All blog posts from Lisa in the Theatre
Theatre and arts reviews, news, interviews, favourites, ticket tips, guides and more.

Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock hosts returning Scottish TV and panto favourites Jane McCarry, Mark Cox, Jimmy Chisholm and Lee Samuel in Sleeping Beauty which runs at the venue until 31 December 2025. Read my review below. Jane McCarry as Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty. Photo: Christopher Bowen Sleeping Beauty, Beacon Arts Centre ★★★★☆ Review: 11 December 2025 Sleeping Beauty, the pantomime at the Beacon Arts Centre in Greenock this Christmas, looks just as impressive as any

Sally Cookson's Olivier award-nominated adaptation of the Cinderella fairy tale flutters into the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh this Christmas in a creative production teeming with beautiful, colourful birds. Read my review of Cinderella: A Fairytale below. Olivia Hemmati as Ella and Richard Conlon as Father in Cinderella: A Fairytale. Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic Cinderella: A Fairytale, Edinburgh Lyceum Christmas 2025 ★★★★☆ Review: 10 December 2025 | Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edi

Dundee Rep Theatre are staging a new family-friendly musical fairytale this Christmas season with a spirited highland cow in the lead role. Read my review of Jack and the Beanstalk A New Moooosical below. Suzie McAdam and Ronan O'Hara in Jack & the Beanstalk. Photo: Jess Shurte Jack and the Beanstalk A New Moooosical ★★★☆☆ Review: 6 December 2025 | Dundee Rep Theatre Writers Jonathan O’Neill and Isaac Savage have refreshed the popular Jack and the Beanstalk fairytale, and ha

The Citz first Christmas show in their reopened building, Lewis Hetherington's Beauty and the Beast offers a magical piece of atmospheric storytelling for the festive season. Read my review below. Israela Efomi and Nicholas Marshall in Beauty and the Beast. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Beauty and the Beast, Citizens Theatre ★★★★★ Review: 5 December 2025 | Citizens Theatre, Glasgow If you're looking for something other than pantomime to entertain the family this Christmas, the Cit

Twenty years since his first appearance in panto at Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling, Johnny McKnight returns to the stage with Weans in the Wood . Read my review of this exhilarating Christmas pantomime below. Johnny McKnight & Dani Heron in Weans in Wood. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Weans in the Wood panto, Macrobert Arts Centre ★★★★★ Review: 4 December 2025 | Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling Scotland's premier pantomime dame Johnny McKnight returns to Macrobert Arts Centre t

Macrobert Arts Centre is celebrating the twentieth anniversary of Johnny McKnight’s first appearance in the venue’s Christmas pantomime. Since then, Johnny has written every Macrobert pantomime and performed as the Dame every other year. Read more about this panto legend and his legacy at the Stirling panto below. Robert Jack, Johnny McKnight & the cast of Weans in the Wood at Macrobert Arts Centre. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Twenty years since Johnny McKnight first appeared in

With a Scottish spin on the traditional Aladdin story, Fraser Boyle and the team at Ayr's Gaiety Theatre have created two new Ayrshire pantomime heroes in Aladdie and Alassie. Read my review of the 2025 Ayr panto below. Lewis Kerr in Aladdie. Photo: Tommy Ga-Ken Wan Aladdie: Ayr Gaiety panto ★★★☆☆ Review: 29 November 2025 | Ayr Gaiety Theatre Fraser Boyle's writing is brilliant. He wisely side-steps any issues with the traditional Aladdin pantomime story and Orientalism by pl

Jason Donovan has returned to one of his most famous roles: playing Frank-N-Furter in Richard O’Brien’s anarchic musical, The Rocky Horror Show. So, the question has to be: why? Jason Donovan as Frank-n-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. Photo credit: Daniel Boud Interview: Jason Donovan on touring the UK with The Rocky Horror Show Jason Donovan talks to Richard Barber about playing Richard O'Brien's iconic Sweet Transvestite. So why this role? “In a nutshell,” he says, “I’m a

Putting a Scottish spin on the classic giant fairytale, the Pavilion theatre's 2025 pantomime Jock and the Beanstalk has bounced onto the Glasgow stage full of colour and sass. Playing now until 11th January 2026; read my review of the Pav's latest panto offering below. Jock and the Beanstalk cast, The Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow. Photo: Martin Shields Jock and the Beanstalk ★★★★☆ Review: 28 November 2025 | Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow Produced by Imagine Theatre for the Pavilio