And so this is Christmas…

…and what have we done? It’s a question many of us ask at this time of year. Where has the year gone? Well you can’t turn back time but you can reflect. Last Thursday, I was invited to reflect on the achievements of one of the UK’s iconic performance venues at the screening of Hackney Empire: On The Shoulders of Giants, the culmination of a year of celebrations for their 120th birthday. Some of the men and women who rescued and restored the building were there, including Roland and Claire Muldoon, Othman Read and Brian Wren. At the end of the viewing, the current artistic director, Yamin Choudry, spoke of his own unconventional journey into the arts and how the ‘Empire has become a home for him and thousands of others. It was moving, not sentimental, and as we digested their remarkable achievement in getting to where they are today, my final reflection was on how its ethos and working practice was so ahead of the game in terms of diversity and inclusion. They don’t need to talk about it, they just do it and have been for decades. That’s what they’ve done. How about you?…
Minutes later we nestled into our red velvet seats for Mother Goose. Set in Hackneywood, a place where the townsfolk are struggling with a cost of living crisis, unaffordable rents and nasty landlord Squire Purchase (Tony Marshall) threatening to evict those who cannot pay. Top of his list of evictees is Mother Goose (Clive Rowe), owner of Mother Goose’s Makeovers (MGM’s) and her two sons Billy (Kat B) and Jack (Ope Sowande). Just when all seems lost, not helped by Mother Goose’s altruism always wanting to help those in need, the family’s pet big bird Priscilla the goose (Ruth Lynch) starts producing golden eggs. Little do they know that the Demon Queen (Rebecca Parker), in a bet with Fairy Fame (Gemma Wardle), has set the whole thing up to show that even Mother Goose has her price.
It’s a big, bold and colourful family production, steeped in the community it serves and has everything you could want from a panto. Topical, energetically performed, songs old and new and a pantomime dame who has assumed the mantle of dame of dames, determined not to let anybody steal that crown. Rowe, who also directs, is a artistic force of nature, a capacious character with a voluminous voice. When people talk of stage presence and charisma they could do worse than come along and see how he struts his stuff in Cleo Pettitt’s brilliantly conceived and gloriously outrageous costumes. Adding sprightly support is the always funny Kat B, Parker who is a deliciously vampish Demon Queen and Lynch’s honking Priscilla, the very loveable dancing goose.
Although the first act is overlong and the second concludes suddenly, it remains London’s best. Dare I say it the Hackney Empire has laid another golden egg for all to enjoy.
A hard act to follow maybe but hats off to The Yvonne Arnaud in Guildford for Jack and the Beanstalk, a real crowd pleaser for the kids. With a technicolour set, upbeat music and excited cheers from the children, all of whom were from Pennthorpe School, a puff of indoor pyrotechnics and we were off. Enter Fairy Foxglove (Devon-Elise Johnson) who is there to ensure a happy ending, a kind spirit who sets the scene for what is an environmentally conscious production.
After a song and dance intro to the jolly village folk of Merrydale pantomime dame Mary from the Dairy (Peter Gordon) takes over with sons Jack (Ernest Stroud) and her favourite Simon (James Merry). However, it is the baddie who steals the show in the shape of Kit Hesketh-Harvey’s Hendrix the Horrible, who to quote my companion “looked a bugger” in a blue headpiece cum wig that looked like some of last year’s Christmas decorations. With his sneers, camp demeanour and snappy ad-libbing he has a ball sending the whole thing up and the lady in the front row from Middlesbrough lapped it up as he used her as his comedy punch bag. With several recognisable songs and a hilarious Twelve Days of Christmas it is a fun show for all the family.
Last but not least, Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall features an eclectic programme of concerts that capture the spirit and joy of the season. Now in its 7th year, Guy Barker’s Big Band Christmas returned with a bang. They filled the festively decorated auditorium with a wonderful sound with showman Barker leading the way. He is a superb jazz trumpeter.
The line up for the evening was impressive and all lived up to their billing, including jazz singer Ian Shaw, also an accomplished pianist, Jazz FM presenter Clare Teal who gave a colourful rendition of Singin’ in the Rain. The big surprise was the appearance of actor Rob Bryden who sang I’ll be Home for Christmas followed by an Elvis impersonation which morphed from being comedic into one of Elvis’s last songs Hurt accompanied by Giacomo Smith on the clarinet. The boy can sing. Vanessa Hynes meanwhile gave us a very personal and imaginative version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. By the end of this very entertaining evening it really did feel like the most wonderful time of the year.
Meanwhile Athasha Lyonnais is feeling raw…
Holy Sh*t (Riverside Studios) is a modern-day Burke and Hare story, a madcap farce about two priests forced to exhume their former congregation and sell their cadavers to keep the lights on.
Truth be told, it feels a little undercooked and no that’s not a lewd euphemism! The corpse-focussed grotesquery never quite matches that found in Joe Orton’s Loot, the bitter camaraderie between the two leads never quite hits that Martin McDonagh frequency – and for all the scenes of Fathers George and Charlie standing in a graveyard contemplating their own morality, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead this ain’t.
However, lots of moments are pleasantly macabre, the two leads have a fun chemistry and the Christmas setting (technically!) makes it a perfect choice if you’re looking for an antidote to the over-sentimental deluge of Christmas good will. Maybe one for the grinches out there to enjoy.
Finally, Stellaria Embellou feels the redemptive love…
Time and time again I’d been told by several friends that I had to see Jack Thorne’s version of A Christmas Carol (Old Vic). Not a great believer in hype I went with an open mind. Ok so now I get it. Directed by Matthew Warchus, it takes the Dickens original, plays with it, stirs the emotions and then turns the ending it into a kind of East End street party and knees up celebrating the joy that is Christmas. This includes music and merriment, beautiful carolling and handbell ringing, the turkey being flown in on a zip wire, a load of vegetables being thrown in on sheets into the centre of the auditorium and all sorts of other jollities making it feel like an immersive experience.
The story itself is given contrast by Warchus going more for an interpretative approach than head on traditional making the spirits more like mentors and counsellors, especially Christmas Past (Julie Jupp) and Christmas Present (Jenny Fitzpatrick). Sebastien Torka’s Marley is given extra weight and gravitas with his ominous message as he is tethered to an enormous bundle of chains, Scrooge’s (Owen Teale) worst nightmare before the three to come. Teale’s Scrooge is an angry tortured soul who seems to have a drink problem with anxiety issues. Very twenty first century.
Other elements of note, Rob Howell’s simple and innovative set – the large empty door frames particularly effective – talented onstage musicians, well imagined and executed costumes (Howell again) especially the beautiful coats, the atmospheric use of lanterns and of course the snow. Terrific.

Mother Goose – www.hackneyempire.co.uk
Jack and the Beanstalk – www.yvonne-arnaud.co.uk
Christmas at the Royal Albert Hall – www.royalalberthall.com
Holy Sh*t – www.riversidestudios.co.uk
A Christmas Carol – www.oldvictheatre.com