Theatre review: The Rivals

Tom Littler's theme for Christmas shows at the Orange Tree seems to be Jazz Age relocations for classic comedies, and this year he goes back to Restoration Comedy to move Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals from 1775 to 1927. Lydia Languish (Zoe Brough) is a fan of torrid romantic novels and wouldn't consider a romance of her own that wasn't suitably anguished, so her aristocratic suitor Captain Jack Absolute (Kit Young) is wooing her in disguise as a lowly sergeant: He knows she would never be interested in him if he had her family's approval. In fact Jack's father Sir Anthony (Robert Bathurst) has been busy arranging a marriage between his son and Lydia, so when the latter finds out she determines to reject Jack Absolute in favour of the fictional Beverley, and Jack finds himself his own biggest rival.

Theatre review:Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol

I said before that it takes something really distinctive to make me consider seeing one of the many stage versions of A Christmas Carol out there at the moment: A couple of weeks ago the attraction was a comedy version that largely ignored everything about the actual story; for my last show before Christmas itself, I would have thought the title Dolly Parton's Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol probably tells you all you need to know. Parton (music and lyrics) and David H. Bell's (book) musical version of the Charles Dickens story started life as a Dollywood attraction before being expanded into a full-length show, and Alison Pollard's production now gets its UK premiere at the South Bank Centre. They've moved the story from Victorian London to 1930s Tennessee and added Parton's distinctive country music sound, but it ends up a surprisingly faithful adaptation both in plot and intention.

Theatre review: Who Cares

Continuing the theme since Vicky Featherstone took over the Royal Court of having shows explode out of the usual boundaries of its auditoria, Michael Wynne's verbatim play Who Cares technically takes place in the Upstairs Theatre. But before it gets there Debbie Hannan, Lucy Morrison and Hamish Pirie's promenade production takes the audience from the rehearsal rooms and offices behind Sloane Square station, to the staircases and corridors backstage, and the area that's usually the lighting booth of the Upstairs Theatre. This is all in service of us hearing the stories of, for the most part, workers in the National Health Service, building up a picture both of the emotional connection that this country has to the NHS, and exactly how it's being changed by successive governments - particularly the "stealth privatisation" brought in by the current coalition.