Theatre
Arabian Nights
Bristol Old Vic, to 6 January
This production exploring the power of storytelling has a cracking team, with writer Sonali Bhattacharyya (Chasing Hares, Young Vic), director Blanche McIntyre (All’s Well That Ends Well, RSC) and puppetry designer Samuel Wilde (I Want My Hat Back, Little Angel). It looks set to be a playful adaptation of the classic story of resilience and hope.
Solstice
Battersea Arts Centre, London, to 24 December
Animals hibernate in corners and surprises linger down corridors in Battersea Arts Centre’s new immersive production, where seasons change from one room to another. Puppets and actors mingle with wandering audience members, as the space invites a sense of exploration and play. Solstice is fully accessible and open to everyone over the age of three.
Hansel & Gretel
Lyric theatre, Belfast, to 6 January
Music and magic accompany Hansel and Gretel through the deep dark woods in this new production at the Lyric. Written by Derry Girls star Tara Lynne O’Neill, it follows the lost siblings and a mischievous little mouse as they stumble into the sweet-toothed witch’s lair. With music and lyrics by Katie Richardson, performed by an energetic ensemble, expect a production brimming with creativity.
Santa Must Die!
Leeds Playhouse, 12 to 16 December
If the unending Christmas joy feels overbearing, Leeds Playhouse has just the ticket. This anarchic seasonal slice of gig-theatre scorns the gig economy and the furious festive rush. A raucous evening of anti-capitalism replaces Christmas carols with punk anthems, as bandmates Nadia and Abed struggle against their tyrannical zero-hours boss, Santa, on Christmas Eve.
The Christmas Lobster
Farnham Maltings, 13 to 24 December
Taking the business of silliness seriously, Bucket Club creates considered, high-quality hilarity. This year, the creators of adventurous children’s theatre have teamed up with The Society for Christmas Creatures, a team of expert festive detectives. They’re on a mission to find the elusive Christmas Lobster and we’re all invited along for the ride. Kate Wyver
Comedy
Live at Christmas
Various venues, 7 to 21 December; tour starts Colchester
Strictly speaking there’s nothing especially festive about this annual touring mixed-bill show – which this year features headline slots from Ed Gamble (masterful) and David O’Doherty (always delightful) – yet an excitable, end-of-year giddiness is pretty much guaranteed. It’s also a chance to sample a selection of rising standups, from the unassumingly excellent Josh Pugh to the justifiably swaggering Kyrah Gray.
Horrible Histories: Horrible Christmas
Barbican Hall, London, 29 December
Terry Deary’s gag-packed riffs on the history books have provided ample fodder for comedy on stage and screen for decades, and his irreverent – and decidedly scatalogical – approach is still certain to tickle children and parents alike. This production from the Birmingham Stage Company provides a whistle-stop tour of Christmas’s weird past, from Tudor tastes to Puritan party-pooping. Rachel Aroesti
Dance
Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands
Sadler’s Wells, London, 5 December to 20 January, touring to 25 May
This dance version of Tim Burton’s 1990 film is a sweet delight, full of retro-kitsch stylings, larger-than-life characters and a score that incorporates some of Danny Elfman’s original soundtrack. It’s impossible not to feel for the tragicomic figure of Edward at the centre, finding an unlikely home in American suburbia with his talent for topiary.
Scottish Ballet: Cinders!
Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 9 to 31 December, touring to 10 February
A little twist to zhoosh up the well-worn Cinderella story – in Christopher Hampson’s new production, the character of Cinders might be male or female, and you won’t know until the curtain goes up. So Cinders may be a woman meeting her prince, or a man who falls for a princess. Prokofiev’s masterful music, however, remains the same. Lyndsey Winship
Rock & pop
Leona Lewis
Touring to 15 December
Top-tier warbler Leona Lewis takes her 2013 yuletide opus, Christmas, with Love, on tour to sprinkle a large dollop of festive cheer. Expect lots of obvious covers, a shedload of tinsel and some mulled wine-infused swaying to Lewis’s own modern-day Christmas classic, the Motown-inspired countdown to Santa Claus’s big day, One More Sleep.
