CURATE YOUR FESTIVE CULTURE FIX
November to January is usually boom time for cultural goings-on, and there are still festive treats aplenty to book ahead, from Covid-safe live performances (if lockdown lifts) to online shows. Start practising your panto cheers and boos regardless…
Pantomimes: The starriest live offering is Pantoland at the Palladium, led by Elaine Paige, Beverley Knight and Julian Clary. Fun for all the family, albeit with some adult innuendo (Dec 12-Jan 3; all run dates are provisional). Pantomime comes to the National Theatre for one year only with Dick Whittington
– think jokes, songs and chatty animals (Dec 11-Jan 23), while – thanks to National Lottery funding – there’s a slew of regional pantos: Robin Hood at Bristol Hippodrome (starring Strictly judge Craig Revel Horwood; Dec 18-Jan 10) and Newcastle Theatre Royal (Dec 19-Jan 10); Sleeping Beauty at Manchester Opera House (Dec 12-Jan 3), Milton Keynes Theatre (Dec 19-Jan 10) and Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre (Dec 19-Jan 3).
Nottingham Playhouse’s Cinderella has an in-person run (Dec 3-Jan 16), live-streamed performances (Dec 19 and 24), and on-demand viewing. Lastly, Peter Duncan, of Blue Peter fame, has filmed Jack and the Beanstalk in his own back garden, (ready for streaming from Dec 4).
Festive theatre: You can’t move for productions of A Christmas Carol this year. They include: a Broadway musical at the Dominion Theatre (Dec 7-Jan 2); The Watermill Theatre’s actor-musician production (Dec 3-Jan 3); Nicholas Hytner’s devised version at the Bridge Theatre (Dec 3-Jan 16); and the Old Vic’s livestream with Andrew Lincoln starring (Dec 12-24).
The Almeida Theatre premieres Nine Lessons and Carols – stories for a long winter (Dec 3-Jan 9), and Kneehigh’s The Flying Lovers of Vitebsk is live-streaming from Bristol Old Vic (Dec 3-5).
West End fans might enjoy their return to Nimax venues: SIX (from Dec 5), The Play That Goes Wrong (from Dec 9), Magic Goes Wrong (from Dec 10) and Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (from Dec 12). Do you hear the people sing? It’s Les Misérables, back in concert form at the Sondheim Theatre (Dec 5-Jan 31).
Dance: At the London Coliseum, English National Ballet’s Nutcracker Delights runs at a very family-friendly 75 minutes (Dec 3-Jan 3). Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker is coming to the Royal Albert Hall (Dec 30-Jan 2), while Sadler’s Wells has new hip-hop with Breakin’ Convention: Social Disdancing (Dec 11-12), and The Little Match Girl (Dec 17-27).
Opera and music: The Royal Albert Hall has several live options, including the Royal Choral Society (Dec 9), Handel’s Messiah (Dec 15) and carol concerts (Dec 18-23). While nothing will get you into the festive spirit like the Royal Opera Christmas Concert, featuring extracts from all the favourites (Dec 18-20).