PARENTS will be enjoying plenty of drama and theatrics with their children this half-term!

Theatres in Bolton and across the region will be staging shows to entertain the whole family over the holiday break.

One of the world's best loved nursery rhymes, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly will be brought to life at The Albert Halls in Bolton on Friday, May 31.

First written as a song in 1953, and then adapted into a best-selling book by Pam Adams a few years later.

And to celebrate its 45th anniversary, popular children’s author Steven Lee, writer of ‘Don't Dribble On The Dragon’, has turned ‘An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly’ into a magical musical stage show.

The production is a perfect family treat with a feast of games, colourful animal characters and heart-warming fun.

Songs such as ‘You're Happy and You Know It’ and ‘Incy Wincy Spider’ will get everyone wanting to join in and sing along.

To book tickets for the show at 2.30pm, call 0843 208 0500 or visit www.alberthalls-bolton.co.uk.

The show is suitable for anyone aged over two and tickets are £11.25.

CBBC stars Sam and Mark of Big Friday, Wind-up and Copycats are taking to the road to come to Bury with a brand new live show.

The double BAFTA award winning duo will be entertaining audiences with an hour of entertainment, jam packed with sketches, jokes and games in a show full of fun and laughs for all the family to enjoy together.

Mark said: "Its family show full of comedy sketches and games. Everyone who comes to the theatre is going to be involved in the show, which I think is what we do best. We love mingling with the audience. It’s going to be a fast-paced show ­— and audiences can be the stars of the show!"

Sam added: "I think anyone who enjoys what we do on telly, especially Big Friday Wind Up, will enjoy this show. It’s basically that show brought to the stage."

He said: "Well whenever we do live shows, we like the audience to be our contestants. It’s basically a big, fun, family game show that you’re taking part in. For a fantastic gameshow, you need good contestant­— so we will be asking our audience to take that part, which is always quite scary because on a TV show, it’s usually people who have been researched by our lovely research team who have done all the hard work, whereas we’re just going out into the audience."

Said Mark: "We’re just going to pick people ­— it’s a bit of guess work, which is exciting in itself because you don’t know who you’re going to get, and every show will be different.

Sam: "Whenever we’ve done shows at festivals and holiday parks, and obviously you get a lot of parents who just want to sit and watch the show, but the kid gets them up out of their seat to join in, so hopefully that will happen here as well.

They both say they are excited about coming to Bury.

Sam said: "Very… Bury excited. Sorry I was trying to do a very/Bury thing but it’s not working out! Yeah, we are excited. It’s the first time we’ve ever taken our own show out on tour, so it’s a bit nerve-wracking. We’re asking people to buy tickets to come see us, which is scary.

"Never been to The Met! I’m excited to see it, actually because basically we’re going to a lot of art centres and things and they’re always really lovely places and we’ve got a friend who, as soon as we said we were performing at Bury said “that’s my local” and told us it’s really nice, so we’re looking forward to seeing it."

Mark: "It’s a family friendly show, kids and parents are the stars of the show, so come on down and get involved. It’s going to be great!

"Our show on the 30th May at The Met – it’s really interesting and really exciting! But afterwards, we might get a spot to eat somewhere ­—though I don’t know where the best places are to go!

Sam: "It would be nice if people on social media could let us know where to go."

For tickets for Sam and Mark Live visit www.themet.org.uk or ring 0161 761 2216

Manchester Opera House presents the popular children's fairytale Sleeping Beauty as the popular My First Ballet series for children as young as three.

Antonio Castilla, Choreographer of My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, said: "The ballet version of the fairy-tale feature well-known characters from other stories, including Little Red Riding Hood and Puss in Boots, who the prince helps and befriends on his journey to find his true love.”

Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, added: “Our My First Ballet series is a fantastic way of introducing new audiences to ballet. This series allows us to present popular ballets in which the choreography, music and narrative are condensed, but the ballet itself is not compromised. Now in our eighth year of the series, I look forward to sharing this new version of Sleeping Beauty with young audiences across the country, and I hope they leave the theatre feeling entertained, inspired and in love with our art form.”

The ballet will take to the stage on May 25 and 26. For tickets ring 08448713018.