Patrick shoots from the lip on Valentine’s

UCLan’s Confucius Institute marks the event with authentic Chinese entertainment for all the family from China’s Chengdu nationalities and artistic troupes.

It features performances from four different nationalities within the country Han, Yi, Tibetan and Qiang and covers a range of performing arts, including dance, song, music and acrobatics. 
Exotic costumes, folk instruments, and dancing - that includes Tibetan tap - combine to give a unique flavour of a huge but remote corner of China. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province, twice the size of the UK, and with double the population. 
One of several highlights of the show will be the “face changing” performance with rapid switching of masks. 
The Chengdu Nationalities Troupe’s performance of Many Blessings Fill Your World was featured at the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games and closes this performance. Box office: 0844 844 7714 or www.prestonguildhall.com

Preston’s Guild Hall Foyer, beneath the Great Hall, has been a proving ground for several comedians over the years. 
Dylan Moran and Russell Kane are among those whose acts have worked well in the more intimate surrounds. 
Next Thursday Patrick Monahan will be hoping to repeat the effect when he brings his Shooting the Lip tour to town – on Valentine’s Day. 
The stand-up from Teesside has already enjoyed TV and award success. As well as winning the ITV1 series Show Me The Funny, which led to the release of a debut DVD, Patrick Monahan Live, he was in The Wrestling which won an Edinburgh 2011 Fringe First Award. He also won Best Newcomer at the 2012 Loaded LAFTA Awards last February and took part in Let’s Dance For Sports Relief on BBC1 in March. Renowned for his anecdotes, he was brought up in Middlesbrough by an Iranian mother and Irish dad, so his heritage features in his act. 
Box office: 0844 844 7714 or www.prestonguildhall.com

Youth dance groups across Lancashire have until February 17 to enter this summer’s Lancashire Youth Dance Festival at The Dukes in Lancaster in May.

The two-day event on May 17-18 is presented by Ludus Dance and The Dukes for youth dance groups aged 11-19 and living in the county. It offers the chance to perform and take part in a range of dance and theatre workshops.

Details: www.ludusdance.org/youth-dance

Comedian Alex Horne, star and co-creator of BBC Four comedy quiz show We Need Answers is at the Platform in Morecambe next Friday.

Horne has established a reputation among critics, comedians and audiences as an original stand-up, writer and solo performer. He recently chaired Never Mind The Buzzcocks on BBC 2. His touring show Seven Years In The Bathroom is a “stat-based fun-packed thought-provoking experimental-and-sometimes-stupid comedy show” in which Alex aims to recreate your entire life! Box office: 01524 582803 or www.lancaster.gov.uk

Memories of Morecambe, Lancaster and the surrounding area will be stirred when the North West Film Archive returns to The Dukes on Tuesday evening.

Lancashire on Film is a cinematic journey down memory lane, featuring footage from 1914-1978. The oldest film shows Morecambe Volunteers as they prepare to go to war in 1914. A group of women are seen unloading blankets outside Lancaster Art School and the 5th King’s Own Lancaster Territorial Army mobilise at Bowerham Barracks before leaving for Castle Station. The 40s finds films of holidaymakers at Heysham Head and Morecambe while a major moment of local and national history – the opening of the Preston and Lancaster motorways – in 1959 is also featured in the film show as well as a documentary on a shrimp fisherman in Morecambe Bay made in 1978. Box office: 01524 598500 or www.dukes-lancaster.org.