A funny thing happens in theatres all around the country after the clocks go back. Suddenly, audiences are encouraged to shout out, sweets in noisy wrappers are thrown from the stage and elegant costumes are swapped out for the loudest, gaudiest clothes imaginable.
That’s because Christmas in British theatre means pantomime season. With so many theatres in London, there’s plenty of pantos on throughout the capital and we’ve listed the best of them for you below.
What Pantomimes can you see in London for Christmas 2025?
Cinderella at the Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames
Nestled in the leafy, market town of Kingston-upon-Thames, this year the Rose Theatre offers a magical fairytale that’s not quite the story you know. With direction by Olivier Award winner Chris Bush (Standing At The Sky’s Edge), this show also features brand new songs.
Cinderella retells the fairy story of a girl forced to spend Christmas with her wicked new step-mum and horrid twin step-sisters. When she’s whisked away into a magical world of castles and princes, will she find her happy ending?
26 November 2025 – 4 January 2026
Dick Whittington And His Catford Cat at the Broadway Theatre, Catford
Proving you don’t need to fly to New York to visit Broadway, Catford’s own Broadway Theatre presents a modern and local version of Dick Whittington, who was the actual Lord Mayor of London in the 14th and 15 centuries.
In this version, Dick Whittington sets sail from the West Indies on the Empire Windrush to seek his fortune on London’s streets of gold. Accompanied by who else but the Catford Cat, join Dick as he takes on the Queen Rat, meet an eccentric fairy and fall head over paws in love.
9 – 31 December 2025
Jack And The Beanstalk at the Lyric Hammersmith
After the success of last year’s smash sell-out Aladdin, the panto team of Sonia Jalaly and Nicholai La Barrie are back at the Lyric Hammersmith. In this reinvention of the fairy story, Jack and Jill have joined the strictest school in Hammersmith, where the headteacher sends naughty kids off to the giant – whatever that means.
With musical bangers, jaw-dropping magic and whip-smart comedy, join Jack and Jill on the climb of a lifetime to find the Fairy Godmother and bring joy back to West London
15 November 2025 – 4 January 2026
Beauty And The Beast: A Horny Love Story at the Charing Cross Theatre
For the third year running, Charing Cross Theatre hosts the big gay panto that is strictly for adults only. Expect plenty of outrageous outfits, colourful contouring and saucy word play as you’re transported to the Scottish village of Lickmanochers where a naïve mummy’s boy is taken prisoner by an aristocratic brute.
21 November 2025 – 11 January 2026
Potted Panto at Wilton’s Music Hall
If you can’t decide which panto is for you, then why make that choice? In this madcap show, you can experience seven classic pantomimes in 80 hilarious minutes all within the confines of Wilton’s, one of London’s oldest surviving music halls. What better venue for a pantomime than the music hall, one of they key influences on pantomime?
3 December 2025 – 3 January 2026
