The Duck House | Sue: The Second Coming | Oliver! | Jack And The Beanstalk | Let The Right One In | The Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor
*The Duck House, Cambridge & London*
Such was the gnashing of teeth from the public about the MPs' expenses scandal of 2009 that it would be hard to write a comedy about it that us mere tax-paying voters would find amusing. But, say writers Dan Patterson and Colin Swash – veteran joke writers for TV comedy panel shows – enough time has passed, and the situation provides a palpable gagfest. So we have The Duck House, a satire in which Ben Miller stars as a Labour MP about to change sides. Thing is, he's been flipping homes, employing his wife (Olivier award-winner Nancy Carroll, both pictured) and claiming for a glittery toilet seat as well as the eponymous duck house.
*Cambridge Arts Theatre**, Sat; **Vaudeville Theatre**, WC2, Wed to 29 Mar*
MC
*Sue: The Second Coming, On tour*
Sue Timms invites you into her lounge for a very dark alternative to the traditional Christmas nativity story in this sequel to the hit 2009 Edinburgh show, My Name Is Sue. Created by Ben Lewis, of Inspector Sands fame, and Daffyd James, the piece straddles theatre, cabaret and comedy. So pull up a chair, sip the eggnog, and watch as the apparently diffident Sue share her very strong views on the celebration of Christmas. My Name Is Sue won a Total Theatre award and plenty of fans in Edinburgh, and this sequel should win new ones for this woman and her piano.
*Ammanford Miners' Theatre**, Tue; **Torch Theatre**, Milford Haven, Wed; **Blackwood Miners' Institute**, Thu; **Pontardawe Arts Centre**, Fri; touring to 21 Dec*
LG
*Oliver! Sheffield*
It's been another terrific year for Daniel Evans at Sheffield, and it's no surprise that he was seen by many as very much a front-runner for the top job at the NT. That wasn't to be, but he's already had a musical hit in 2013 with Tim Firth's gorgeous This is My Family, and he'll be hoping to top last Christmas' revival of My Fair Lady with Lionel Bart's Dickens adaptation. Bart's story sticks pretty close to Oliver Twist and boasts some of the most memorable songs ever heard in a musical, including Food Glorious Food and Consider Yourself. Tom Edden, of One Man, Two Guvnors fame, takes on the role of Fagin while Hayley Gallivan plays Nancy.
*Crucible Theatre**, Fri to 25 Jan*
LG
*Jack And The Beanstalk, Nottingham*
Christmas comes early in Nottingham, a city which, along with York's Theatre Royal in York and the Hackney Empire, always offers one of the most memorable panto experiences in the land. This year is particularly special as it marks the swansong of dame extraordinaire, Kenneth Alan Taylor, who has been squeezing into his frock every year since 1983. Taylor has announced that he'd be hanging up his bloomers before, but this year's appearance as Dame Daisy – mother to the nice but slightly dim, Jack – really will be his last in pantoland. With the Playhouse also celebrating its 50th anniversary, this should be a riot of a festive show and a reminder that staging a really great panto is every bit as hard and worthy of credit as staging a truly great King Lear.
*Nottingham Playhouse**, Fri to 18 Jan*
LG
*Let The Right One In, London*
There's no shortage of vampire stuff these days, though one of the finest examples is still Let The Right One In. Originally a 2004 Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and then a 2008 film by Tomas Alfredson (of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy fame), which prompted a US version called Let Me In. This story of a lonely, bullied teenage boy on an urban housing estate where people are being murdered, and his friendship with the girl next door who never ages or goes out by day, has been adapted by Jack Thorne for this National Theatre of Scotland production. It's directed by John Tiffany, an Olivier winner for NTS's Black Watch and whose fine production of Once is still running in the West End.
*Jerwood Theatre At The Royal Court**, SE1, Fri to 21 Dec*
MC
*The Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor, Bristol*
Travelling Light has produced some great Christmas shows for Bristolian audiences. The company has already tackled Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves, and now it turns its attention to another tale of fantastical adventures and an unlikely hero. But sometimes even heroes have their secrets, and as the sailor who has faced shipwrecks, escaped the clutches of cannibals and survived man-eating snakes prepares to weigh anchor one last time, there is a tale to be told that nobody has ever heard before. Maybe it will even show the swashbuckling Sinbad in an entirely new light? Many of the team involved in previous hits including the Olivier-nominated Cinderella: A Fairytale will be setting sail on this brand new theatrical adventure.
*Tobacco Factory**, Wed to 12 Jan*
LG Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.
