Christmas what's what

Theatre

Treasure Island (Mermaid). Great play, stal- wart production and Spike Milligan's ravishing Ben Gunn not to be missed; plus Barry Hum- phries as Silver (`the hand with one leg'), Wil- liam Rushton a captivating Trelawney, Len Jones a distinguished Hawkins and Jack Spratt as Captain Flint.

Peter Pan (Scala). Engaging, faded, shabby production which will astound blase youth; Millicent Martin as the forty-second lady Pan.

Toad of Toad Hall (Fortune). Richard Goolden clocks up his thirteenth amazing Mole, while Derek Smith as Gilded Toad the mini-Napoleon drags the River Bank into the Motoring Age.

The Dragon (Royal Court). Glum improving Soviet fable with curiosity value for youthful Kremlinologists. Some fine actors bite the dust.

Hansel and Gretel (Sadler's Wells). Hocus- pocus, mumble-yocus, or, as the small boy said to his father, 'When does it start?' It's started.' `When will it stop then?' Nothing much can redeem Humperdinck's music, though a charm- ing Hansel and Gretel (Patricia Kern in dungarees, Anne Pashley in smock frocks) do their best. Not for unaccompanied adults.

The Four Musketeers (Drury Lane). Large, shapeless money drama—will the backers, or won't they, recoup their f150,000? Not if Sean Kenny (sets) or Messrs Johnson, Pertwee and Kretzmer (music, book, lyrics) have anything to do with it. Harry Secombe rightly rueful and in moderate voice, plus some nippy fights. Recommended five to eights. Also running: The Mousetrap (Ambassadors). Rare glimpse of quaint murky past—manners, customs, decor of the late 'forties (sorry to note that hemlines have been recently raised on stage) before the younger generation joined us. Especially recommended for flower people.

Arts Laboratory (182, St Martin's Lane). Theatre, bookshop, underground films, special Christmas show for teeny, teeny hoppers. Mem- bership 4s. Especially recommended for re- tired generals, debs, country vicars—go bare- foot in dark glasses.

Exhibitions

National Theatre Exhibition (RIBA, from De- cember 28). Another absorbing money drama— will the 01-C, or won't they, keep their promise to pay? Denys Lasdun's handsome plans, com- plete with photographs and beguiling scale models, strongly recommended and especially to London's ratepayers.

Principal Acquisitions of the National Gallery made during the Directorship of Sir Philip Hendy, 1946-67. A modest collection; visitors may feel that a more interesting exhibition might have been formed from photographs of works of art which left the country during the relevant period.

British Children's Books (National Book League). Take an apple and curl up with Frog, Stickleback and Pond Snail or Molesworth the Curse of St Custard's: Jennings, Jeeves, Percy Blakeney, Mr Salteena, Karl Marx, Dame Wiggins of Lee—all human life is here, not forgetting Sam Pig and Bustopher Jones the Cat about Town. Leicestershire Education Authority's Collection (Whitechapel Gallery). Spectacular assembly of recent English sculpture, chosen for schools under the guidance -of the Education Officer, Stuart Mason includes Hepworth, King, Kneale, Wall and Sanderson among many other gay, colourful, uncompromising and delightful works. Paintings to follow, from January 17, promise comparable excitements. Detention classes must be fully booked around Leicester.

Picasso's Vollard Suite (Redfern), A group of engravings made between 1930 and 1937 which have perhaps given more pleasure all round than anything else unleashed by the maestro. An entire magical world—love, war, dream, nightmare, artists and models, bulls and mino- taurs—delineated with a draughtsman's virtu- osity unparalleled in its range and certainty. Best possible art treat.

Films

Dr Dolittle (Odeon, Marble Arch, `U'). Rex Harrison talking to the animals through 150- minute musical based on the adventures of Hugh Lofting's peripatetic, imperturbable super-vet. Large, mannerly, furred and feathered cast, horses in spectacles, seals in bonnets and elephants in mustard baths. Despite a Dolittle on more than nodding terms with Henry Hig- gins, the will to charm counts for rather more than the deed.

Bedazzled (Carlton, 'A'). Peter Cook and Dudley Moore prancing through the Faust story. One day a ry comedian is going to move over to the big screen without putting a dent in his reputation; but not this time.

Point Blank (Ritz, 'A'). Fatalistic Hollywood thriller about vengeful crook (Lee Marvin) up against the organisation men of crime; direc- tion so overwrought, wilfully oblique and ex- hibitionist that one may be driven gibbering from the cinema. But it pays off in some strongly hallucinatory and chilling effects. Grip- ping antidote to usual seasonal frolics.

Ballet

Cinderella (Covent Garden), Ashton's lyrical/ comical delight : irresistible, particularly when Sir Frederick paddles heart-touchingly about the stage as one Ugly Sister and Robert Helpmann ogles rampageously as the other. Alternative castings bring Stanley Holden and Petrus Bosman as the loveless pair, which should be fun, too.

Sylvia (Covent Garden). A new one-act ver- sion of Ashton's piece of Second Empire classicism, with Sylvia escaping a fate worse than death because she dances so prettily and doesn't drink (Don't ask a Nymph to drink and dance). As an added treat, Nadia Nerina returns for certain Sylvia performances.

The Nutcracker (Festival Hall, from Decem- ber 26). Festival Ballet, Tchaikovsky, tots, snow, landing up in the Kingdom of Sweets, which may turn parents into artistic diabetics, but is much enjoyed by the younger genera- tion—bless their carious little souls.

Also running: Sweet Charity (Prince of Wales). Plot, lyrics, music, all is forgiven for the sake of Bob Fosse's entrancing choreography, Best American dancing London has _seen since Balanchine's last visit.