West Bridgford panto: two Nottingham shows, from £14

There is no pantomime in West Bridgford, and none is advertised anywhere in Rushcliffe this winter. The two shows that serve this town are both a short trip over the river, and both went on sale a long time ago. Here are the dates, the real prices and the accessible performances, all read off the theatres’ own booking pages on 3 September 2026.

Nottingham Playhouse: Aladdin

Written and directed by artistic director Adam Penford.

• Friday 27 November 2026 to Saturday 16 January 2027.
• Wellington Circus, Nottingham NG1 5AF.
• 69 performances are listed.
• Standard tickets start at £14.00. There is a £2.50 non-refundable booking fee per order, which the Playhouse states plainly on the page.
• Preview nights are the two cheapest, on 27 and 28 November.
• Playhouse Pass members get 15 per cent off selected performances during general on-sale.

Prices move by performance and by seat, so the £14 floor is not available everywhere. Several dates were already flagged “final few” or sold out in early September.

The theatre’s own page contradicts itself on the entry price. The summary line under the booking table reads “Tickets start from £18”, but the table above it lists a £14.00 standard floor on 35 of the 69 performances, including both previews and several Wednesday and Thursday matinees. Work from the table, not the summary. One row is plainly a data error rather than a bargain: the press night on Saturday 28 November at 7pm shows a standard price of “£2.50”, which is the booking fee, and the performance is marked sold out anyway.

Accessible performances listed by the theatre:

There are also an open rehearsal, a set tour and a touch tour listed separately in the theatre’s What’s On, which are worth knowing about if a full performance would be too much for someone in your party.

One trap. The Playhouse’s own landing page at nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/playhouse-panto/ still fronts Sleeping Beauty, Friday 28 November 2025 to Saturday 17 January 2026, which is last year’s show. If you land there from a search you will get the wrong dates. The current show is at nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/events/aladdin/.

Theatre Royal Nottingham: Jack and the Beanstalk

The big commercial panto, in the Main Auditorium.

• Saturday 28 November 2026 to Sunday 3 January 2027.
• Starring Rob Rinder, Samantha Womack, Neil Hurst, Mary Mac, Matthew Croke and Mia Kobayashi.
• Opening day has two shows, 2.30pm and 7.15pm.
• On the opening Saturday, standard prices run £24.50 to £46.00 across thirteen price bands, from Balcony Price 7 at the bottom to Stalls and Dress Circle Price 1 at £46. Prices vary by date, and midweek December dates are cheaper than weekends.
• Across the whole run the standard prices go from £18.00 to £49.50. So £24.50 is the opening Saturday’s floor, not the show’s. Work through the date list rather than booking the first performance you see.
• Members, under 26s, family and group discounts are all available.

The theatre lists signed, captioned, audio described and relaxed performances during the run. We are not printing those dates here because the Theatre Royal’s site went behind a queueing system while we were checking, and a single unverified read is not good enough for something a family with an access need would plan a trip around. Check the dates and tickets page directly, and if you get a queue screen, try again outside the evening peak.

Nothing in Rushcliffe itself

We looked. There is no panto venue in West Bridgford, and no Rushcliffe amateur group is advertising a 2026 or 2027 pantomime.

East Leake Amateur Players is the borough’s most likely candidate. It is an established group at East Leake Village Hall, and Rushcliffe Borough Council has put UK Shared Prosperity Fund money into its lighting and staging. But the newest production on the group’s own website is Blackadder on 14 to 16 May 2026, a date that has already passed, so nothing is on sale and nothing is announced. If that changes we will add it.

The nearest thing to a family Christmas outing inside the borough is Santa’s Steam Train Adventure at the Great Central Railway Nottingham, on the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre site at Mere Way, Ruddington NG11 6JS. The railway lists Saturday 5 December 2026 as its headline date, with eight running days, departures at 10am, midday, 2pm and 4pm, and prices from £12.50.

Getting there and back

Both theatres are in the city centre, ten minutes apart on foot. From West Bridgford the practical options are the tram from Compton Acres or Wilford Lane, or the mainline bus from Central Avenue, both of which run late enough for an evening performance. Driving in for a 7pm show on a December Saturday is the worst of the three.

If you are driving and parking this side of the river to walk or ride in, our parking in West Bridgford page has the tariffs and the enforcement hours for each car park. Check roadworks and travel before a matinee, because the Trent crossings are where every delay on this route starts.

Also worth having: the West Bridgford Christmas lights switch-on page, which covers the town’s own Christmas events and the Bingham Christmas Fayre on Friday 27 November.