Erica Whyman directs The Borrowers at Northern Stage in Newcastle, Peeplykus send up the creator of Sherlock Holmes at the Traverse in Edinburgh and Bryony Kimmings invites you to The DIY Nativity in Cambridge
South and Wales
Let's start in Brighton, where the Supper Club at the Basement tomorrow showcases Jo Bannon and other contemporary performers. Still Standing You, a dance duet created by Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido, is there on Wednesday. Mappa Mundi's A Midsummer Night's Dream is at the Gulbenkian Canterbury tonight and tomorrow. The Woman in Black headsto the Theatre Royal in Bath, while The Double continues in the Ustinov. Peter Pan begins at the Sherman in Cardiff, while – as festive chance would have it – a different version of JM Barrie's story is at Bristol Old Vic. NIE's Hansel and Gretel is at the Tobacco Factory.
In Exeter, there's still time to catch You with Me, a playful theatre journey across the city, and Wardrobe Ensemble's Riot and Worklight's How to Start a Riot, two pieces about violence and chaos at the Bike Shed. Barbershopera stop off at the Drum in Plymouth with The Three Musketeers and Miracle set off on tour with Frankenstein!. It's at the Tolmen Centre in Constantine on Thursday and Friday.
East
Brian Lobels' autobiographical Ball and Other Funny Stories about Cancer is well worth catching at Colchester Arts Centre next Wednesday. There should be both mayhem and madness in Bryony Kimmings' The DIY Nativity at the Junction in Cambridge from Tuesday. Eastern Angles' country-house murder-mystery spoof Dial M for Murgatroyd, is at the Sir John Mills in Ipswich. Rapunzel and the Rascal Prince is the panto adventure at the beautiful Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds. Sleeping Beauty is the rock'n'roll panto at the New Wolsey in Ipswich. Will she be able to sleep, I wonder, for the noise?
Central
New this week: Charlotte's Web at Derby theatre, Ursula Martinez's My Stories, Your Emails at Warwick Arts Centre and What the Dickens, Gonzo Moose's tales of the misadventures of Charles Dickens at the Pegasus in Oxford.
The show I really like the look of is Jane Packman's installation and performance The Woods/The Wake, which offers a way to reflect on the passing of the year at Mac in Birmingham. Head to the Curve for Hello Dolly! with Janie Dee, which starts tonight.
The RSC Christmas offering is Russell Hoban's wonderful classic The Mouse and his Child, and over in Birmingham The Wind in the Willows is revived at the Crescent by Birmingham Rep. In Northampton, the Royal and Derngate stages A Christmas Carol.
North
In Newcastle, outgoing artistic director Erica Whyman directs The Borrowers at Northern Stage. The Little Detective Agency in the studio is for the under-sixes and from the same team who created last year's excellent Shhh … Other festive shows are Jack and the Beanstalk at Harrogate theatre and The Wind in the Willows at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.
The Carol Ann Duffy/Melly Still collaboration, Rats' Tales, sounds fab at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, or you can opt for Arabian Nights at the Lowry. Oldham Coliseum's panto of choice is Cinderella and Cinderella is also at the Stephen Joseph in Scarborough. Peter Pan is at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme and at the Octagon in Bolton. It's a last chance for Joe Ward Munrow's family story of dementia, Held, at the Liverpool Playhouse studio. Treasure Island is at the Dukes in Lancaster.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Human trafficking is the theme of Spanner in the Works's Diablo in the studio at the Lyric Belfast. In the main house, meanwhile, is Paul Boyd's musical Hansel + Grettel. Connor Mitchell's new musical at MAC in Belfast is for the very young and is inspired by Oliver Jeffer's brilliant picture book, The Incredible Book-Eating Boy.
National Theatre Scotland is in action at the Old Kirk in Kirkcaldy with a revival of Graham McLaren's award-winning (and very spooky) version of A Christmas Carol. Peeplykus explore the contradictions of the creator of Sherlock Holmes in The Arthur Conan Doyle Appreciation Society at the Traverse in Edinburgh. Dominic Hill directs Rufus Norris's terrific version of Sleeping Beauty at the Citizens in Glasgow.
Catherine Wheels's The Ugly Duckling starts at the Arches today. Scrooge turns female in Aganeza Scrooge, over at the Tron. Mike Kenny's version of The Snow Queen is at Dundee Rep from Tuesday. Johnny McKnight's two different versions of Cinderella are at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh and the Macrobert in Stirling.
London
Martin Crimp's In the Republic of Happiness, a contemporary satire directed by Dominic Cooke, is at the Royal Court. Drunken Chorus' evening of experimental performance in pubs, is at the Trafalgar Arms in Tooting next Wednesday. Tom Morton-Smith's Everyday Maps for Everyday Use blurs the lines between reality and desire at the Finborough.
It's your last chance for the fabulous revival of The Seagull at Southwark Playhouse before the opening of the theatre's final show in its current premises: Feathers by Philip Ridley, an epic story of the places we call home. I Stand Corrected, a story of rage and romance and a lesbian relationship in South Africa, is at Oval House. Jack Thorne's play set in a bathroom, Mydidae, opens at Soho on Wednesday. Vassily Sigarev's tale of the Soviet collapse and its aftermath, Ladybird, is at the New Diorama. The legacy of Britain's tower blocks is explored in Machines for Living at Battersea Arts Centre. And it's two nights only at the Arcola next week for Claire Gaydon's one-woman show Remy, about a soldier in the Napoleonic wars.
We should big up Mathurin Bolze's extraordinary Du Goudron et des Plumes in the main house at the Barbican tonight and tomorrow; Hugh Hughes's Stories from an Invisible Town is down in the Pit. Shunt's The Architects, which takes the form of a labyrinth in a south London warehouse, is also new; there's info here. The Futureshock festival continues at Camden People's theatre with a lineup that's well worth checking out.
You need a child aged three to six for the latest immersive show from Punchdrunk: The House Where Winter Lives is at the brilliant children's story centre Discover in Stratford. Oily Cart's In a Pickle makes a trip to the Unicorn essential where older children can see Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper.
Dick Whittington goes to Bollywood at Tara Arts, Seussical the musical opens at the Arts, The Wind in the Willows is at the Polka in Wimbledon, and Sean Holmes directs the Lyric Hammersmith's Cinderella, while Raymond Briggs's Father Christmas is the treat for the under sixes. And Pinocchio, set in 19th-century Tuscany, is the show at the Little Angel puppet theatre – which always delivers some Christmas magic.
Do tell us what you're up to this weekend.
Theatre
Lyn Gardner
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