Aliya Al-Hassan - Page 79

It's very much that time of year again; high street shops are already tormenting staff and shoppers alike with 'festive' songs, mince pies have been on sale for months and pantomimes are starting to surface. The Vaults is not the place to see a conventional pantomime and expectations of an 'alternative' panto are more than fulfilled with their festive offering Aladdin And The Feast Of Wonders; a very adult take on a story inspired by Aladdin and the Arabian Nights.

Where would theatre be without literary adaptations? From The Woman in Black to Matilda The Musical, some of the best shows originate from books. At first glance, Sarah Waters' fourth novel, the 2006 hit The Night Watch, is ripe for adaptation for the stage. A tale of love and desire set during and after World War Two, it follows the stories of four Londoners in reverse. They manage to survive The Blitz, but are forever-changed by their experiences.

A new family face the most testing of circumstances when their beautiful new baby girl is diagnosed with a potentially life-changing condition. Out Of The Dark, Suzy Gill's absorbing debut play, explores how a couple deal with the joys and the traumas of life where their child did not form in the way they thought she would.

Founded by the late, great Sir Peter Hall, and modelled on the original Elizabethan Rose Theatre on London's Bankside, Rose Theatre Kingston is the largest producing theatre in south-west London. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Alice Sebold made a literary splash with her heart-rending 2002 novel The Lovely Bones. The story follows 14 year-old Susie Salmon, raped and murdered, who now views earth from her vantage point in heaven. Here she witnesses how her family, friends and her killer cope with her death and try to live life without her. Directed by the talented Melly Still, a breathtaking stage adaptation is now on a national tour.

When does a teenager become an adult? Is there an exact moment or event that shapes us into what we become and how much is our quest to fit in, a help or hindrance? Set in inner-city London, Arinze Kene's play Little Baby Jesus follows the pleasures and pain of three teenagers as they pinpoint moments when they enter into their adult lives.

Toast is the adaptation of a poignant childhood memoir, where the early death of a parent leads to a strained relationship with an awful stepmother and an increasingly violent father. So far, so familiar. What makes the story of Nigel Slater, one of the country's best-loved food writers, so different is Slater's utterly infectious love for food. After very successful runs at Manchester's Lowry, Edinburgh's Traverse and London's The Other Palace Theatre, this deliciously bittersweet play is now on a national tour.

Improper behaviour from privileged, privately-educated white men with an overwhelming sense of entitlement. No, not a current opinion piece, but a description of Laura Wade's blistering and brutal play Posh. It is nearly a decade since Wade's devastating commentary of a section of the upper classes, but it feels more relevant now than ever.

Unless you are a seasoned movie buff, it is unlikely you will have heard of Jack Cardiff. However, this great British cinematographer had a seismic effect on the way in which we view films, having been the first person to shoot a Technicolor film in Europe. He worked on films such as Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, filling the screen with previously unseen levels of colour and saturation. In Terry Johnson's play, Prism, we visit Cardiff in his declining years, as dementia robs him of his present, but also returns him to his colourful past.

As part of the Southbank Centre's Classical Season, the Philharmonia Orchestra performed a fantastic Sunday matinee of Beethoven's Symphony No.7, along with Schumann's overture to Manfred and Mendlessohn's superb Violin Concerto.

Shelagh Delaney was known for putting working class women centre-stage. It is remarkable to think that she was only 19 when she penned A Taste Of Honey, a bleak depiction of working class life in post-war Britain where people did not live, but simply tried to exist. It is even more significant that she was a young, uneducated, Northern woman succeeding in a theatrical world that was run for and by an educated elite of men. The National Theatre's excellent 2014 version now returns for a national tour before transferring to the Trafalgar Studios next year.

Back in 1994, Stephan Elliott created a funny and powerful road-trip film that soon became a cult classic. Priscilla Queen Of The Desert was a pioneering LGBTQ+ comedy and found a successful home on the stage starring Jason Donovan. This newly-adapted musical tour sees Donovan take the reins as producer of a show that sparkles, but lacks some depth.

After the 2003 film and the 2009 play, there can be few people who are not aware of the story of the Yorkshire Women's Institute members who posed nude for a charity calendar. Calendar Girls-The Musical is the latest incarnation of the story written by Take That's Gary Barlow and Tim Firth. After a very successful run at the Phoenix Theatre in 2017, this uplifting show is currently on tour and now comes to the New Wimbledon Theatre.

The Menier Chocolate Factory is set in a beautiful Grade II listed building close to London Bridge. Since 2004, the 180-seat venue has developed a reputation for hosting multi-award winning productions. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Our national obsession with property prices has a long history. Back in 1989, Stephen Jeffreys targeted the seismic social and financial changes of the decade with his play Valued Friends. A caustic commentary on Thatcher's Britain and the explosion of property prices, it was a hit when it premiered in 1989 at the Hampstead Theatre and earned Jeffreys Most Promising Playwright awards from both the Critics' Circle and Evening Standard. Michael Fentiman's brand new production at Kingston's Rose Theatre is the first revival of the play in thirty years and bristles with nostalgia, yet lacks real substance.

Founded in 1993, Southwark Playhouse has always been a local theatre, fostering strong community links and helping to revive neglected parts of Southwark. After settling into its Elephant and Castle home after several temporary venues, the theatre is now fundraising to relocate again to a truly secure and permanent home on Newington Butts, with a satellite studio back under the arches of London Bridge. The theatre has two spaces, The Little and The Large seating around 100 and 200 respectively. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

After the broad success of his year-long Oscar Wilde Season, Classic Spring's Dominic Dromgoole has brought the first play in that series, A Woman Of No Importance, on a national tour that kicks off Richmond Theatre's new season this week.

After continuing to work on an extensive refurbishment, Waterloo's Old Vic not-for-profit theatre continues to build on 200 years of history. Just down the road, located on an old bomb site, the Young Vic started life as the first residence of the Royal National Theatre under Laurence Olivier. It was only meant to be there for five years, but remains there today, refurbished and more vibrant than ever. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

It is always exciting to witness a ballet company unseen in the UK. Astana Ballet is Kazakhstan's leading ballet company and since its 2013 debut, the company has performed all over the world. So far, this has not included the UK, but last night, Astana Ballet made its sold-out UK debut with an intriguing programme of four one-act ballets that combine classical choreography with an influence of contemporary and Kazakh folk dance.

In our turbulent modern times, the issue of intolerance for foreigners, immigrants and being 'the other' is a much-debated and controversial topic. In this way, Amsterdam, Maya Arad Yasur's thought-provoking, yet disjointed new play, could not be more prescient.