St Martin’s theatre, London
Little Bulb’s ingenious show for children features sword fights, crooning mice and some cheesy gags

Think of this joyful show as a cheeky nod to The Nutcracker rather than anything genuinely resembling the original. Yes, Little Bulb’s Olivier-nominated festive show – first staged at Polka last year – features a magical nutcracker toy and young siblings transported to mysterious new worlds. But there’s also a pants-wearing Mouse King, a slab of flying poo, five crooning mice and a Yoda-inspired elder rodent. This is the Nutcracker how your youngest kids might dream it and it’s a wildly imaginative and warm-hearted creation.

The action has been relocated to modern-day Wimbledon, where a grieving family face their first Christmas without mum. They’ve moved into a new house – only it’s not very new at all. The sewers are clogged up, there are mouse droppings everywhere and, worst of all, siblings Clara (Lakeisha Lynch-Stevens) and Fritz (Dominic Conway) will be sharing a bedroom.

Clare Beresford, Dominic Conway and Alexander Scott’s script – devised with help from the company – is peppered with endless inspired cheese gags (Fondu? How about fon-don’t?), and sly nods to the “big people” in the audience. There’s heaps of excellent physical comedy, a stream of very silly Christmas songs (“Last Christmas I gave you my cheeeeese”) and some expertly choreographed audience interaction. The cast manages a tricky balancing act, committing to the sorrow and shocks in the story but making the young audience feel safe, included and happy.

Punchdrunk Enrichment Stores, London
This gentle and generous piece of immersive theatre combines captivating storytelling with moments of wonder

We’re on our way to see Fireside Tales and my five-year-old son, Benji, is full of questions. Will the fire be real? Where will we sit? Luckily, it doesn’t take long for Benji’s anxiety to settle. Punchdrunk Enrichment’s new show has, like its predecessors, been created with schools, communities and children in mind. It’s a gentle and generous piece of immersive theatre – one that often, quite literally, takes the children by their hands and invites them to become part of the story.

To start off, we’re invited to browse the “bookstore”, crammed full of intriguing trinkets to touch and play with. Anxiety quelled and curiosity piqued, it’s time to enter the Punchdrunk Enrichment store where the show proper begins. And what a store it is, designed with immaculate attention to detail by Mydd Pharo. The shelves spill over with quirky objects; clusters of feathers, boxes of globes, bundles of photos, twinkling lava lamps and dusty typewriters.