Christmas theatre highlights in the North

Ballroom beauties (and beasts) in Leeds

Indulgence is served up in thick, glitter-icing slices this Christmas in Leeds, as West Yorkshire Playhouse welcomes the UK premiere of Strictly Ballroom: The Musical (30 Nov-21 Jan). Based on Baz Luhrmann’s 1992 film, this production choreographed by Hairspray's Drew McOnie pairs original songs plus new bangers from the likes of Sia with the story of Scott, a champion dancer who breaks free of convention. It's a ten from Len. 

Meanwhile at Leeds Grand Theatre, Northern Ballet put the tail in fairytale with a revitalised Beauty & the Beast (15 Dec-7 Jan). The romance of the season should shiver to life with a score performed live by the Northern Ballet Sinfonia, including pieces by Saint-Säens, Bizet and Debussy. 

Humanity and hauntings in Liverpool

Physical theatre company Gecko bring their moving and sensitive work Institute to Liverpool Playhouse for just four performances (16-19 Nov). As four figures clamber among filing cabinets filled with lost stories and fading memories, Gecko unspool two years of research into the way we nurture and relate to each other, triggered by artistic director Amit Lahav asking the company: what does it mean to care for one another in a busy world of high-pressure targets and expectations? What does it mean to lose everything and everyone? Where do you turn? 

Also at the Playhouse for a short run is terrifying crowdpleaser The Woman in Black, directed by Stephen Mallatratt, based on the ghost story by Susan Hill and long dubbed the most frightening theatre experience going (7-12 Nov).

And if you'd rather split your sides than scare yourself silly, you could check out the first production by the Lantern Theatre crew since they moved out of their old home. Scouse: A Comedy of Terrors – a play by Andrew Cullen imagining the government's response to Liverpool's demand for independence, first performed in 1997 and revived because relevant – is at the Dome, Grand Central (17 Nov-15 Dec). 

Ghosts of Christmas past in Manchester

There's lots of winter fare on offer in Manchester, from an alternative Christmas cabaret called 'Yule Be Sorry' (ho ho ho!) at HOME, led by 'post-drag, post-gender performance avalanche' David Hoyle in an evening of song, comedy and paint (16 Dec), all the way through to a dance theatre adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Little Match Girl at the Lowry (24-26 Nov). 

Indeed, the Lowry really brings it this season, staging everything from the grand – Opera North's full four-opera 'Season of Secrets' programme (9-12 Nov) – to the intimate, with the circus artists of Circoncentrique presenting Gasp, a duet in which they remain in perpetual motion with hoops, balls and wheels throughout (20 Nov). 

But the gem of the calendar is surely a new adaptation by celebrated choreographer Matthew Bourne of the Powell & Pressburger film The Red Shoes (29 Nov-3 Dec), in which this tale of obsession, possession and one girl's dream to be the world's greatest dancer is set to a new score by Terry Davies using the golden-age Hollywood music of Bernard Herrmann (Hitchcock, Welles, Scorcese). 

We'll also be booking for COAL at Contact Theatre (7 & 8 Dec), a dance theatre performance marking 30 years since the Miners' Strike and telling a story of community, solidarity and survival; environmentally conscious puppet show The Man Who Planted Trees at the Royal Exchange (19-31 Dec); and – because it wouldn't be the Christmas holidays without bravely attempting some great literature you've been meaning to tackle for 20 years – Ibsen's Ghosts at HOME (18 Nov-3 Dec). 

Finally, the flaming brandy on the top of the Christmas cake comes courtesy of the Russian State Ballet of Siberia, who bring a snowy Nutcracker to the Bridgewater Hall on 3 and 4 Jan – transporting you back to the magic of Christmas eve, if you're sad it's all over already. Happy 2017! 

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For more recommendations and to find out what's on, head to theskinny.co.uk/theatre