It is December 1936, and Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast members to his Connecticut castle for the holidays. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, Gillette assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering whodunit set during the Christmas holidays.

EPSG:4326

The Game’s Afoot or Holmes for the Holidays

Theatre Arlington

Step in from the cold as our stage is transformed into a 1940s radio studio for this cherished American classic complete with musical jingles and sound effects created live on stage. Inspired by Frank Capra’s beloved holiday film, this heartfelt adaptation follows the life of the idealistic George Bailey. When all suddenly seems lost, an unlikely guardian angel intervenes and offers George an unexpected gift. A nostalgic blend of holiday cheer and theatrical magic, It’s a Wonderful Life celebrates the true meaning of the season and the best attributes of humankind. It will warm your heart and make you fall in love with the inhabitants of Bedford Falls all over again.

It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

Y’alltide greetings! Last season’s hilarious holiday hit returns for a second helping of peace on earth, goodwill to everybody. Faster and funnier than ever, our two versatile actors, John Allsopp and Scott Fitzgerald, are back to play all the unforgettable residents of quirky little Tuna, Texas. This wild ride of a Christmas comedy is as broad as the Rio Grande and as festive as tinsel in your hair. It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

LIVE ON STAGE: A Tuna Christmas

Ocala Civic Theatre

Step into a 1940s radio studio where IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE is brought to life before your eyes—complete with vintage microphones, live sound effects, and a cast playing dozens of characters. It's nostalgic, theatrical, and full of heartwarming charm. A timeless story told in a fresh, inventive way.

It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Miners Alley Performing Arts Center

Podcast link: https://youtu.be/4hagYvrYbuM

The Artelize Podcast and Kasper Holten - Pedefining Opera for the modern world

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d36M5Hi6O80

The Artelize Podcast - A legacy of innovation in Opera: Celebrating Marc A. Scorca

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59E40S_EQSY

The Artelize Podcast: A love letter that was never sent

Podcast link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THv6htilWtI

The Artelize Podcast and Adolfo Corrado: Mediterranean flavors, opera and social media

A whimsical reinvention of Dickens’ most beloved Christmas story in wacky rhymed couplets. With zoot fruited juices and binka bird geese, from Bed-Headed Fred to Timmy Loo Hoo, this tale of glorious holiday cheer is similar to something Dr. Seuss might have come up with — if he ever had his way with the story.

A Seussified Christmas Carol

NOVA Center for the Performing Arts

The extraordinary Advent story about Bisy the fly and Karl-Heinz the cross spider connects the natural world with our man-made world. An unusual and highly entertaining play for children ages 5 and up and the whole family.

You must be crazy!

CULTURE at Oberbräu

Gasteig HP8

Follow the tale of poor Jack, sent to market by his mother to sell the family's treasured cow. Little does he know that swapping dear Caroline for a bag of magic beans will lead to an adventure he will never forget!

With a castle in the clouds, a golden hen and a larger-than-life beanstalk with a very mean giant at the top of it, this traditional family panto is full of magical special effects, spectacular scenery and giant-sized comedy.

Jack & The Beanstalk: Christmas 2025

Park & Dare Theatre

Join us this December for a captivating retelling of It’s a Wonderful Life, brought to life as a 1940s-style live radio play. Set in the intimate round of the Paradiso, every seat offers a unique, up-close view of the beloved tale of George Bailey, his guardian angel Clarence, and the resilient community of Bedford Falls.

This immersive experience blends nostalgia with heart, drawing you into a world where kindness matters, neighbors look out for each other, and one life really can make a difference. Whether you’re returning as part of a cherished tradition or discovering the magic for the first time, this production will stir your soul and lift your spirits.

It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play

Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture

Don't miss our spectacular family pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs!

Starring an amazing cast including Sarah Hadland (Miranda, Strictly Come Dancing, original cast of Horrible Histories), childrenʼs favourite Phil Gallagher (Mister Maker), Marlowe legend Ben Roddy (winner of Best Dame at the Pantomime Awards 2024), Marc Pickering (winner of Best Supporting Artist at the Pantomime Awards 2024) and Mia Kobayashi (WhatsOnStage Award nominee for Best Professional Debut 2025).

Once again, the show will be written and directed by Paul Hendy, (winner of Best Script at the Pantomime Awards 2024), and produced by the Marlowe Theatre and Evolution Productions, the same award-winning team that brought you the five-star box office smash-hits Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Marlowe Theatre

Slow and steady wins the race.

Two unlikely friends, the Hare and the Tortoise, meet for the greatest race on earth. A nail-biting, seconds-ticking, medal-winning contest to decide who is the quickest: the excitable Hare or the wise Tortoise.

The story bursts to life in sunny spring, moves through a playful summer, and ends in the snowy frost of winter.

This charming adaptation of Aesop’s fable is brought to life by Tutti Frutti Productions, with fun, live music, unforgettable songs and delightful characters.

Hare and Tortoise

Everyone knows Patti Boo Rae is a shoo-in for the coveted Candy Cane Crown. That’s why, this year, she’s competing unopposed—or so she thinks.

Following an acclaimed 2024 run at Alphabetti Theatre, Little Miss Christmas is jingling all the way to Southwark Playhouse Borough.