*The Duck House, Cambridge & London*
Such was the gnashing of teeth from the public about the MPs' expenses scandal of 2009 that it would be hard to write a comedy about it that us mere tax-paying voters would find amusing. But, say writers Dan Patterson and Colin Swash – veteran joke writers for TV comedy panel shows – enough time has passed, and the situation provides a palpable gagfest. So we have The Duck House, a satire in which Ben Miller stars as a Labour MP about to change sides. Thing is, he's been flipping homes, employing his wife (Olivier award-winner Nancy Carroll, both pictured) and claiming for a glittery toilet seat as well as the eponymous duck house.
*Cambridge Arts Theatre**, Sat; **Vaudeville Theatre**, WC2, Wed to 29 Mar*
MC
*Sue: The Second Coming, On tour*
Sue Timms invites you into her lounge for a very dark alternative to the traditional Christmas nativity story in this sequel to the hit 2009 Edinburgh show, My Name Is Sue. Created by Ben Lewis, of Inspector Sands fame, and Daffyd James, the piece straddles theatre, cabaret and comedy. So pull up a chair, sip the eggnog, and watch as the apparently diffident Sue share her very strong views on the celebration of Christmas. My Name Is Sue won a Total Theatre award and plenty of fans in Edinburgh, and this sequel should win new ones for this woman and her piano.
*Ammanford Miners' Theatre**, Tue; **Torch Theatre**, Milford Haven, Wed; **Blackwood Miners' Institute**, Thu; **Pontardawe Arts Centre**, Fri; touring to 21 Dec*
LG
*Oliver! Sheffield*
It's been another terrific year for Daniel Evans at Sheffield, and it's no surprise that he was seen by many as very much a front-runner for the top job at the NT. That wasn't to be, but he's already had a musical hit in 2013 with Tim Firth's gorgeous This is My Family, and he'll be hoping to top last Christmas' revival of My Fair Lady with Lionel Bart's Dickens adaptation. Bart's story sticks pretty close to Oliver Twist and boasts some of the most memorable songs ever heard in a musical, including Food Glorious Food and Consider Yourself. Tom Edden, of One Man, Two Guvnors fame, takes on the role of Fagin while Hayley Gallivan plays Nancy.
*Crucible Theatre**, Fri to 25 Jan*
LG
*Jack And The Beanstalk, Nottingham*
Christmas comes early in Nottingham, a city which, along with York's Theatre Royal in York and the Hackney Empire, always offers one of the most memorable panto experiences in the land. This year is particularly special as it marks the swansong of dame extraordinaire, Kenneth Alan Taylor, who has been squeezing into his frock every year since 1983. Taylor has announced that he'd be hanging up his bloomers before, but this year's appearance as Dame Daisy – mother to the nice but slightly dim, Jack – really will be his last in pantoland. With the Playhouse also celebrating its 50th anniversary, this should be a riot of a festive show and a reminder that staging a really great panto is every bit as hard and worthy of credit as staging a truly great King Lear.
*Nottingham Playhouse**, Fri to 18 Jan*
LG
*Let The Right One In, London*
There's no shortage of vampire stuff these days, though one of the finest examples is still Let The Right One In. Originally a 2004 Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and then a 2008 film by Tomas Alfredson (of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy fame), which prompted a US version called Let Me In. This story of a lonely, bullied teenage boy on an urban housing estate where people are being murdered, and his friendship with the girl next door who never ages or goes out by day, has been adapted by Jack Thorne for this National Theatre of Scotland production. It's directed by John Tiffany, an Olivier winner for NTS's Black Watch and whose fine production of Once is still running in the West End.
*Jerwood Theatre At The Royal Court**, SE1, Fri to 21 Dec*
MC
*The Last Voyage Of Sinbad The Sailor, Bristol*
Travelling Light has produced some great Christmas shows for Bristolian audiences. The company has already tackled Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves, and now it turns its attention to another tale of fantastical adventures and an unlikely hero. But sometimes even heroes have their secrets, and as the sailor who has faced shipwrecks, escaped the clutches of cannibals and survived man-eating snakes prepares to weigh anchor one last time, there is a tale to be told that nobody has ever heard before. Maybe it will even show the swashbuckling Sinbad in an entirely new light? Many of the team involved in previous hits including the Olivier-nominated Cinderella: A Fairytale will be setting sail on this brand new theatrical adventure.
*Tobacco Factory**, Wed to 12 Jan*
LG Reported by guardian.co.uk 13 hours ago.