Barnet Pantomime: Aladdin at The Bull 5-24 Dec, From £15

The borough has one traditional pantomime this Christmas and three family shows that sit next to it. The Bull Theatre in High Barnet is staging Aladdin from 5 to 24 December 2026, at 11am and 2.30pm on selected dates, and tickets are on sale at £18, or £15 for concessions. At artsdepot in North Finchley every festive performance has been bookable for months.

Updated 6 October: The Bull has opened booking for Aladdin and published prices and performance times. The run now starts on 5 December, not 1 December as its casting page said in September.

Aladdin at The Bull: on sale, 5 to 24 December

The theatre’s home page now lists Aladdin, The Christmas Pantomime, from 5 to 24 December 2026, at 11am and 2.30pm on selected dates, with tickets at £18, or £15 for concessions. Booking is through The Bull’s TicketSource page, which shows which dates carry which performance. The cast list names Aladdin, Princess Jasmine, Wishy Washy, Dame Widow Twankey and the Genie, with the wicked Abanazar and his sidekick Kharabi as the villains. Every performance is a daytime one: there is no evening show in the published times.

The theatre’s earlier Aladdin auditions page gave performance dates of 1 to 24 December and an intensive rehearsal week of 19 to 23 October. The booking listing is the later and firmer source, so we use 5 December as the first performance.

Casting took place in September. Auditions were held at the theatre on Saturday 19 September 2026: young performers aged 7 to 16 for the ensemble from 1.30pm to 3pm, then adults for the principal roles from 3.30pm to 5pm. The four principals cast were Aladdin and Jasmine (playing age 18 to 28), the Dame, Widow Twankey (25 and over) and the villain Abanazar (25 and over). Practical details that will not change. The Bull is at 68 High Street, Barnet EN5 5SJ, and the theatre says it is 400 metres from High Barnet Underground station. It also flags that the car park directly behind the theatre is a pay car park before 6.30pm, which matters for matinees more than for evening shows. That is Moxon Street, where the first hour is free and charging runs Monday to Saturday until 6.30pm; the rest of the tariffs are on our parking in Barnet page.

artsdepot: three festive shows, all on sale now

artsdepot at Tally Ho Corner, 5 Nether Street, North Finchley N12 0GA, runs the borough’s larger Christmas programme. All three shows below are on general sale, and the performance lists are taken from the venue’s own booking system on 3 September.

Aliens Love Panta Claus, Pentland Theatre, Tuesday 8 December to Sunday 3 January. Presented by Norwell Lapley Productions, 55 minutes with no interval, recommended for ages 3 and up, from £15. Thirty-seven performances. School and nursery tickets on term-time performances are £14 standard.

Rapunzel, Studio Theatre, Saturday 12 to Thursday 24 December. Presented by Wrongsemble, 50 minutes with no interval, recommended for ages 3 to 11, from £13.75. Twenty-three performances. Schools and nurseries pay £13 standard.

The Nutcracker, Studio Theatre, Tuesday 29 December to Sunday 3 January. Presented by Let’s All Dance, 52 minutes, all ages, from £13.75. Ten performances, two a day.

Book three or more shows across the season and artsdepot’s Pick and Mix takes 10 per cent off. Groups of 10 or more get a discount through the box office, 020 8369 5454. Our artsdepot autumn 2026 season page covers the rest of the programme.

The performance times, so you can plan the week

Every one of these shows is a morning or early afternoon show. None of the 70 performances starts later than 3.30pm, so treat all three as daytime outings.

Aliens Love Panta Claus never plays on a Friday. There is nothing on 11 or 18 December, nothing on Christmas Day and nothing on New Year’s Day. Most days carry two performances, at either 10.30am and 1pm or 11am and 2pm depending on the date. Nine dates have only one: Monday 14 to Thursday 17 December at 10.30am, Christmas Eve at 11am, Boxing Day at 2pm only, and Monday 28, Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 December at 11am. The run breaks after that 11am show on Christmas Eve and resumes at 2pm on Boxing Day.

Rapunzel is twice daily throughout except on Christmas Eve, when there is a single 11.30am performance, and it skips Friday 18 December. Its opening Saturday is 10.30am and 1pm, weekdays from 14 to 17 December are 11am and 1.30pm, Saturday 19 December is 11am and 1.30pm, and Sundays and the final week, 20 to 23 December, are 11.30am and 2.30pm.

The Nutcracker plays 1.30pm and 3.30pm on 29 December, then 11.30am and 1.30pm on 30 and 31 December and on 2 and 3 January. There is no performance on New Year’s Day.

Access performances

These are flagged by the venue itself, and they are the dates worth knowing if you need them:

• Relaxed: Aliens Love Panta Claus, Wed 16 Dec 10.30am and Sun 20 Dec 11am; Rapunzel, Sun 13 Dec 11.30am; The Nutcracker, Sun 3 Jan 11.30am
• British Sign Language interpreted: Aliens Love Panta Claus, Tue 15 Dec 10.30am, Sat 19 Dec 10.30am and Thu 24 Dec 11am; Rapunzel, Sat 19 Dec 1.30pm
• Audio described: Aliens Love Panta Claus, Sun 20 Dec 2pm

Elsewhere, and what we could not confirm

Barnet’s other Christmas shows sit outside the panto tradition: artsdepot also has Baby Broadway Christmas on 29 November, A Most Wonderful Time! on 12 December and Jazz Noel on 19 December. The nearest big commercial pantomimes are outside the borough.

Nothing on this page is taken from a listings site. Aladdin’s dates, times and prices come from The Bull’s own home page, read on 6 October 2026, and every artsdepot date, time, running time and price comes from the venue’s own booking data, read on 3 September 2026. Times and prices change, so check before you book.