Prepare to be swept away by a madcap beauty pageant with a festive twist on all the classic categories: Interview, Swimsuit, Evening Wear, Talent, and of course, Coronation.

Little Miss Christmas

Southwark Playhouse Borough

An actor arrives late at a sound studio for a last-minute job that he is yet to see the script for: an audiobook recording of a particularly chilling ghost story. But as the evening progresses, the horrors start to escape the pages of the story, and haunt the studio itself...

A Ghost In Your Ear is the new play from Jamie Armitage, the writer/director of 2025 sell-out hit An Interrogation. Made in collaboration with Ben and Max Ringham (ANNA, National Theatre and Blindness, Donmar Warehouse). 

Using binaural sound technology, the audience wears headphones so they are immersed in the terrifying auditory world of the show.

A Ghost In Your Ear

Hampstead Theatre

Experience Iben Hjejle and Alexander Bryld Obaze in the theatrical adaptation of Katrine Marie Guldager’s sharp-witted and critically acclaimed novel.

Lotte has been abandoned by the love of her life, Michael, and, to make matters worse, has also been dismissed from her job as a social worker. Then, out of the blue, Michael’s grown-up son, Daniel, calls—he has been unable to reach his father. Together, they discover Michael dead in his flat.

Another Day in God's Creation

Royal Danish Opera

This year's Christmas play at the Reithalle takes a look at the madness of everyday life. Based on his own experiences as a temporary Christmas elf at the famous department store chain Macy's, David Sedaris paints a wonderfully absurd picture of the festive season—full of overexcited customers, moody colleagues, and screaming children dictating their wishes to Santa Claus. With plenty of humor, we encounter human peculiarities, banal situations, and profound stories. A satire about consumerism, Christmas hypocrisy, and the absurdities of modern holiday rituals. This entertaining evening looks at Christmas with a wink and plenty of music. 

Confessions of a Christmas Elf

Reithalle

"Hansel and Gretel" is one of the most exciting stories of German Romanticism, contained in the famous collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm. In the unsurpassed musical setting by the late Romantic composer Engelbert Humperdinck (1854-1921), it is also one of the most beautiful—for many, even "the" most beautiful—fairytale operas in all of musical literature. It appeals to both adult and young audiences and has provided many a first unforgettable operatic experience.

Hansel and Gretel

Community Center Unterschleißheim

Stadttheater Wels

Stadttheater

Youth Center Karlsfeld

Waitzinger Keller Cultural Center

Cultural Office at KUBIZ

Get ready to be transported to a bygone era and immerse yourself in the heartwarming tale of George Bailey, Clarence the angel, and the enchanting town of Bedford Falls. This live radio play adaptation promises to capture the spirit of the season like never before. Whether it’s a family tradition or your first time experiencing the magic, the production is sure to fill your heart with warmth and joy. Share the spirit with your loved ones, and make this a December to remember.

It’s A Wonderful Life

Is it still possible to bring a child into the world with a clear conscience today? This is the question posed by a young couple who long for a child. But the world they would be born into is fraught with crises: overpopulation, climate change, dwindling resources, economic insecurity. Is it irresponsible to have a child now – or perhaps even necessary? What begins as an innocuous question unfolds into a whirlwind of closeness and distance – a rollercoaster of emotions that shakes their life plans. Shouldn't they, both responsible, Fair Trade-buying people, refrain from accelerating the planet's destruction by having children? Where is the line between selfishness and responsibility? 

Breathe

MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient Samuel D. Hunter’s intimate, powerful play is a thoughtful meditation on human resilience. Inside a small office in southern Idaho, two men struggle to understand the confounding terms of a mortgage loan while connecting over the joy and pain of fatherhood. The pair form an unlikely friendship through their “specific kind of sadness,” using humor to find hope in the face of heartbreak. Hailed as a New York Times Critic’s Pick, this moving new play from the award-winning screenwriter of The Whale is a testament to the power of finding one’s own community in the face of loneliness.

Play events in Northhampton this week

The Game’s Afoot or Holme...

Theatre Arlington

It's a Wonderful Life: A ...

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey

LIVE ON STAGE: A Tuna Chr...

Ocala Civic Theatre

It’s a Wonderful Life: A ...

Miners Alley Performing Arts Center

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast - A ...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast: A l...

Artelize

The Artelize Podcast and ...

Artelize

A Seussified Christmas Ca...

NOVA Center for the Performing Arts

You must be crazy!

Freies Landestheater Bayern

Jack & The Beanstalk: Chr...

Coliseum Theatre Aberdare

It’s A Wonderful Life: A ...

Athenaeum Center for Thought and Culture...

Snow White and the Seven ...

The Marlowe Theatre

Hare and Tortoise

The Marlowe Theatre

Little Miss Christmas

Southwark Playhouse

A Ghost In Your Ear

Hampstead Theatre

Another Day in God's Crea...

Royal Danish Opera

Confessions of a Christma...

Landestheater Coburg

Hansel and Gretel

Freies Landestheater Bayern

It’s A Wonderful Life

Athenaeum Center Theatre

Breathe

Landestheater Coburg

Mosaic Theater Company: A...

Atlas Performing Arts Center

Jack & The Beanstalk : Ch...

Coliseum Theatre Aberdare