Top Picks
Christmas Theatre Top Picks
This Christmas, there is a HUGE variety of fantastic and festive theatre! From hilarious pantos to Christmas classics and Cornish favourites - what will take your fancy this Christmas?
1. David Mynne – A Christmas Carol
Sat 17th December 2022
St Ives Guildhall, St Ives
Spend an evening with Ebenezer Scrooge: a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, clutching, covetous, old miser! Bah! In their inimitable style, the team that brought you Great Expectations, Dracula and The Odyssey, will now take you on a grim (sort of) journey through Victorian London’s dark, dismal streets.
Dickens’ original words with added silliness. Silliness? Bah! Celebrate the festive season with a mesmerising one-man performance of Charles Dickens’ timeless, transformative story: A Christmas Carol.
2. Christmas. Time.
Thu 15th – Fri 23rd December 2022
The Poly, Falmouth
Bringing bucket loads of Christmas spirit once again this December is Near-ta Theatre’s cult festive comedy and Cornwall’s longest-running festive show, Christmas. Time.
Join them on a fantastical adventure through Dickens, pantomime, musical, Christmas dinner and Christmas films! See as they build a wonderfully Merry Christmas around them with songs, snowmen and lots of laughs in this truly festive show that puts the ‘cell’ firmly back in ‘celebration’!
3. The Christmassey Christmas Show of Christmassey Christmasness!
Thu 22nd December 2022
The Acorn, Penzance
The Christmassy Christmas Show of Christmassy Christmasness! is an over-stuffed stocking of seasonal surprises crammed with puppets, songs, quizzes and comedy, and over-flowing with crazy characters, silly slapstick, tall tales and fantastic facts – all presented in that unique Squashbox style!
Perfect for you and your little ones to have fun, learn about Yuletide traditions old and new, hear the story of the first Christmas Tree and even explore some festive science.
4. Twisted Christmas
Thu 22nd December 2022
Burrell Theatre, Truro
‘Owdyado Theatre’s Twisted Christmas returns to the South-West this year with its deliciously depraved take on the holiday season.
Featuring writers from Cornwall and across the UK, this selection of 7 original micro-plays includes tales of how to buy the perfect gift for your unloved ones, the dark side of Christmas cracker jokes, and one woman’s maniacal plot to murder Santa Claus.
Influenced by cult classics such as Inside No.9, The Twilight Zone and Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, Twisted Christmas promises a darkly comic evening of macabre mini-plays all with a festive flavour!
5. Sleeping Beauty
Thu 15th – Sat 31st December 2022
Princess Pavilion, Falmouth
Ready yourselves for a reimagining of Sleeping Beauty and follow the adventures of a resourceful princess with insomnia when a resentful fairy’s wicked spell goes horribly wrong…
Audiences will be transported to the stage of the Cornwall Riviera Holiday Camp in 1959 where the legendary Yellowjackets are bursting to entertain the campers with their mangled version of this classic story; told with a song and a dance; a wink and a nudge!
A scary-fairy-tale to uplift dreamers of all ages!
6. Mayven Festival: A Scary Little Tempest
Tue 20th December 2022
Minack Theatre, Porthcurno / Online
Partnered with The Minack for their first-ever live theatre digital fusion event, join Scary Little Girls online for a new exploration of Shakespeare’s shipwreck classic. In their own cabaret style, Scary Little Girls use live and digital fusion to examine the love stories at the heart of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, combining live-streamed scenes, songs and projections.
Featuring the talents of the Radical Rep and guest illustrator Rima Stains, this 50-minute frolic into this classic text uses Cornish mythology and the Minack’s rugged sea-scape to explore themes of power, intimacy, manipulation and hope.
Follow proceedings from shipwreck to goddess-led wedding celebrations from the comfort of your own home, or come along to the Minack for this solstice sea-set one-off special!
7. Jack and the Beanstalk
Tue 24th – Sun 29th January 2023
Epworth Centre, Helston
Helston Theatre Company’s 2023 pantomime is Jack and the Beanstalk!
Jam-packed with comedy, song, dance – plus a giant beanstalk! This production promises to be a wonderful and fun start to the year.
8. Elf…ish
Sun 18th – Sat 31st December 2022
Pinetum Gardens, St Austell
If you’re in need of a healthy dollop of silliness and magic this Christmas, then wrap up warm and settle back with a mulled wine in hand and enjoy 45 minutes of fun with Jam First Theatre’s Comic Christmas Cracker ‘Elf..ish!’.
Created by West End actors Laurence Pears, Darren Seed and Ellie Leah. Three performers with an impressive range of West End, Broadway and TV shows between them! Don’t miss out on this festive theatre treat this Christmas!
9. The Mousehole Cat
Tue 13th – Sat 31st December 2022
The Solomon Browne Hall, Mousehole
Cousin Jack’s magical puppet and live-action production is performed annually in the heart of Mousehole alongside the village’s famous Christmas light display.
Based on the well-knownCornish legend this uniquely heartwarming story of the friendship between a fearless fisherman and his devoted cat will warm the cockles of everyone’s hearts… almost as much as an ‘efty portion of stargazy pie!
This magical show has an hour-long run time allowing families to soak up the atmosphere of Cornwall’s most famous Christmas light display and enjoy a live performance all in one evening.
10. The Johnny Cowling Christmas Show
Thu 22nd December, 2022
Lane Theatre, Newquay
Popular entertainer and singer Johnny will once again be coming to Lane on the Thursday in the week before Christmas with his usual mix of fun and a bit of music.
Make sure you come along for some festive-filled fun, which is bound to get you into the merriest of moods!
11. Treasure Island
Until Sat 31st December 2022
Hall for Cornwall, Truro
Ready yourself for a classic Hall for Cornwall Christmas swashbuckling adventure starring Edward Rowe (Kernow King) as Long John Silver. Castaway with us and our multi-talented cast for a festive treat, packed to the gunnels with family fun and enough silly jokes to make the sternest pirate giggle!
Join Long John Silver, Jim Lad, his flamboyantly-dressed Mum and our motley crew of ne’er do wells and wrong-uns as we set sail for a silly island full of treasure, treachery and adventure this Christmas in Cornwall.
12. Dick Whittington presented by RAMPS
Wed 11th – Sun 15th January 2023
The Regal Theatre, Redruth
Follow the story of poor Dick Whittington as he travels to London to find his fortune, believing “the streets are paved with gold.”
Will he triumph and will his dreams come true or will he be foiled by the evil King Rat. RAMPS are the premiere society for many years in presenting traditional, quality, funny pantomimes for the South West area.
