YOUNG thespians go in search of the final frontier as they take their audience to a far off galaxy.

The Mid Cheshire Amateur Operatic Society Juniors head into space in their new production Dazzle.

Audience members will be invited aboard the Starship Sunburster 1 as it prepares to take off on the journey of a lifetime.

The Star Trek parody charts the maiden voyage of dashingly handsome Captain Sam Galactic (Tom Lightfoot) and his crew.

Directed by Adrian Billinge, the show is packed full of cosmic songs, live video links and lunar lighting.

The Juniors began performing Dazzle at Oakwood Lane Theatre, Barnton, last night, Tuesday and shows continue until Saturday at 7.30pm.

Tickets, priced from £6 to £8, are available by calling the box office on 01606 871233.

n A WORLD premiere of a new play by British playwright Edward Bond will be performed at Chester Gateway this autumn.

Bond's work provokes strong reactions, ranging from vilification to claims he is the planet's greatest living dramatist.

Better known on mainland Europe than he is in his native country, he has now chosen to present Arcade, a new play for Cheshire Youth Theatre, from September 21 to 23. For tickets, call the Chester Gateway box office on 01244 340392.

n STARS of the small screen and stage will unite to perform at a special concert in Manchester next month.

Soap actors and faces from West End theatre shows will perform songs from the nation's favourite musicals in A Night Of Stars 2 on August 13.

All proceeds from the show at the Palace Theatre in Manchester will go to a fund to build an orphanage in an area of Thailand devastated by the tsunami and also to children's charities in Greater Manchester.

Last year's show A Night Of Stars raised more than £35,000 for The Louise Willgrass Tsunami Fund for an orphanage in Phuket.

Tickets, priced £18 and £20, are available from the Palace Theatre box office on 0870 401 3000.

n DIRECT from its run at the National Theatre, a chilling, tropical thriller where no one is quite who they seem unfolds at Liverpool's Everyman theatre.

Set in 1994, The Overwhelming follows an American family arriving in Rwanda to find themselves out of their depth.

Struggling academic Jack Exley makes enemies when he tries to solve a mysterious disappearance while his teenage son finds grown up trouble in Kigali's nightclubs.

And his ambitious new wife goes on a sightseeing trip that not even her Detroit childhood can prepare her for.

The Overwhelming plays from September 26 to 30 and tickets, priced between £8 and £17.50, can be booked by ringing 0151 709 4776.

n A THEATRICAL production by one of America's greatest playwrights is staged at the Playhouse in Liverpool next month.

Arthur Miller's All My Sons tells the story of an all American family from a good neighbourhood trying to do their best in life until a shameful secret crashes through their white picket fence.

Considered to be one of the greatest plays of the 20th century, this tender and emotional portrayal of family life unfolds at the Playhouse from September 15 to October 7.

Tickets, priced between £8 and £18, can be booked by ringing 0151 709 4776.

n A SLICK production courtesy of Vale Royal Juniors kicks off at the Harlequin Theatre in Northwich tonight, Wednesday.

Kicking off the 10th Guardian Rose Bowl Awards season, the Winsford group will perform Gel, a musical that centres on a youth club drama group and their struggles against a gang of local bullies.

They arrive at rehearsals one night to find the set for their new production has been totally trashed, which is when they decide enough is enough and undertake kung fu tuition to take on the bullies.

Things take a dramatic turn one night when the two groups come head to head with surprising consequences.

Tickets for the show, which plays from 7.30pm tonight, Wednesday, and tomorrow, Thursday, are £4 and can be booked by ringing 01606 833080.