The best pantomimes for Christmas 2010

Beauty and the Beast This tiny theatre is best known for its annual pantomimes and the surroundings make for a genuinely intimate experience. It should be a classy one, too, with music from West End and Broadway veteran Sarah Travis. ▶ The Theatre, Chipping Norton (01608 642 350), tomorrow to 8 January. Jack and the Beanstalk Berwick Kaler can lay claim to being one of the great dames of the modern panto era. He also writes and directs his comically anarchic shows, which start selling out at some performances around Easter. So get up that beanstalk sharpish. ▶ Theatre Royal, York (01904 623568), 9 December to 29 January. Dick Whittington and his Cat Last year, the Lyric staged its first panto in 20 years, a lively Jack and the Beanstalk. Now the same team is back – Steve Marmion as director, Joel Horwood and Morgan Lloyd Malcolm as writers – with a show about one of Boris Johnson's distinguished London mayoral predecessors. ▶ Lyric Hammersmith, London W6 (0871 2211729), Saturday to 8 January. Mother Goose Kenneth Alan Taylor has a genius for writing and directing panto, and he's been doing it at this address for 27 years. So this panto powerhouse should lay a golden egg with this one. ▶ Nottingham Playhouse (0115-941 9419), Thursday to 22 January. Jack and the Beanstalk Clive Rowe is back as the Dame in Susie McKenna's annual fun-fest, full of local references, cheesy pop songs, dancing tots and spectacular sets and costumes. The winning formula makes it a panto experience that in recent years has knocked the competition sideways. ▶ Hackney Empire, London E8 (020-8985 2424), Friday to 9 January.