(Mark Cook’s and Lyn Gardner’s article appeared in the Guardina, Friday 11 December 2015.)
The Instatiable, Inflatable Candylion | Les Liaisons Dangereuses | The Fitzrovia Radio Hour’s Christmas Special & Around The World In 80 Days | The Witches | The Snow Queen | Show Boat
The Instatiable, Inflatable Candylion, Cardiff
If you’re looking for something completely different, National Theatre Wales can be guaranteed to deliver it. In its short life it has constantly pushed at the boundaries of what theatre might be, so it’s no surprise that this is a family Christmas show that will be more than a bit different. In fact, it’s hard to work out exactly what it will be – suffice to say that it combines the talents of theatre director Wils Wilson, playwright Tim Price and Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys, who draws on his solo album, Candylion. Billed as a hybrid of gig and theatre, it takes you into the kingdom of Candy where there’s a roaring lion, a polar pear and a sledgehog among other things.
SSE SWALEC Stadium, Wed to 2 Jan
LG
Les Liaisons Dangereuses, London
Les Liaisons Dangereuses was a huge hit for Christopher Hampton and the RSC in 1985 – and it didn’t harm the careers of its stars Alan Rickman, Lindsay Duncan and Juliet Stevenson either. It was based on Laclos’s epistolary novel of 1782, a scathing portrayal of debauched aristocrats before the French revolution, of two ex-lovers competing to corrupt and sexually humiliate women of virtue. Hampton’s version (also made into a 1988 film) was gripping and really put the sex and seduction centre stage. Now Dominic West lines up as the sneery Valmont and Janet McTeer as the scheming Marquise de Merteuil. The starry production will be shown live in cinemas on 28 Jan.
Donmar Warehouse, WC2, to 13 Feb
http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/dec/11/this-weeks-new-theatre