Arts Ahead 17-24 December

By Zoe Craig Last edited 183 months ago
Arts Ahead 17-24 December
daria_klimentova.jpg

Most of your festive shows are up and running in London by the time we get this close to Christmas. Those that are opening this week are a varied bunch; if you aren't overwhelmed by Christmas party invites, late-night shopping trips, or simply too cold to venture out, you might want to check out one of these.

Perennial Christmas favourite, The English National Ballet's The Nutcracker brings its seasonal magic to the London Coliseum from today.

At the other end of the festive spectrum, Sinderella – The Twisted Tale of a Christmas Crack Whore opens at the Southbank Centre on Thursday. The creation of musical entertainers The Tiger Lillies and Tony-nominated Justin Bond, Sinderella promises a night of surreal night of dark humour, cabaret and controversial songs.

Musical vacuum cleaners, performing shopping trolleys and tuneful traffic cones come to the Royal Festival Hall from Friday. The Lost and Found Orchestra comes from the makers of Stomp, and is sure to be as much as a hit with locals and the tourist crowd alike.

For something a little quieter, head to the British Museum. Reindeer tales are magical stories of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia told by Natasha Solomon. If you're aged over 7, get your Ma or Pa to accompany you on Monday or Tuesday next week. And you can make an animated film with artist Reza Ben Gajra.

Finally, for something more funky and free: Moth is a multimedia treasure-trail street performance starting in Ladbroke Grove on Thursday. You'll be guided through the streets of North Kensington in a "curious, luminous treasure trail combining storytelling, performance and guerrilla style video projections using new, wearable, wireless technology" apparently. Not Christmassy at all: sounds bloody brilliant.

Last Chance To See

Quite a few shows finish their runs this week, many of them on Saturday. So, it's your last chance to see the gorgeous Josh Hartnett in Rain Man at the Apollo Theatre; your final opportunity to catch Stephen Mangan and mates in the round inThe Norman Conquests at The Old Vic; and your final chance to Imagine This with the doomed cast in the show dubbed "that Holocaust musical" at the New London Theatre. (We thought it had good and bad moments, to be honest, and certainly didn't deserve the reviews it got.)

Bill Bailey's Tinselworm ends its run at the Gielgud Theatre on Monday. And Ida Barr: So this is Christmas is all over at the Barbican on Tuesday. Happy Christmas breaks to them all.

Image shows Daria Klimentova from English National Ballet's The Nutcracker

Last Updated 17 December 2008