A new season of quality entertainment at Beetham's Heron Theatre starts tonight (Friday, 7.30pm) and tomorrow, with Shakespeare's Other Anne.

The play is a lively chronicle of William Shakespeare's early years laced with some of the Bard's best-loved sonnets and speeches leading up to his marriage to Anne Hathaway.

The Heron is transformed into the backstage of London's Globe Theatre in 1603, as Will Shakespeare (played by Richard Derrington) comes to terms with the death of Elizabeth I and the impact it could have on his beloved playhouse.

Following on in the Heron programme is Secretive Syria on Friday, February 13 (7.30pm) - a screen presentation by Stephen Greenwood covering the period of the Souks of Aleppo to the aftermath of the Crusaders. And concluding February's events (Friday and Saturday, February 27/28) is the excellent NTC theatre company staging the dramatic and enthralling play set in the North East of the 1930s, The Stars Look Down, by A.J. Cronin, and Stewart Howson's sailing holiday comedy Quay Moments. Tickets are available at the Heron box office between 10am-1pm Tuesdays and Fridays or on 015395-64283.

BIG band music fans will be delighted to hear the Glenn Miller Orchestra is heading back to the Coronation Hall for a concert in aid Barrow and Districts Society for the Blind on Sunday, February 14 (7.30pm).

With Ray McVay at the musical helm, unforgettable and timeless tunes such as A String of Pearls, In The Mood and Pennsylvania 65000 will ring out across the Ulverston venue joined by singers Colin Anthony, Jan Messeder and the Moonlight Serenaders. Tickets are available from the Blind Shop, Cavendish Street, Barrow (01229-820698) and the Coro box office on 01229-587140.

NATURAL surfaces are the theme behind the latest exhibition running at the Brewery. Mixed media drawings and gouache paintings by Sophie Henderson and the figurative works of Catherine MacDiarmid grace the walls of the Kendal art centre's Sugar Store Gallery until March 7. Preface is a terrific taster for the artists' second joint and much bigger show Face2, bound for the Brewery's Warehouse Gallery in July, before taking off and touring nationally. For further details contact 01539-725133. Pictures and words next week.