December and January traditionally offer jam-packed stage programmes – from musical theatre to the traditional panto – and Christmas 2022 going into the 2023 New Year season is no exception. Rhiannon Farr scours Wales and its borders to cherry-pick the very best, from north to south. 

NORTH WALES

We begin our Wales-wide roundup in Llandudno’s Venue Cymru and the first of many Beauty & The Beast pantos doing the rounds this Christmas. The classic tale of a young girl falling for a prince cursed to be a beast is at the venue from Sat 10-Sat 31 Dec, with Welsh CBeebies star Rebecca Keatley in the role of Beauty (tickets: £13-£30.50. Info: here).

Continuing in the north, Theatr Clwyd’s Robin Hood panto is showing for nearly two months, starting in November and running until Sat 14 Jan. Christian Patterson brings rock‘n’roll to this classic pantomime, giving it a bit of soul and personality (tickets: £15-£48. Info: here).

MID & WEST WALES

Moving down to Pembrokeshire, those of you in west Wales can get your panto fix at the Torch Theatre from Fri 16-Sat 31 Dec. Sleeping Beauty, with Dion Davies playing Fanny the Nanny (yes, you read that correctly) in Milford Haven this panto season. It’s sure to be a popular one (tickets: £21.50/£18.50. Info: here). In the same neck of the woods, you’ll also find Jack Fincham of Love Island fame tightsing it up in Vision Arts Wales’ Jack And The Beanstalk, running almost twice a day at the Boulevard Show Bar towards the end of the month, Thurs 15-Sat 31 Dec (tickets: £16/£14. Info here.) Further up the coastline in Cardigan, Aladdin is making its way to Theatr Mwldan for five shows from Sat 17-Wed 28 Dec (tickets: £8. Info: here).

Aladdin appears to be a favourite in the panto scene this winter, as you can also catch it at Swansea’s Dylan Thomas Theatre from Wed 14-Sat 17 Dec (tickets: £12/£10. Info: here). Another option for those in the Swansea area is this roundup’s second production of Beauty & The Beast, which is being performed at Swansea Grand Theatre from Wed 14 Dec-Sun 15 Jan, with a cast that includes Joe McFadden, of Strictly and Casualty fame, and Welsh West Ender Hayley Gallivan (tickets: £15-£36. Info: here).

Our first ballet of this list is Brecon Festival Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker, showing at Theatr Brycheiniog from Fri 16-Sun 18 Dec. This collaborative production has community at its heart, with ensemble and behind-the-scenes roles given to locals. A ballet about Christmas, magic and romance, beautifully accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s instantly recognisable score, The Nutcracker remains a favourite with audiences – indeed, Brecon’s isn’t the only one you can catch in Wales this season (tickets: £24.50/£21.50. Info: here).

SOUTH WALES

For south Wales-based Christmas lovers (or those who don’t mind the commute), there’s a plethora of pantos, ballets and theatre to indulge in this winter. Starting in Newport’s Riverfront, the venue’s panto this year is Robin Hood (clearly another popular choice), performed from the end of November until Sat 7 Jan (tickets: £15-£25. Info: here). If at this point you’re after a bit more variety though, why not try Dragma’s Christmas Natterbox? On for one night only in the Riverfront, this saucy drag/cabaret show on Sat 10 Dec is definitely not something to bring the kids along to (tickets: £16.50. Info: here).

Newport is also home to ICC Wales, where Peter Pan On Ice is on show from Thurs 15 Dec-Sun 1 Jan. Choreographed by the award-winning Tony Mercer, this tale about the boy who never grew up is a great alternative to regular pantos (tickets: £18-£36. Info: here). You can catch (another) performance of Beauty & The Beast in the Blake Theatre in Monmouth on Sat 10 Dec (tickets: £10-£18. Info: here), and if you’re willing to cross the border, Bristol’s Tobacco Factory is showing The Snow Queen from Thurs 1 Dec-Sun 15 Jan, which will no doubt appeal to fans of Disney’s Frozen (tickets: £12-£24. Info: here).

As expected, Wales’ capital city is the home of festive theatre this winter: Cardiff’s New Theatre has Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs as its annual panto, the cast of which includes rugby legend Gareth Thomas. See it from Sat 10 Dec-Sun 8 Jan (tickets: £23.50-£45. Info: here). Elsewhere, on Tue 27 and Wed 28 Dec, Cardiff International Arena (previously the Motorpoint) is hosting a stage adaption of the modern-classic Christmas film Elf, where a human raised as one of Santa’s elves (played by Will Ferrell) who goes in search of his real dad in New York. Elf – A Christmas Spectacular is an explosive show full of song, dance and Christmas joy that promises you’ll leave feeling like Buddy The Elf himself (tickets: £23-£43. Info: here).

Meanwhile, the Sherman Theatre is putting a darker, alternative spin on traditional Christmas fare with its production, Tales Of The Brothers Grimm. Want to show your kids where their favourite fairy tales originated? You can catch it from now up until New Year’s Eve (tickets: £8-£27. Info: here).

For lovers of dance, St David’s Hall is, of course, bringing back its ever-popular annual ballet programme. This year, a trio of ballets are being performed by Varna International Ballet in their debut UK season, brought to the stage by artistic director Daniela Dimova and music director/chief conductor Peter Tuleshkov. First up is Coppélia (Sat 17 and Sun 18 Dec. Tickets: £10.25-£53. Info: here), a lighthearted ballet centred around a young woman whose love interest is enamoured with a life-size doll. It’s a great option for those who are already overly familiar with the venue’s other ballets this year, which includes The Nutcracker (Mon 19-Sat 24 Dec. Tickets: £10.25-£53. Info: here), and another of Tchaikovsky’s masterpieces running just after Christmas, Swan Lake (Tue 27-Sat 31 Dec. Tickets: £10.25-£53. Info: here). A ballet that steals the hearts of audiences year after year, Swan Lake’s beautiful score, impeccable choreography and tragic story of romance that could not be means this ballet is never one to be missed.

If you’d rather skip the chaos of Christmas altogether, you can still get your theatre fix in the new year. Wales Millennium Centre has a great selection of productions in January 2023. The first of these is the well-loved Bugsy Malone, based on the musical mafia comedy film with an all-child cast, and playing from Sat 17 Dec-Sat 21 Jan (tickets: £17.50-£39.50. Info: here). Following thatis another film-turned-stage production of Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, which will be teaching Welsh audiences to tango from Mon 23-Sat 28 Jan. Fans of Strictly Come Dancing will be pleased to know that this production stars the BBC show’s Kevin Clifton and Maisie Smith (tickets: £18.50-£73. Info: here). 

Finally, to wrap up this theatre selection, there is one final ballet of the season at the WMC from critically acclaimed choreographer Matthew Bourne: his version of Sleeping Beauty comes to Cardiff Bay from Tues 31 Jan-Sat 4 Feb. Having brought modernised versions of Cinderella, Nutcracker and Swan Lake to Wales for years now, Bourne’s imaginative choreography and staging remains a fresh option for fans of dance to this day (tickets: £18-£55. Info: here).

words RHIANNON FARR

Editor’s note: a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Torch Theatre had “the only panto” in Pembrokeshire, which has been amended. Buzz regrets this error.