Into The Woods, Manchester
Does happily ever after come at a price? It does in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical, an adult fairytale that offers a stark warning that you should be very careful what you wish for because there could be consequences. Big consequences, like a slaughtered giant’s wife seeking vengeance. Cleverly weaving the classic likes of Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella into a central narrative about a baker and his wife who long for a child, this is a musical in two parts – where the actions of the first half come home to roost in the second, far darker section. The Exchange’s associate artistic director Matthew Xia is in charge.
Royal Exchange Theatre, Fri to 16 Jan
LG
A Christmas Carol, London
The National Theatre Of Brent was a comedy double act founded by Patrick Barlow, in which he performed with a series of stooges – and at one point his assistant was Jim Broadbent. The latter went on to major film fame (Iris, The Iron Lady), while Barlow has carried on as an actor and writer. He penned the wacky adaptation of The 39 Steps, which only recently closed at the Criterion Theatre after eight years; a version of Ben Hur, which is at the Tricycle to 9 Jan; and now A Christmas Carol, in which Broadbent stars as Scrooge. Phelim McDermott directs a cast that includes Scott & Bailey’s Amelia Bullmore and double Olivier winner Samantha Spiro, who’s currently in BBC2’s excellent London Spy with Broadbent too.
Noël Coward Theatre, WC2, Mon to 30 Jan
MC
Inkheart, Manchester
The idea that the characters of stories can come alive from the pages of a book is not a new one, but it is given a sinister twist in Cornelia Funke’s novel, which has been transposed to the stage by director Walter Meierjohann and playwright Stephen Sharkey. Meggie’s father Mo hasn’t read to her since her mother mysteriously disappeared many years ago, and with good reason: when Mo reads aloud, the characters burst out of the pages into real life – and there is a price to pay. A celebration of the pleasures of reading and the dangers of getting really lost in a book, Meierjohann’s production has already been a big hit in Germany and it should offer UK audiences a seasonal treat with a difference.
Home, Fri to 9 Jan
LG
Hapgood, London
After a new offering from David Hare, Hampstead Theatre follows up with another titan of the UK stage, Tom Stoppard – although Hapgood is a revived work from 1988. A kind of thriller, originally starring Felicity Kendal as a spy chief, it fared better in New York in 1994 than here, so it should be interesting to see how this new production – starring Lisa Dillon and directed by Howard Davies – fares, particularly given the huge changes in the surveillance world now. Being Stoppard, the piece also flirts with quantum mechanics, the theory of light, the duality of nature, and a set of twins, while focusing on the central character as she tries to deal with parenthood as well as deeds of treachery and betrayal.
Hampstead Theatre, NW3, Fri to 16 Jan
MC
Rapunzel, Glasgow
In most versions of Rapunzel, the girl has been taken by a witch in revenge for a theft from her garden while the mother was pregnant and suffering cravings. In Annie Siddons’s version, originally produced by Kneehigh, she is an abandoned child who is adopted by a wise woman. But even the wise can be foolish when it comes to children, and as Rapunzel – and her hair – grows and both become more unruly, the woman becomes wildly over-protective and refuses to allow the girl to grow into independence. So Rapunzel has to take desperate measures and a prince just isn’t enough; she needs the help of a wild pig, too. It’s certainly an original take, and it should be a pretty riotous one in the hands of Lu Kemp, who also directed the adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish.
Citizens Theatre, Sat to 3 Jan
LG
The Night That Autumn Turned To Winter, Bristol
Little Bulb is a company that can charm the socks off any audience – adult or very young – and it has already produced an utterly endearing show for small children with 2013’s Antarctica, which featured the world’s most lovable penguins. In this partially hand-knitted production, look out for lots of British wildlife including mice, foxes and hares as Little Bulb takes young audiences by the hand and leads them into the forest, where the woodland creatures are getting ready for the cold winter ahead. Songs, puppets, Little Bulb’s delightful DIY aesthetic and a touch of snow will transform the Old Vic studio into a magical winter wonderland for a show that should warm every heart.
Bristol Old Vic, to 10 Jan
LG
