A Christmas Carol with Griff Rhys Jones – Dec 15
Charles Dickens’ Christmas classic tale has seen various guises over the years from traditional adaptations for the stage, to Michael Caine tottering around with a load of muppets in Jim Henson and co’s big screen take, and Bill Murray skewing the story with a contemporary take centred around a humbugging TV exec. This version is set to make the hairs on the back of your neck bristle and your festive feelings flourish with a classical reading of the tale featuring a star studded cast including Griff Rhys Jones as the narrator.
When: Dec 15 / from 5pm
Where: Southbank centre, SE1 8XX
Cost: £10+
Tube: Waterloo
Web: southbankcentre.co.uk
Christmas Carol Singalong – Dec 13, 18, 20 & 23
It doesn’t get any more festive than this – Christmas carols sung in one of the most impressive, traditional and awe-inspiring venues in all of town, the Royal Albert Hall. Each December sees Albert put on its much loved Christmas Festival, and this is one of the highlights of it – so get in and get your tickets before it all sells out.
It is loaded with Christmas classics such as Let It Snow, Jingle Bells and The Twelve Days of Christmas, and is impressively staged with a full orchestra and showman Jonathan Cohen leading you through it with a twinkle in his eye. It is not at all staid or stuffy though, and is based on getting in on the act with as loud and jubilant singing as you can muster after a few mulled wines.
When: Dec 13, 18, 20 & 23 / times vary
Where: Royall Albert Hall, SW7 2AP
Cost: £40+
Tube: South Kensington
Web: royalalberthall.com
A Lad in Tights – Dec 2–Jan 4
The producers behind the fabulously titled Sinderfella and Snow White and the Seven Poofs bring this campy-as-hell spin on the traditional Christmas panto. There will be sing-alongs to get stuck into, only this will be along to the likes of Madonna Material Girl and camp classic YMCA. And there will be sniggering aplenty when, in true traditional panto style, you have to shriek ‘he’s behind you!’
When: December 2-Jan4
Where: Upstairs at the Prince of Wales, 150-151 Drury Lane, WC2H
Cost: £18
Tube: Holborn
Web: ticketweb
Nick Helm – Merry Christmas Motherfuckers – Dec 8-20
The self-styled ‘human car crash of light entertainment’ brings his own spin on funny business and festive cheer with this two-week residency which promises to ‘kick Christmas in the dick!’ There will be a yuletide combination of songs, poems, guests, gags, guts and gifts in this new show from the star of TV’s Uncle. So if you fancy something a little different this year, or would like to see the festive season get a well-placed and strongly-felt kick to the knackers, this is your one.
When: December 8-20 / 7.30pm
Where: Soho Theatre, W1D 3NE
Cost: £12.50+
Tube: Leicester Square
Web: sohotheatre.com
Ross Noble – Tangentleman – Dec 3-5
The Northumberland nutjob that is Ross Noble brings his new tour to town this December and if his past is anything to go by, then this is going to be more mad-capped and surreal than you could shake a bag of monkeys at (does that even make sense?). Noble’s brand of comedy sees a great deal of audience interaction, or rather chatting with those in the audience, which often ends up with him veering off into uncharted waters that can often see him take a whole show to finish stories he had started at the beginning of the show. A keen observer of the human condition, a lover of life’s unusual moments and people, and a first rate improviser, no two Noble shows are ever the same.
When: Dec 3, 4 & 5 / 7pm
Where: Hammersmith Apollo, 45 Queen Caroline Street, W6 9QH
Cost: £28.25
Tube: Hammersmith
Web: rossnoble.co.uk
