The rush to the finishing line

It’s just a week to go till Christmas, of course, and by now theatre critics are usually being Christmased out by an endless diet of pantos and other seasonal fare.

But not this year. There’s been multiple serious big openings this week already – including Fortune’s Fool at the Old Vic on Monday, the Royal Ballet’s first-ever West End run with The Wind in the Willows at the Duchess (also on Monday), and the Donmar Warehouse’s opening of Coriolanus last night, starring Tom Hiddleston in the title role.

And tomorrow brings another pair of clashing openings, with the premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest Stephen Ward at the Aldwych, and Tim Price’s monologue Protest Song at the NT Shed.

That’s not all. At London’s Southbank Centre, Slava’s Snowshow has returned to the Royal Festival Hall this week, with a press performance for that tonight, while Fascinating Aida bring their 30^th anniversary tour to the Queen Elizabeth Hall from Sunday.

I have regularly bemoaned the pressures of keeping up with it all in this blog. But it is, of course, a nice problem to have: how amazing, frankly, that there’s just so much theatre going on, and this late in the day.

On the other hand, things start to wind down between Christmas and the middle of January, so I’ll be missing in (in)action till January 18 once the current rush subsidises! It’s a useful opportunity to begin recalibrating my life and priorities as we move into a new year. We all need to take stock from time to time.

I’ve had some (enforced) big changes recently, as regular readers of this blog will know. The public, professional and personal support I’ve received has been overwhelming. (Just the other day, an actor I only vaguely knew came up to me on the tube to do so).

This column will continue until Friday, then go on hiatus till January 6.