Traditional pantomimes are not the only Christmas shows in town. Although the other shows dispense with the dame, the Good Fairy, Baron Hard-up and a slosh scene they still manage to conjure up all the magic and, more importantly, all the fun. The RSC’s Wendy and Peter Pan at Stratford has all that and a lot of thrills and drama as well . . . This is a spectacular production with the most amazing transformation as the Lost Boys’ hide-away emerges from the stage. . . some spectacular flying too.

According to Shakespeare, the course of true love never did run smooth. According to William Congreve, playwright of Restoration England, by his time it had almost ground to a halt. And with Love for Love, his comedy of 1695, he had enormous fun satirising high society with that concept. The work has become a classic and in this spirited version, director Selina Cadell and a fine cast, add energetic lustre to its long tradition. As the vain fop Tattle explains, relations between the sexes are simple if you just remember that all well-bred people lie, and that a women should never speak what she thinks. No means yes, and the rest follows on.

Director Gregory Doran and actor Alex Hassell memorably presented Prince Harry’s riotous youth with the roguish old knight Falstaff in Henry IV. Now he’s under the microscope on the hottest of hot seats, the throne. A process leavened by the introduction of some worthy and valid humour . . . Hassell’s performance too is nigh miraculous. It ranges from isolated, tense fixation as he affects the authority he strives to build – voice and movement full of edgy introversion, to assured soldierly bonhomie as success crowns his efforts.