WHAT sounds like a ghoulish pairing comes to The Lowry within the next two weeks.

First comes Frankenstein on Wednesday, followed the following week by The Embalmer.

Frankenstein is Forkbeard Fantasy's own inimitably surreal take on Mary Shelley's Gothic horror novel, featuring the theatre company's mix of cine-magic, cartoon animation and wild mechanical sets.

Frankenstein -- A Truly Monstrous Experiment is conceived, written and performed by Forkbeard Fantasy and runs until Saturday. Tickets from 0161 876 2000.

Ian McDiarmid, former artistic director of the Almeida Opera and associate director at The Royal Exchange, reprises his critically acclaimed comic portrait of a man on the edge for a short UK tour of The Embalmer which comes to The Lowry on Monday, November 25.

The Embalmer was written specially for McDiarmid, renowned for his starring role as the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and Star Wars Episode I and II.

He plays Alexei Miscin, the garrulous drunk in charge of Lenin's preserved body, viewed daily by thousands. While tending the corpse, Miscin delivers a grotesque, bawdy, vitriolic and funny diatribe on the state of his marriage, the country and the body. Italian composer Giorgio Battistelli's score acts as counterpoint and punctuation to the action on stage. Electronics distort the voice, highlighting the changes of mood from trivial to tragic.

Battistelli's music theatre piece was commissioned by and premiered at Almeida Opera in July 2002, where McDiarmid's "theatrical tour de force" was widely admired.