London Connect

If you’re one of those highly unnerving souls who spent the last week of August laminating Yuletide timetables into their filofaxes, then this blog is too late for you. For the rest of us – just now experiencing the first glimmer of hope that Christmas is on its way – there are some highly anticipated theatre treats in store.

Booking ahead can be a bit like that strangely fragrant present from Great Auntie Ethel: you never know just what you’re going to get. But fans of trad seasonal fare will be pleased to know that there’s an RSC ‘Twelfth Night’ on its way: Gregory Doran’s new production transfers to the West End from December 19th. Shakespeare’s Malvolio is the ultimate killjoy, so it’s ludicrously apt to find Richard Wilson cast as the man who is surely Victor Meldrew’s comic great-great grandfather. Seeking sour-faced comic relief from the season of goodwill? Ye shall probably find it at the Duke of York’s.

These days, every big West End production needs a celebrity fairy at the top of its tree. But a recent crop of high quality drama, led by Michael Grandage’s Donmar season at Wyndham’s, has proved that when you unite an excellent creative team with a good writer and a bankable star, you can achieve full houses and critical garlands. Thea Sharrock, who shepherded Daniel Radcliffe through his West End debut, looks to be following that formula with a new production of Molière’s ‘The Misanthrope’. Keira Knightley and Damian Lewis lead the cast at the Comedy Theatre from Dec 7. And Martin Crimp – an unfailingly intelligent playwright and proven adaptor – provides an updated version of Molière’s play.

Patrick Marber’s ‘Don Juan in Soho’ is one of many examples of how well-adapted Moliere’s satires can be to the modern world: in Crimp’s new version a British playwright, determined to spurn the hollow mediocrity of contemporary society, falls in love with a famous American actress. Book now and you might just get a ticket during the hols: it’s also at the Comedy Theatre from 9 December.