( The Spectator's Arts Round-up
Theatre
Thinking of Christmas treats? This is the time to be booking up. London has a rich variety of children's plays including Peter Pan which is back after a year's break (with Dorothy Tutin and Eric Porter) at the Coliseum (December 27), and The Wizard of Oz, which hasn't been seen in London for a generation, at the Victoria Palace (December 24). A new one, The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner, is at the Shaw (from December 15), and a very early opener (December 9) is the revival of The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See at the Apollo. The pantomime at the Palladium is Cinderella with Ronnie Corbett (not in the title role) from December 23), adventure-loving striplings will want to see Dick Turpin at the Mermaid; and other hardy annuals are Sooty's Christmas Show at the May Fair (December 20) and Toad of Toad Hall at the Duke of York's (December 20). The last-named is also being done this year by the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon later on (January 3) when Judi Dench and Lisa Harrow will both be playing fieldmice.
Cinema
Royal premiere: HM the Queen will attend the charity premiere (in aid of spastics and haemophiliacs) of Sam Spiegel's Nicholas and Alexandra, in which the title roles are played by Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman, at the Odeon, Leicester Square, November 30.
Art
Hogarth: The Tate Gallery's major winter exhibition, comprising 110 paintings and 100 engravings and drawings including some recently discovered early paintings not previously seen in the context of Hogarth's work as a whole, opens on December 2. A second special exhibition — of William Blake's illustrations to the poems of Thomas Gray, never previously on public exhibition — opens on Deecmber 8. Christmas activities at the Tate include three special lectures for children (admission free) on December 28, 29 and 30.
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