Family Christmas shows in London 2014 - The Snowman
Photo: Sadler’s Wells
Photo: Sadler’s Wells

Children's Christmas Shows 2024 in London Theatres

Find festive entertainment for your little ones with our guide to 2024’s best Christmas theatre for kids and families

Andrzej Lukowski
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Greetings of the season! Well, I'm actually writing this in early November. But then, how long is Christmas theatre season in London exactly?

Certainly by late November it’s in full swing, with virtually every pantomime and kids’ show in the city up and running way before advent, with most of them running until the new year.

I’m Time Out theatre editor Andrzej Łukowski, and I have seen more pantos and Julia Donaldson adaptations than any human should. But also it’s always an exciting time of year: Christmas is the best time to take children to the theatre because there are such a dizzying array of options, for all ages.

This list is an attempt to try and put some order on the gargantuan breadth of children’s and family friendly theatre across the city during the season. It doesn’t include long running West End shows – you know about The Lion King, right – but is an attempt (however misguided) to compile as many festive shows for young audiences as possible, at theatres big and small.

We’ve divided our list into family-friendly Christmas shows – that is to say, shows suitable for children, but not necessarily aimed at them specifically – and shows that are directly aimed at a younger audience.

Please note that there are so many pantomimes in London that they have their own seperate list – see link below. 

RECOMMENDED: The best Christmas pantomimes in London.

Find more Christmas shows in London. 

Christmas shows for all the family

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  • Musicals
  • Soho

While super-producer Cameron Mackistosh still has breath in his body we’ll never be too far from the next revival of Lionel Bart’s all-singing Dickens adaptation Oliver!

Christmas shows for kids

  • Children's
  • Little Venice

The Puppet Theatre Barge’s Christmas show is a mini musical adventure set in the coastal town of Rocky Snore, which has been left in disarray after all the fish appear to have gone missing from the sea – Captain Sandy is charged with getting to the bottom of it. Written – somewhat exotically – by New Yorker cartoonist Maddie Dai, the show for kids aged four to 10 is directed by Kate Middleton (not that one, presumably).

  • Children's
  • Wimbledon

While it can feel like around three-quarters of the shows on in London over the Christmas period are productions of the ballet The Nutcracker, the big Christmas show from Polka Theatre is something a little different, being a new non-dance version of the classic seasonal fairy story from leftfield theatre stalwarts Little Bulb.

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  • Children's
  • Islington
The Singing Mermaid
The Singing Mermaid

What Samantha Lane’s Julia Donaldson production loses in terms of the rhythm of the words, it more than makes up for in visual invention, bringing the world illustrated by Lydia Monks to gloriously barmy life.

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