Author: Editor

A new Nutcracker, the company’s eleventh iteration, to celebrate English National Ballet’s 75th birthday, and a new artistic director at the helm… Wayne Eagling’s version (designer Peter Farmer), created in 2010, with its hot air balloon and King Rat with skull head and eyes like headlights, has made a timely exit. A very different one… Continue reading Nutcracker

It’s that blooming time of year again, and Father Christmas has a busy night ahead. Pins and Needles has recreated Raymond Briggs’s much-loved cartoons to bring a day in the life of Santa to delight audiences young and not so young. Nathan Masterson is a rather grumpy St Nick whose dreams of a holiday in… Continue reading Father Christmas

For the third time in ten years, Derby Theatre is producing A Christmas Carol, described in the programme as a “timeless tale of redemption which captures the true spirit of Christmas”. The 2024 adaptation is by Mike Kenny, whose work has regularly been performed on the Derby Theatre stage. Shortly after Sarah Brigham took over as… Continue reading A Christmas Carol

The theatrical setting of Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes, a favourite children’s book ever since its publication in 1936, makes it a great choice for this year’s National Theatre Christmas treat. It has been skilfully adapted by Kendall Feaver with a few tweaks to the characters and updating some of its attitudes but still set in the… Continue reading Ballet Shoes

From ‘umble Cockney flower girl to polished pronunciation fit for a princess, My Fair Lady is one of the classic rags-to-riches stories loved by many, its place cemented in the cultural psyche thanks to the award-winning 1964 film version starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. My Fair Lady’s source material is George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play Pygmalion, adapted… Continue reading My Fair Lady

Conceived as a ‘concert opera’, with a libretto by Respighi’s friend and collaborator Claudio Guastalla, Maria Egiziaca is more like a twentieth century mystery play than a conventional work for the stage. Although none of the composer’s eleven operas are often performed, this short work, lasting just over an hour, has apparently retained a place… Continue reading Maria Egiziaca

A Christmas Carol or, to give it its full title, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story, at the Birmingham Rep is super. Adapted by Mark Gatiss and directed by Adam Penford, this production originated at Nottingham Playhouse in 2021 where they reprised it in 2023. This year, Birmingham Rep has got it and… Continue reading A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story

It’s Christmas Eve, the Las Vegas flight has been delayed, and die-hard Elvis fans, cousins Frankie and Marty, find themselves at a loose end in an airport lounge in Caroline Curran’s bittersweet comedy Elvis Yourself a Merry Little Christmas at Belfast’s The Mac. Reuniting with Rhodri Lewis and Patrick Buchanan (and several artificial Christmas trees) following last… Continue reading Elvis Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Back in the West End after last year’s Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick!, He’s Behind You brings its fresh take on Jack and the Beanstalk to the Charing Cross Theatre in a celebration of queer pride. Subtitled What a Whopper!, it’s not surprising that the production’s grand erection at the end of act one is quite a sight to… Continue reading Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper!

Sarah Kane meets The Burnt City in this brutal and cheeky retelling of Jason and Medea’s relationship. Lost Dog’s seasonal revival of its twist on the classics should come with a trigger warning for the unhappily divorced, as there is less Christmas cheer here and more acerbic wit. Beautifully integrated into the back wall of the Linbury… Continue reading Ruination