Tom Jones
14 to 20 December; tour starts Nottingham
Entitled Ages & Stages, this five-date arena tour celebrates the various eras of Sir Tom Jones’s 60-year career, from It’s Not Unusual to Sex Bomb to 2021’s Ethan Johns-produced No 1 album, Surrounded By Time. At 83, his voice is still as immaculate as that ever-present silver goatee.
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Touring to 14 December
After last year’s Kitchen Disco tour, which saw the Murder on the Dancefloor hitmaker take her online lockdown karaoke sensation out of her house and on the road, Sophie Ellis-Bextor offers up this Christmas twist. There will be a selection of party classics alongside Ellis-Bextor’s own hits and, of course, a large dollop of festive favourites.
A Christmas Gaiety
Royal Albert Hall, London, 12 December
Hosted by cult US drag star Peaches Christ and conductor Edwin Outwater, A Christmas Gaiety promises a gloriously queer mix of concert and variety. Everyone from Drag Race UK winner Baga Chipz to organist Anna Lapwood to QI host Sandi Toksvig will be on stage for performances backed by the BBC Concert Orchestra.
R&B Xmas Ball
Wembley Arena, London, 17 December
US hitmaker Monica makes her first appearance on a UK stage in 30 years as part of this nostalgic showcase of US R&B talent. Her co-headliners include Joe and veteran trio SWV, while the lineup is fleshed out by enduring R&B manbands 112 and Next, plus Bobby V and J Holiday. Michael Cragg
Classical
From Mirga With Love
Symphony Hall, Birmingham, 6 December
The former music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony makes a swift return to the orchestra for a musical tour of eastern Europe: Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts a programme of Ċiurlionis, Weinberg, Loboda and Kakhidze, with soloists including her sister, the pianist Onutė Gražinytė, as well as CBSO principals Eugene Tzikindelean, Oliver Janes, Marie-Christine Zupancic and Adam Römer.
Hansel and Gretel
Royal Opera House, London, 16 December to 7 January
Designated as a “family show” and larded with cinematic references, Antony McDonald’s 2018 staging of Humperdinck’s imperishable classic returns to Covent Garden for the festive season. It’s conducted this time by Mark Wigglesworth, and the main roles are double cast – Anna Stéphany and Hanna Hipp are the Hansels, and Anna Devin and Lauren Fagan the Gretels.
Snow on Snow
Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, 19 to 20 December
The chorus of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra takes to the stage for two evenings of unaccompanied Christmas music, conducted by Gregory Batsleer. The centrepiece is Poulenc’s exquisite Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noël; there’s also the premiere of an SCO commission, Jay Capperauld’s The Night Watch, and three pieces for solo cello, played by Philip Higham. Andrew Clements
Jazz
New Regency Orchestra
Bristol Beacon, 8 December
The 18-piece Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble channel the joyful cacophony of 1950s big bands led by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Tito Puente in their raucous live shows. Currently on a mini-tour across England, the group’s unique take on Latin jazz combines fiendishly complex polyrhythms with blasting horn fanfares and an impeccable sense of groove.
Tomorrow’s Warriors Extraordinary Winter Showcase
Royal Festival Hall: Clore Ballroom, London, 10 December
The grassroots jazz workshop that has become a vital incubator for London’s thriving jazz scene over the past decade presents a free showcase of its latest cohort’s talents. Expect ensemble orchestrations, soaring solos and small group grooves from the programme whose alumni include saxophonist Nubya Garcia, drummer Moses Boyd and members of Mercury prize-winning group Ezra Collective.
