With Christmas round the corner, the big openings are coming thick and fast. Noises Off at the Old Vic is the latest in a long line of high-quality farces. Also, Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker is revived at Sadler’s Wells, Dame Edna made her panto bow in Wimbledon, while Christopher Biggins held court in Cardiff. If you’re in the mood for something a little less camp, Simon Callow is starring in his one-man Christmas Carol at London’s Arts Theatre
Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
Having joined the paper from the Times back in 1971, Britain’s longest-serving theatre critic, the Guardian’s Michael Billington, celebrated 40 years in the saddle this week, with a five-star review (of Noises Off) and a series of tributes from the likes of Ken Dodd, Peter Hall and Elaine Paige. Yesterday he also engaged in a live web chat to answer readers’ questions. Here’s to another 40 Photograph: Garry Weaser
Billington isn’t the only silver fox in the news this week. George Clooney has announced he will be appearing on stage in 8, a new play by Dustin Lance Black, who is best known for writing the Oscar-winning film Milk. Black’s play re-enacts the legal drama behind the court case that ended up overturning the Proposition 8 gay marriage ban in California. Clooney will appear in a one-off gala performance of the production in March at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles
Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/EPA
Another re-enactment of real-life events, but this time from this side of the Atlantic. The Riots was the Tricycle Theatre’s rapid response to the violence that erupted across London during the summer. There was news this week that the show will now transfer to the Bernie Grant Arts Centre just off the Tottenham High Road, the epicentre of August’s events. The production, which is based on accounts by those who witnessed and took part in the violence, will open at its new home on 4 January 2012
Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian
Jerry Seinfeld’s appearance at the O2 Arena in London in June was one of the year’s comedy highlights, marking the first time the US standup had performed on these shores in more than a decade. Now, there’s good news for fans based outside the M25: he’ll be performing gigs in Birmingham and Manchester in May next year Photograph: Newspix/Rex Features
This week also saw the latest twist in the ongoing saga pitting animal welfare groups against the circus world. The RSPCA, the Captive Animals’ Protection Society and the Born Free Foundation were among seven organisations boycotting meetings with the government to discuss how best to license wild animals in circuses. The groups claim that the animals shouldn’t be allowed to perform at all and want the government to implement an outright ban, as is currently happening in Germany Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Carlos Acosta, the Cuban ballet dancer, choreographer and all-round Latin heart-throb, has added another string to his already well-strung bow this week. Having penned an autobiography in 2007, Acosta is now writing a novel. No word yet on a title, but there’s a brief plot outline – it’s set in Cuba and spans the island’s history from the 19th century through the revolution to the modern day. It will be published in 2013. Some people are just sickeningly talented, aren’t they? Photograph: Johan Persson
