It’s that time of year again: we are swiftly approaching the end of our ‘tipping year’ and, as usual, we’d like to remind you of the many shows we have tipped over the last month and a half-ish that are still happening in the run up to Christmas and beyond. 

We’d normally do this to feature in our last TW bulletin of the year, but because of the way the calendar dates fell this time, the last bulletin will be published very close to Christmas. So it seemed like a better idea to do this round-up for the penultimate bulletin instead. 

Some of these shows are on up until very close to Christmas Day, others until the end of December, and many are still on in January, which is nice, really – why not book yourself into something now, so you have something to look forward to in what can be a rather dull and dreary month? 

You know that we love all things Scroogy here at TW Towers, and that’s where I am going to start, though we only have three to talk about.

First is the radio play styled version of ‘A Christmas Carol’ at Boston Manor House until 28 Dec, though I don’t think there are many tickets left, so you probably need to move quickly!

The other two are very ‘alt’ versions, both on until 4 Jan: Sh!t-Faced Showtime’s ‘A Pissedmas Carol’, (the one where they get one cast member drunk) at Leicester Square Theatre, and Zoonation’s hip hoppy, comedic ‘Ebony Scrooge’ at Sadlers Wells East. 

Next, let’s concern ourselves with some panto, for there are quite a few, even though we didn’t even tip every panto in the Greater London area.

Let’s talk first about those that are ending soonest, in December: you can still see ‘Wicked Witches – A Popular Panto!’ at Pleasance Theatre until 28 Dec, ‘Beauty And The Beast’ at Penge’s Bridge House Theatre until 30 Dec, and ‘Dick Whittington And His Catford Cat’ – about which we interviewed creator Susie McKenna –  at the Broadway Theatre Catford until 31 Dec. 

Running a little later, until 3 Jan, are panto mashup ‘Potted Panto’ at Wilton’s Music Hall and ‘Mama Goose’ at Stratford East, while both ending on 4 Jan are ‘Cinderella And The Matzo Ball’ at JW3 and ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ at King’s Head Theatre. Finally, holding out until 11 Jan is ‘Peter Pan: A New Pantomime Adventure’ at the Greenwich Theatre. 

Right, now I have a whole load of children’s shows to deal with, and I am not sure quite how to organise them.

Maybe I’ll go with the ending soonest thing again, so that you know which ones you only have a relatively short time to see. I’ve got two shows ending on Christmas Eve, so let’s start there: ‘The Snow Queen – A Woodland Adventure’ at The Albany in Deptford and ‘A Merry Misrule’ at Battersea Arts Centre.   

All the rest go on into January, except for ‘The Night Before Christmas’ at ArtsDepot, which concludes its run on 31 Dec, and Chickenshed’s ‘Christmas Tales’, which finishes on 29 Dec. 

Meanwhile, still available for your child-entertaining needs until early January are ‘How Does Santa Go Down The Chimney?’, on at Unicorn Theatre until 3 Jan, and ‘Red’ at Chickenshed Theatre until 10 Jan. And over at Polka Theatre, you can see ‘The Firework-Maker’s Daughter’ until 18 Jan

And lastly, there are three currently playing children’s shows hanging on into late January: ‘The Storm Whale’ at Little Angel Theatre until 24 Jan; and ‘The Snowflake’ at Polka Theatre and ‘Me…’ at Little Angel Theatre, both until 25 Jan. 

But let’s get back to the grown up shows now, shall we? Most of what’s left is theatrical, and I’d like to start with some of the more musical shows, of which there are approximately four.

Witchy new musical ‘Coven’ at Kiln Theatre until 17 Jan; rollercoaster incident musical ‘Ride The Cylone’ at Southwark Playhouse Elephant until 10 Jan; and comical acapella beatbox vampire show ‘Dracapella’ at Park Theatre until 17 Jan.

Plus TW fave Sh!t Theatre’s ‘Evita Too’ at Southbank Centre – a political, hilarious, song-punctuated piece of work – on until 31 Dec.

Speaking of which, most of these theatrical shows that are left definitely fall into the funny category.

The only exception to that rule, I think, is Drayton Arms Theatre’s creepy and atmospheric adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ghostly tale ‘The Signalman’ (pictured) and I am glad of it, for – of course – I believe spooky stories (especially Dickens tales) are a great thing to embrace in the festive season. You can see that until 2 Jan. 

So, finally, to those funny shows I was talking about, starting with a couple that finish on Christmas Eve: modern day retelling ‘Gawain And The Green Knight’ at the Park Theatre, and David Ireland one act play revival ‘Most Favoured’ at Soho Theatre. 

Nearly there: Just three more shows to mention, two of them on until early January.
‘The Fit Prince’ at the King’s Head Theatre ends on 3 Jan, while ‘The Mystery Of Irma Vep’ has its final performance at Jack Studio on 4 Jan.

Finally: the immersive adaptation of ‘The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy’ at Riverside Studios doesn’t finish until 15 Feb. 

So that’s that. Normally at this point we would offer our departing seasonal greeting, and I’m still going to do it, even though we are sending you another bulletin next week. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all those who celebrate these things!