JAMES WALSH recommends an exceptional documentary about the experience of Western doctors in Gaza
The Wonderful
Theatre Peckham, London SE5
THEATRE Peckham is quickly becoming one of my favourite venues for new shows; a community-based theatre in the heart of south-east London, giving a space to the independent, political voices and productions demanding social change. A place which “champions underrepresented voices and leads the change that is influencing our sector,” so its website says.
And what better way to celebrate the holiday season with a much-needed update on the firm family favourite, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz? This time around this reimagined adaptation of L Frank Baum’s classic tale starts off in modern-day Peckham, the Tinman is a Cyborg and Toto the dog is called TikTok. I imagine that scriptwriter Geoff Aymer and director Suzann McLean had a lot of fun with this one.
BEN COWLES samples the many sonic and social therapies of Manchester Punk Festival 2026, and is ready again to smash capitalism
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends an inspiring, political and bittersweet account of the munitions factory workers who are the fore-runners of the modern women’s game
JAN WOLF enjoys a British revival of the 1972 come of age farce/panto Pippin
DAVID NICHOLSON is thrilled – and shocked – by an opera that seethes and sizzles with passion and the depraved use of power


