Most regional theatres put on a seasonal show – and one of the big production decisions is how much local reference to include. Dick Whittington & His Cat at the Oxford Playhouse (until 6 January) feels tailored to the population in an early pun about focaccia and the London dogs and cats reading a newspaper called the “Furnancial Times”.

Most regional theatres put on a seasonal show – and one of the big production decisions is how much local reference to include. Dick Whittington & His Cat at the Oxford Playhouse (until 6 January) feels tailored to the population in an early pun about focaccia and the London dogs and cats reading a newspaper called the “Furnancial Times”. Escorting parents will also enjoy a running gag about Oxford graduate Boris Johnson: this version’s King Rat campaigns to be Mayor of London with a horse-drawn coach promising voters “350 extra groats a week”.

However, perfectly providing the traditional pantomime mix of jokes aimed at different generations, there are also custard pies, yelled exchanges between stage and stalls about whether it is or it isn’t, and Paul Barnhill’s Sarah the Cook is a classic pantomime dame, a form of gender-fluidity at which Britain excelled before it became popular. Writer-director Steve Marmion’s Oxford pantos are now consistently among the best around.

One consequence of global warming no scientist predicted was the growing popularity of The Snow Queen in theatres. In the Liverpool Everyman’s bouncy rock ’n’ roll version (until 19 January), the green messages are low key, submerged under comedy penguins and characters named after brands of ice cream, although it’s unclear if this is a sponsorship deal.

A mile across the L1 postal district, the sister theatre, the Playhouse, is doing A Christmas Carol (until 12 January). In a country struggling with the issue of the proper private and public responses to poverty, Dickens’ story is a popular choice, and can also be seen this year in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Old Vic, London.

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