... Dracula Barons Court Theatre Dark, oppressive, the air laden with emotions of love, lust and repressed Victorian sexual desire. Not the kind of atmosphere usually associ ated with a Christmas show. Fullface and Profile's production of Bram Stoker's Dracula is however overflowing with these emotions. Excitement, suspense and a good measure of blood and guts literally ooze and overflow from the ...

... The Selfish Giant Newcastle-upon-Tyne Live Theatre is master of the art of theatre for the under sixes. Always cleverly produced, always something new and innovative on the cards and invariably the seasonal highlight. The programme at the Gulbenk- ian Studio begins with Spring awak ening and with her helpers preparing to plant the seeds. This action takes place away from the main set, before ...

... Cinderella Edmonton Cheap and cheerful, Millfield Theatre's seasonal offering holds its own among a raft of versions of this tale by making up in chutzpah what it lacks in budget. It also boasts a top-drawer turn from one of the country's rising entertainers. So good, in fact, is ventriloquist Paul Zerdin as Buttons, that his spots, incorporated semi- smoothly into the plot, not only pro vide ...

... Wizard of Oz Tunbridge Wells The stunningly attractive church conversion from Victorian gothic arches to primary colours which forms Trinity Theatre and Arts Centre, makes an ideal setting for this fresh, fast and fluent yellow brick road of a show. Based squarely on the familiar MGM film, this Wizard, directed by Dede McGarrity, reminds us just how good those old lyrics are. I'm afraid ...

... Aladdin Bridlington They don't come any nastier than Coronation Street's Terry Duckworth, which makes Nigel Pivaro the ideal Abanazar in this family panto at the Spa Theatre, presented and produced by Paul Holman. From his first entrance he is clearly a hit and his performance does not disappoint. In the title role Terry Gleed is excellent, his slight build and light movements concealing a ...

... Dick Whittington Torquay Princess Theatre's panto is a ramshackle affair. It is short on story. The standard scene on Highgate Hill, where Dick hears the bells calling him back to London, is omitted. The sketches are skimpy, and singing and dancing sequences are hardly a feature. A lot of time is taken up by Aiden J Harvey inducing audience response. They were will ing enough, but ...

... Light Almeida Theatre de Complicite's staging of Torgny Lindgren's novel is, as is its wont, company-created under the direction of Simon McBurney, who also composed the text with Matthew Broughton. i lie resuu is a uufisiaiiuy inventive but sprawling and tonally uncertain work repeatedly in danger of losing its way and its audience. A plague-decimated medieval village is left with no ties to ...

... Road to Heaven Lyric, Hammersmith The therapeutic properties of showbusiness have never been better demonstrated than by this show at the Lyric, in which the youngest performer is in the late sixties and the eldest nudeine 90. It began life in a low-income meal site for the elderly in North ampton, Massachusetts, created by Bob Cilman as a diversion for the old folk, something in which they ...

... Worthy display of family strife York Behind the Scenes at the Museum This first stage version at the Theatre Royal of Kate Atkinson's highly acclaimed novel could hardly have a better home. The story, telling the turbulent and dysfunctional family history of character Ruby Lennox, is set in York, which also happens to be Atkinson's birthplace. Bryony Lavery's adaptation and Damian Cruden's ...

... The Cinnamon Veil Cochrane Presented with the chance to blend the rampages of proto-colonialism with Oriental fables, Sara Clifford has woven together an intriguing array of elements in this play, produced by Theatre Melange. Her ingenious allegory pits Vasco da Gama (Eliot Giuralarocca) against Sinbad the Sailor (Abi Gouhad) in a race around the Indian Ocean to be first to discover the ...

... Harrv and Me Croydon TV land fast, brash, self- absorbed and oblivious to reality. Ray Goodenough, the producer of The Harry Harrod Show, is the epitome of the programme he is so desperate to save. The critics hate the show, guests hate the show and even the production team hates the show. Ray (Ian Saville) will not be beaten. In a frenetic opening of bad tempers, profanity and spot on ...

... Hopeless Games Belfast Festival The vibrant dance-pictures created by the five dancers of the Russo-Geiman company Do/Fabrik are one minute lyrical, fluid, joyous and life-enhancing, the next violent, grotesque, jagged and macabre. I his was the Tirst time that the collaboration between Potsdam's Fabrik Theatre and the Do-Theatre from St Petersburg had come to Northern Ireland, but the ...