Anna Jin reviews Cabaret at the Palace Theatre, starring John Partridge, Kara Lily Hayworth and Anita Harris

Words Weekend is a festival taking place at the Lowry next month, featuring speakers such as Bob Geldof, KBE, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, OBE, Anne Reid, MBE and Derek Jacobi, CBE

Tara Bharadia reviews A Monster Calls, which is based on the novel of the same name and was also adapted into a film, at the Lowry

Cora Grim reviews the University of Manchester Women Theatre’s Society’s The Reanimating Project

Theatre Editor Jay Darcy and Claudia Langley interview Melanie Blake, ahead of the tour of the stage adaptation of her best-selling novel, The Thunder Girls

Francesca McClimont attends the press event for Bourgeois and Maurice’s first musical, Insane Animals, which also stars Lockie Chapman from The Overtones

Kayleigh Crawford reviews Gecko and Mind the Gap’s Space at HOME

Theatre Editor Jay Darcy attends the Back to the Future press junket at The Ivy

Anna Jin reviews Hope Mill Theatre’s Welcome to Shangri-La, written by BAFTA Break-through Gemma Langford

Francesca McClimont argues why fans of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights will enjoy the Royal Exchange Theatre’s modern adaptation

Scarlett Gorman reviews UMDS’ An Intervention, which was performed at John Thaw Studio as part of the MIFTAs

Manchester Jewish Museum’s Festival of Belonging runs for a week in March at various venues across Manchester

Alexia Pieretti reviews An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at the King’s Arms as part of MIFTA

Anna Jin interviews Gabriel Clark from the Manchester theatre company SwitchMCR ahead of their show We Won’t Fall

Zorro the Musical, which is inspired by the Isabel Allende novel and has music by the Gipsy Kings, opens at Hope Mill Theatre next month, starring Blue’s Antony Costa

Theatre Editor Jay Darcy interviews 6 x Grammy winner Glen Ballard, 2 x Grammy and 2 x Emmy winner Alan Silvestri, and Bob Gale, the co-writer of Back to the Future

Rosemary Russett reviews Ad Infinitum’s Extraordinary Wall of Silence at HOME

Urussa Malik reviews The Runway at the Martin Harris Centre