Laura Misch
4 to 12 December; tour starts Glasgow
Combining field recordings of nature with breathy saxophone, electronic programming and delicate vocals, Laura Misch’s latest album, Sample the Sky, treads the line beautifully between jazz improvisation and artful songcraft. Her biggest UK tour to date promises to bring introspective ambience, infectious melodies and the tempestuous sounds of the great outdoors to the dark winter nights. Ammar Kalia
Film
Wonka
Out 8 December
The makers of Paddington are back with another film based on an icon of British fiction. This time, Roald Dahl provides the inspiration, with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the jumping-off point for a colourful origin story starring Timothée Chalamet. And let’s be real, there’s nothing more December-coded than eating too much chocco.
The Red Shoes
Out 8 December
In the mood for something that feels suitably wintery without overdosing on the sentimental excesses of the season? This painstakingly restored 1948 Powell and Pressburger classic is an exercise in beauty and style which puts its own rhapsodic spin on the chilly themes of the macabre Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of the same name.
The Nutcracker
Live from 12 December, encore screenings from 17 December
With live and recorded screenings taking place at cinemas across the country, there’s no excuse for missing out on Peter Wright’s beloved production of Tchaikovsky’s delightful festive ballet, staged at the Royal Opera House with opulent period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman. Starring Anna Rose O’Sullivan as the Sugar Plum Fairy.
Home Alone and Home Alone 2
The Prince Charles Cinema, London, 19 December
Is it really Christmas if you haven’t watched a small child get the better of two crooks using an array of brutal traps that wouldn’t be out of place in a Saw movie? Treat yourself to parts one and two of the Kevin McCallister saga, and don’t forget to boo when Donald Trump pops up in a now-surreal cameo.
The Boy and the Heron
Out Boxing Day
Boxing Day sees the release of the latest Studio Ghibli adventure from the Japanese animation powerhouse responsible for the widely embraced Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro, and whose signature style invariably proves equally appealing to younger and older fans. This new adventure, in classic Ghibli style, sees a recently bereaved 12-year-old befriended by a talking heron. Catherine Bray
Art
Philip Guston,
Tate Modern, London, to 25 February
It was feared Guston’s depictions of KKK men – albeit as squat, cartoonish no-marks – would prove incendiary in the wake of the death of George Floyd and this riveting survey was initially postponed. Yet in these dark angsty paintings his rage against human folly, galvanised by Vietnam’s atrocities and Nixon’s corruption, feels more urgent and necessary than ever.
The Cult of Beauty
Wellcome Collection, London, to 28 April
This show tracing the pursuit of beauty across the ages is packed with the enthralling and appalling, from the weird doings of alchemists to the oppressions of solid metal corsets or Miss World, with plenty that bucks presumed conventions too, be it a European Black Madonna or the classical statue of Hermaphrodite.
Beyond the Page
Milton Keynes Gallery, to 28 January
There’s plenty that amazes in these exquisite paintings of south Asian life, from the detailed wrinkles of an elephant’s brow or the insight into the downtime of East India Company officials, to how they have been amassed in tens of thousands in British collections for more than 400 years. The show unpacks these cross-cultural currents up to the present day.
Gemma Anderson-Tempini: And She Built a Crooked House
Burton Grange, Far Headingley, Leeds, to 28 January
With the help of public art maestros ArtAngel, Anderson-Tempini has transformed an empty Victorian house into a family-friendly journey into the fourth dimension, the one beyond the three dimensions we can see. There’s a climbing frame that looks like a giant physics model in the front garden and everything from a seance to a mirrored infinity room can be encountered within.
John Akomfrah: Arcadia
The Box, Plymouth, to 2 June
The acclaimed artist-film-maker’s Plymouth premier is a multi-screen installation with footage that soars across ravishing landscapes and through ocean depths, while what crosses them ranges from old boats to smallpox microbes. Akomfrah looks back at 600 years of exchange between the old world and new, tapping dreams of fresh beginnings and the hell those dreams can wreak. Skye Sherwin
