There’s nothing quite like It’s a Wonderful Life. The beloved 1946 Christmas film in which James Stewart plays a despairing man who’s shown what the world would look like if he’d never been born, is, to many of us, as treasured and essential a part of the festive period as Santa Claus himself.

Yet like so many of the best Christmas stories – including this film’s key antecedent – Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol – It’s a Wonderful Life is more than just mistletoe and good cheer. In fact, it’s made richer and more moving by its inherent darkness. Its reputation among sceptics for being rose-tinted schmaltz belies the fact that this a film about a man pushed to the brink of suicide. And set against a background of war, collapsing financial markets, families struggling to get by and mental anguish, perhaps the themes are still as relevant, if not more so, today.

Nelson’s adaption is both faithful and inventive. Written for just four actors – though it can be played with more – the play is fluid with quick and flowing transitions from Heaven to the key buildings within the small town of Bedford Falls. It’s also pacier than the original and includes audience interaction, yet it still remains truthful to the original narrative, ensuring that Capra’s message about valuing what we have shines through.

This is a fable about a man unhappy with his lot in life, struggling with fears of inadequacy, unaware of his own social impact. The film itself was regarded as a failure – only to be later embraced by the world (after years of seasonal TV airings) as a bastion of profound joy and comfort. What would the world look like if It’s a Wonderful Life had never been made? I don’t think any of us would want to find out.

A dingy function room above a hotel bar in Aberfan. Thunderstorms overhead and a leaking roof foretell of a stormy June evening in 1967.

Eight months after the Aberfan Disaster, four women secretly invite a representative from Revlon to give a presentation and demonstration to their bereaved mothers support group. ‘The Revlon Girl’, from Bristol, is ushered in quietly, lest anyone might consider the mothers to be frivolous or uncaring.

As the evening progresses, the inclusion of an outsider sparks conversations about subjects normally kept hidden. Tempers flare among the four old school-friends. Friendly banter turns into bickering, emotional outbursts, resentment and anger, all interspersed with humour and memories of their school years. In a devastatingly sad situation there’s still a lot of humour to be found. Their monologues are beautifully written for each mother to tell her story.

Naïvely believing that her experiences might give an insight into the group, ‘the Revlon Girl’ quickly learns that she’s very out of her depth when faced with the raw emotions in the room. Recounting her own story finally gains her some acceptance from the mothers.

This is a heart-wrenchingly sad but funny, thought-provoking story.

Connor, a bullied schoolboy, has nightmares which culminate in a visit from a monster outside his bedroom window, who challenges him to a storytelling contest. As the game progresses we learn more about Connor’s life, his isolation and the reasons for the monster’s visit. Breath-taking fantasy, physical theatre and raw emotion.

Growing Pains – A coming-of-age comical drama, exploring the challenges of leaving behind a childhood you’re reluctant to let go of.

Tuna Fish Eulogy – Albert was no ordinary child. He liked nothing more than to sit and count his tins of tuna in his kitchen cupboard. One day, he was found dead and two tins were missing. Twelve years later, his grown-up ghost has returned to interview his mother and the babysitter to reconcile what happened. Did they do it, or was it suicide?

Rachel catches the same soulless commuter train each morning. Every day the train passes the scene of her old life, a life now occupied by another woman. She knows the train will stop and wait at the same signal each time, overlooking the row of back gardens in her old street, and she’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the neighbouring houses. ‘Jess and Jason’ she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy…

And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. When she discovers that the woman she calls Jess has disappeared, Rachel becomes a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. As she involves herself in the investigation, she starts to uncover a web of tangled secrets that neither she nor anyone else was prepared for. Are the police correct in their suspicions – might she be a murderer?

Based on the worldwide smash novel and Dreamworks film.

After five successful series during the 1990s BBC sitcom Waiting for God has been adapted for stage by writer Michael Aitkens. The play follows the lives of those inhabiting the Bayview Retirement Home – a dreary, slow-paced residential home that proudly boasts ‘highlights’ such as a trips to Lourdes and Stonehenge in a ramshackle minibus. Resident Diana Trent is a woman who despises the title of senior citizen and all of the stereotypes that go with it. With no intention of slipping into old age quietly, Diana focuses her energy on making life for Bayview manager Harvey Baines as difficult as possible. When playful ex-accountant Tom Ballard moves into the adjacent apartment, Diana sees him as nothing but a boring man who’s lived a boring life. Eager to change her opinion, Tom decides to impress Diana by making a stand at dinnertime – declaring the food inedible and marching to wage war against Baines. Confronted by Tom’s promises to ‘disembowel himself on the steps of the town hall’, Baines resentfully increases budgeting on food, much to the delight of the other residents. Seeing an opportunity to gain a partner in crime, Diana forms an alliance with Tom and the pair embark on a number of adventures together. The play’s humour centres around growing old disgracefully and the delightful antics of its colourful characters.

A laugh-out-loud, musical comedy that won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway musical.

This celebration of the mating game takes on the truths and myths behind that contemporary conundrum known as ‘the relationship’. Act I explores the journey from dating and waiting, to love and marriage, while Act II reveals the agonies and triumphs of in-laws and new-borns, trips in the family car, and the pick-up techniques of the geriatric set.

The show pays tribute to those who have loved and lost, to those who have fallen on their face at the portal of romance, to those who have dared to ask ‘Say, what are you doing Saturday night?’

Writer and lyricist Joe DiPietro and composer Jimmy Roberts bring momentum, mischief, romance, frankness, sauce, familiarity, delight, jaw-dropping awkwardness, pathos and passion, surprise and shock, to savvy, soulful, sweet, sour, salacious scenes ranging in length from five to eight minutes, diverse in style, tone and content.