It's not all panto; new podcast episode: The Big Tiny and pantos; Arts Council review by Dame Margaret Hodge; post-Christmas book sales; Merry Christmas!
News, reviews, features and podcast on theatre across the UK
The British Theatre Guide Newsletter
No 1243: 21 December 2025
Editorial
Most of our theatres are very busy at this time of year, although our reviewers will be winding down a bit by now, not for lack of enthusiasm but simply because most shows running over the Christmas period have already opened and had their press nights, and there won’t be much that’s new for them to review until late January.
But it isn’t all panto by any means: we have reviews this week of ballets, operas, musicals and plays, some related to Christmas—we have two Nutcrackers, one in London and one in Leeds—and many not. Midlands Editor Steve Orme went on a trip on a steam train on the Severn Valley Railway to review The Great Christmas Train Rescue from Wise Owl Theatre, and Yorkshire reviewer James Ballands said of Pass the Spoon from Opera North, “there should, indeed, be more comic operas about cannibalism.”
My theatre going this week has consisted of a circus show based on an animated character with his own spin-off BBC series and a festive-themed play in the town hall of a town with which I share a name but which I haven’t previously visited. The week before, however, I saw my second A Christmas Carol of the year and two pantos from the same locally based company, The Big Tiny: one at The Met in Bury and one at Contact in Manchester.
In fact, I’ve seen three out of the four pantos that Big Tiny has produced at The Met—I missed last year’s as I wasn’t allowed to drive following surgery—and have been impressed by their spectacular productions with a small cast on a tiny stage, so I had a chat with company founders Will Cousins and Ben Richards for our latest podcast episode, which was a lot of fun to record, and some of the feedback has suggested it is fun to listen to too.
Ben is the writer of the three pantos they are producing this year and the director of one, while Will is producer and designer and is also directing and playing Dame in one of the shows. Their enthusiasm for panto as a form—and contempt for anyone who sees it merely as a money-spinner to fund the rest of the season—is genuine and infectious; in fact, Ben is due to complete and publish his panto-related PhD next summer.
I was sat next to Ben at The Met, and he was like a big kid, enjoying every minute of it at least as much as anyone else in the audience, despite having written and directed it.
Of course, we touched on the finances of how they can put together productions with so much set and costume in such small venues and make it pay (“it’s tight”)—they told me the Arts Council is not interested in funding panto companies. However, perhaps that would change if the recommendations in the independent report into Arts Council England by Dame Margaret Hodge published this week are implemented. Philip Fisher has examined her findings for his latest feature.
While many of you may be looking forward to Christmas parties, Christmas dinner with the family or opening presents, others may be looking ahead to post-Christmas book sales. For every book bought on Bookshop.org (which supports independent bookshops, not multinational conglomerates) from 26 to 29 December, you can be entered into a draw for a £100 digital gift card, while Waterstones often has its first sale items up on Christmas Day. If you use the links here or on our web site, we get a small cut that contributes towards keeping us online without any cost to you.
But with four days to go to the big day, and with The Muppet Christmas Carol ready in our DVD player, I’d like to wish you all a very merry Christmas from everyone here at British Theatre Guide.
Shaun the Sheep's Circus Show Shaun Comerford and Yaron Lifschitz with QPAC, Screen Queensland, Merrigong Theatre Company and Circa Contemporary Circus at Aviva Studios
Sleep Can Wait! (Unity Theatre and Tmesis Theatre) - Unity Theatre, Liverpool, –
Shaun the Sheep’s Circus Show (Shaun Comerford and Yaron Lifschitz with QPAC, Screen Queensland, Merrigong Theatre Company and Circa Contemporary Circus) - Aviva Studios (Factory International), Manchester, –
