Friday night is...classic sitcom night

Hancock's Half Hour, Grand Opera House, York, tonight, 7.30pm

RETRO radio sitcom enthusiasts Apollo Theatre Company re-create three episodes from Hancock's Half Hour, transforming the stage into a recording studio with a sound-effects foley artist et al.

James Hurn takes on the guise of "the lad himself", the lugubrious, put-upon Tony Hancock, for three vintage Alan Simpson and Ray Galton episodes, joined by Colin Elmer's Kenneth Williams among others, for this trip down memory lane to23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam.

Absurdist comedy gig of the weekend

John-Luke Roberts, The Basement, City Screen, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

JOHN-LUKE Roberts declares his manifesto of absurdism at the Burning Duck Comedy Club, armed with props, costumes and a blue moustache.

Subjects covered in this comic philosopher's guide to avant-garde comedy include "the 24 lost Spice Girls (Mel A and D-Z), some stuff about pirates and an unearthed Alan Bennett story, A House With Two Loos".

What is the first rule in his manifesto for absurdity? "Life becomes a lot more bearable if you stop expecting things to make sense," says Roberts.

Tribute gig of the weekend

Re-Take That, Grand Opera House, York, Saturday, 7.30pm

RE-TAKE That present Take That Greatest Hits: The Sing-A-Long, a "fully interactive experience created by Take That fans for Take That fans".

The show features "the incredible Robbie Live!", as well as song lyrics on screen "so you can fully immerse yourself into the Take That spectacular and sing, dance and party all night long".

Taking part will be David as Mark, Peter as Howard, Ross as Robbie and Paul as Gary, but there will be an absence of Orange with no-one as ex-member Jason.

Classical concert of the weekend

Yorkshire Bach Choir, St Michael le Belfrey Church, York, Saturday, 7pm

YORKSHIRE Bach Choir and the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists present J S Bach's St Matthew Passion, one of his most ambitious and colourful orchestral scores.

Contrasting the vivid, harrowing drama of the story with Bach's exquisitely poetic and redemptive music, this monumental work will feature two noted interpreters of Bach’s solo work as soloists: Charles Daniels as the Evangelist and Peter Harvey as Christus.

Western of the weekend

Shane (U), City Screen, York, Vintage Sundays season, Sunday, 12.10pm

DIRECTED by George Stevens, this mysterious, moody and atmospheric 1953 rendition of the frontier myth received six Oscar nominations and made Shane one of the classics of American cinema.

The story brings Shane (Alan Ladd), a drifter and retired gunfighter, to the aid of a homestead family terrorised by a wealthy cattleman and his hired gun (Jack Palance). In fighting the last decisive battle, Shane sees the end of his own way of life.