There’s nothing like a trip to the theatre to get you in the mood for Christmas and the Merlin has something for everyone this December.
This year’s Christmas production of The Nutcracker has a choice of nine performances, between Thursday December 6th and Saturday December 15th, including three weekend matinees, making this musical play the ideal family show.
Local jazz singer Tom Carpenter and friends will be entertaining the audience with his favourite tracks, including Christmas numbers, plus some new originals, on Wednesday 19th December at 7.45pm – a blend of nostalgia and the new which is suitable for all ages.
On Sunday 23rd December, Merlin associate artist, Pip Utton, returns to the theatre to perform his entrancing reading of one of the best-loved and most famous Christmas ghost stories ever written. During the last 12 years of his life, Charles Dickens toured Britain and the USA, reading his writings professionally to his adoring public. The most popular of all these readings was ‘A Christmas Carol’.
In this almost totally candlelit performance and looking uncannily like Dickens, Pip recreates the famous author’s public readings using the script and directions that Dickens himself used.
However, if you’re of the ‘bah humbug’ persuasion and not looking for seasonal fare, The Metropolitan Opera presents La Traviata, recorded live on 15th December and screened at the Merlin on Sunday 16th, as new Met music director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, launches his tenure by conducting Verdi’s timeless tragedy.
More details of all performances can be found at www.merlintheatre.co.uk.
