directed and written by Manchester Metropolitan University drama graduate Suzanne Andrade, with film, animation and design by Paul Barritt – who jointly won Best Designer at the 2014 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for the production.

1927’s first new theatre show in four years played in the Main House at the Young Vic last Christmas in a run which was extended due to popular demand, prior to a West End transfer.

Box office: 0161 200 1500 or www.homemcr.org

With its mixture of illusions and trickery, an original musical score and a libretto from acclaimed poet Ian McMillan, a new production of Nosferatu – Dracula to his friends – promises to live in the memory.

Proper Job Theatre uses trademark visual and physical interpretation of the text to create a gripping piece.

The 80-minute production, suitable for those aged 12+, is at the Met in Bury next Wednesday and Thursday, then at Lancaster’s Dukes Theatre October 21 and the Lowry on Salford Quays October 24.