For a musical about a boy band, it is sisterhood that steals the show as the Take That musical comes to The Lowry this January.

MM chat to comedian Justin Moorhouse before his 39-date Northern Joker tour, starting in Salford on January 19, with the Manchester United fan highly likely to be more entertaining than this season’s displays at nearby Old Trafford.

As the bubbly hostess skipped onto the stage complete with reindeer antlers on her head and beamed over the soft play area full of babies, this looked like any other parent and baby event… until the dirty jokes and strong language spilled out.

Adam Rowe hosted an eventful night of comedy with a measured performance that carried a serious message about how he felt his current girlfriend wasn’t “the one”.

“It is an odd thing where you’re doing comedy and getting paid to comment on the collapse of western civilization,” reflects Nish Kumar on his job as a political comedian.

A triumph of comedy borne out of tragedy, Gary Barlow and Tim Firth’s Calendar Girls is the perfect remedy to the dark winter nights approaching.

The sofa in the green room of The Comedy Store is leopard print. It’s a loud vibrant fabric, unashamedly honest. Very much like scouse comedian Adam Rowe.

The National Theatre’s innovative adaptation of Macbeth successfully is reimagining a Shakespeare classic at The Lowry.

Lost Dog’s production of Juliet and Romeo is utterly sublime.

Macbeth is playing at The Lowry, Salford this week as the National Theatre brings one of Shakespeare’s finest works back to life.

If you want to see a farce, there are no companies better than Mischief Theatre.