★★★☆☆ ‘Light and airy’ could serve to describe the pervading mood, for this production of Dial M For Murder does not have darkness at its heart. In an attractive and nimble performance, Tom Chambers portrays Tony as a fast-talking charmer whose increasingly desperate, last-minute escapes from detection are masterpieces of quick-thinking under pressure. 

★★★★☆ The final tour is made up of several newer works, remaining true to its origins by concentrating on classical pieces with the odd relatively contemporary one.  

★★★★☆  Yasmina Reza is good at ruthlessly puncturing the pretensions of her characters, but her Darwinist vision offers little in the way of hope.  God Of Carnage is very funny, but the humour is underpinned with more than a little pessimism about the human race. It’s Lord Of The Flies, but with jokes. Highly recommended.

★★★☆☆  The Theatre Royal seems a very suitable venue for Jeremy Dyson and Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories. Home to several ghosts of its own, including the famous ‘Grey Lady’, a phantom doorman and a ‘Thing’ composed of several screaming faces accompanied by cold chills and whispering voices, a gentler apparition here is said to take the form of a butterfly.

★★★★☆ All the classic panto moments are here – sweets thrown into the audience, the audience singalong, the parish notices and four children getting goody bags onstage, before the inevitable marriage finale, for which the costume designers had thrown away all caution. All as good as a flaming Christmas pud.