LUDLOW Assembly Rooms has unveiled a cracker of a new brochure, with a great range of music, comedy, drama and live streamed events to take you through the lengthening days to spring.

Laughter comes from a pair of top-notch comedians, as Mark Steel (Have I Got News For You and QI) brings his brand new stand-up show at the end of January, a surprising and enthralling story - "It never really bothered me that I’d never met my mum.

It never occurred to me I needed to meet her to ‘find out who I was’, as it didn’t seem likely I’d discover I was someone different to who I thought I was. But after the birth of my own son, I realised it’s quite an event to have a child..."

Then in March Jethro will be in Ludlow to beguile and befuddle his audience with the endless stream of irreverent twaddle that has created a comedy genius.

Live theatre comes from Vamos Theatre, the UK's leading full mask theatre company, as they present The Best Thing on February 13, a swinging 60s story of unconditional love, a bitter-sweet story of mistaken morals and broken hearts.

Music and dance are well represented with Showaddywaddy, a band with more than 20 top 40 singles to their name, and The James Brothers, who are not really outlaws, neither are they brothers and only one of them is called James.

They come from the lands down under where the traditional songs and tunes of the British Isles have evolved their own unique characteristics. And it’s these songs and tunes, which The James Brothers have united to play.

On March 24, Sonia Sabri presents her company's latest stunning creation, Salaam, meaning ‘peace’. This double-bill programme cleverly weaves a dialogue between live music and Kathak dance, celebrating harmony, inner stillness and the simple bliss of being alive.

And one of the greats of modern theatre, Simon Callow, will be on stage to talk about Orson Welles, one of the most complex artists of the 20th century.

Live streamed events include drama - with an encore screening of Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet, the Donmar Warehouse's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses starring Michelle Dockery, Janet McTeer and Dominic West and Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company's The Winter's Tale starring Dame Judi Dench. Streamed opera and dance includes Boris Godunov, La Traviata, Matthew Bourne's The Car Man and Giselle from the Royal Opera House.

The new season also offers the opportunity to take a journey into Florence, the city that was the cradle of the Italian Renaissance, through the most beautiful and representative works of art from the period by Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Raphael, Leonardo and Botticelli, as The Uffizi Gallery, which will be brought back to life after several years of restoration is unveiled in a worldwide exclusive premiere on the big screen on Thursday, January 21.

For full programme details and to book, visit ludlowassemblyrooms.co.uk or call the box office on 01584 878141.