Seasonal Highlights, London
If it’s traditional panto with a twist you’re after, then make for the Hackney Empire, E8, for Mother Goose (to 4 Jan), where once again the doyenne of dames Clive Rowe dons the drag. Fancy some sleb action? Head down to the New Wimbledon Theatre (SW19, to 11 Jan), where Linda Gray – Dallas’s “Swellen” – sparkles up for Cinderella, or to Richmond Theatre (to 11 Jan), where Jerry Hall will be bringing glamour and cheekbones to the Wicked Queen in Snow White. Wondrous offerings for children include Lionboy, staged by the excellent Complicite, at the Tricycle Theatre (NW6, to 10 Jan). Based on the novels by mother-and-daughter team Zizou Corder, it tells of a boy who can speak to cats and has to rescue his kidnapped parents with the help of a pride of performing lions. Philip Pullman has adapted traditional stories for Grimm Tales For Young And Old, an immersive experience that plays at Oxo Tower Wharf’s Bargehouse (SE1, to 15 Feb). Finally, it’s not a Christmas show but will no doubt have a dedicated camp following: Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, based on the Pedro Almodóvar film, starts previewing at the Playhouse Theatre (WC2, Sat 20 Dec to 9 May) and stars the wonderful Tamsin Greig.
MC
Blood On The Snow, Cardiff
In 2012, Caroline Sabin made a piece called A Curious Zoo in her Cardiff home that moved the audience from room to room through a house covered in snow. Now she celebrates the winter solstice in a different but equally quirky fashion. Blood On The Snow takes place in a snow-touched forest that has been created in the home of circus company NoFit State. Here, audience members will find dryads singing, dancing and squabbling in a dance-theatre piece with a difference, which has been inspired by Benjamin Britten’s choral celebration A Ceremony Of Carols. Entering through a Narnia-style wardrobe, audiences will find themselves in an enchanted space full of pools of moonlight and softly falling snow.
Four Elms, to 23 Dec
LG
The Mystery Of St Finnigan’s Elbow, Ipswich
This year’s madcap Christmas present from theatre company Eastern Angles is a Malory Towers-style mystery spoof set in 1936 in a Suffolk girls convent school. With a visit from Cardinal Lambrusco imminent, the school is in uproar when it’s discovered that the famed relic, St Finnigan’s funny bone, has gone missing. The audience, though, is unlikely to follow suit, as the Trumpington twins – known as awfully good sorts – attempt to solve the mystery. Eastern Angles has lots of form with this kind of alternative Christmas show, so arm yourselves with hockey sticks and besiege the box office.
Sir John Mills Theatre, to 10 Jan
LG
The Hundred And One Dalmatians, Chichester
You hardly ever see Dodie Smith’s doggy tale onstage, then along comes not just one new version, but two. Sally Cookson’s production is in Bristol (Tobacco Factory, to 11 Jan) while the fabulous Bryony Lavery has turned her attention to the story of dog-napping and daring rescues in Chichester. Lavery’s take on Treasure Island is at the National Theatre (SE1, to 8 Apr) but here she swaps one kind of pirate for another as Cruella de Vil steals a litter of puppies with the intention of turning them into a fur coat. As it’s produced in association with the Festival Theatre’s youth company, this could be one production where the numbers will add up. Expect to have the spots knocked off you.
Chichester Festival Theatre, Sat 20 Dec to 3 Jan
LG
Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Salford
A surprise hit in the West End (it’s now booking through until September 2015), The Play That Goes Wrong began life last year as a fringe show and is cut very much from the same cloth as Michael Green’s humorous 1964 book The Art Of Coarse Acting. In The Play That Goes Wrong, Cornley Polytechnic drama society is putting on an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. Here, the fictional group turn their attention to JM Barrie’s classic play, and I can guarantee that you will never have seen a Neverland anything like this one before. Expect falling sets, doors that don’t open, forgotten lines, dangerous flying, corpsing, a crocodile on the loose and all-round incompetence. It could well be enough to make you believe in fairies – and beg them for their help.
The Lowry, to 11 Jan
LG
