{"id":240945,"date":"2025-12-19T12:10:29","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/240945\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:10:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:10:29","slug":"our-critics-verdicts-on-the-pantos-and-shows-to-catch-this-christmas-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/240945\/","title":{"rendered":"Our critics\u2019 verdicts on the pantos and shows to catch this Christmas \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is plenty happening on the live entertainment front in the coming weeks to amuse everyone \u2013 young and old. While shows and pantos are always popular, you might get lucky and cadge last-minute tickets for that perfect holiday treat. If you\u2019re not sure what to choose, fear not, our critics went along to the following headline shows, and these are our verdicts: <\/p>\n

Beauty and the Beast<\/a><\/p>\n

Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, until Sunday, January 18th<\/b><\/p>\n

Darryn Crosbie\u2019s annual spectacular is a pantofied version of Disney\u2019s Beauty and the Beast, with selected songs from Howard Ashman and Alan Menken\u2019s original film score fleshed out with contemporary pop numbers.<\/p>\n

\"SusanSusan McFadden in The Snow Queen at the Helix Theatre <\/p>\n

The Snow Queen<\/a><\/p>\n

Helix, Dublin, until Sunday, January 11th<\/b><\/p>\n

The Theatreworx panto never veers far from the traditional form, and yet, with its well-honed script, it manages to never be formulaic, offering the most fun panto experience in Dublin year on year.<\/p>\n

\"HowHow to catch a Star, Branar\u2019s adaptation of Oliver Jeffers\u2019s children\u2019s book. Photograph: Anita Murphy <\/p>\n

How to Catch a Star<\/a><\/p>\n

Ark Cultural Centre for Children, Temple Bar, Dublin, until December 30th<\/b><\/p>\n

Branar\u2019s seasoned adaptation of Oliver Jeffers<\/a>\u2019s beautiful children\u2019s book, is about a star-obsessed boy who is determined to catch one of his own through any means necessary. <\/p>\n

\"IssyIssy Khogali as Princess Jasmine in Aladdin at Cork Opera House <\/p>\n

Aladdin<\/a><\/p>\n

Cork Opera House, Cork, until January 18th<\/b><\/p>\n

With enough dry ice to melt a glacier, this year\u2019s Cork Opera House pantomime creates an appropriately mysterious, magical atmosphere of joyous expectation. It lifts all the high points from the ancient Aladdin fable, allowing \u201ctweaks\u201d to knit the plot into the coherence of a familiar locality.<\/p>\n

\"WrenWren Dennehy and Lloyd Hutchinson in A Christmas Carol at the Gate Theatre. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh <\/p>\n

A Christmas Carol<\/a><\/p>\n

Gate Theatre, Dublin, until January 18th<\/b><\/p>\n

Claire O\u2019Reilly<\/a>\u2019s lovely, deeply spooky production for the Gate, working from a robust adaptation by Neil Bartlett, confirms (as if confirmation were required) that the fable still has traction after 180 years. The imaginative staging, however, works new magic from that familiar material.<\/p>\n

\"MoulinMoulin Rouge runs at the Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre, Dublin, until Saturday, January 10th <\/p>\n

Moulin Rouge!<\/a><\/p>\n

Bord G\u00e1is Energy Theatre, Dublin, until Saturday, January 10th<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s more than a touch of pantomime to the theatrical composition of Moulin Rouge! The setting of late-19th-century Paris is as romantic as that of any fairy tale, the story borrows from familiar source material and Justin Levine\u2019s mind-boggling score shifts restlessly between contemporary pop and rock classics. Make no mistake, though: this is a thoroughly adult affair.<\/p>\n

\"MaeveMaeve Fitzgerald as Gretta Conroy and Jonathan Forbes as Gabriel Conroy in James Joyce\u2019s The Dead, at MoLI on St Stephen\u2019s Green, Dublin, until February 1st. Photograph: Patrick Redmond <\/p>\n

The Dead<\/a><\/p>\n

Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin, until Sunday, February 1st<\/b><\/p>\n

This perfect story finds a wonderfully playful and resonant expression in one of the city\u2019s great literary sites. It\u2019s a production that honours Joyce without embalming him, letting his world breathe again. A must-see Christmas gem (if you\u2019re lucky enough to get a ticket).<\/p>\n

\"DublinDublin Gothic, written by Barbara Bergin and directed by Caroline Byrne, is at the Abbey Theatre until Saturday, January 31st. Photograph: Ros Kavanagh <\/p>\n

Dublin Gothic<\/a><\/p>\n

The Abbey Theatre, until Saturday, January 31st<\/b><\/p>\n

Barbara Bergin<\/a>\u2019s new play is rooted in one place, yet covers an extraordinary amount of ground. Set in and around a tenement in a reimagined version of the \u201cnorth city innards\u201d, Dublin Gothic features more than 100 characters, performed by a cast of 19, over the course of three-and-a-half hours (with two intervals).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is plenty happening on the live entertainment front in the coming weeks to amuse everyone \u2013 young…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[112771,123980,16838,79586,18,117,112599,43856,19,17,113104,112600],"class_list":{"0":"post-240945","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-abbey-theatre","9":"tag-bord-gais-energy-theatre","10":"tag-christmas","11":"tag-cork-opera-house","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-gaiety-theatre","15":"tag-gate-theatre","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-moli","19":"tag-pantomime"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115746167306891902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}