From The Nutcracker in Glasgow and the Human League in Cardiff to Messiaen in Manchester and Maggie Mistletoe in Farnham, our critics pick the best cultural events in the run-up to ChristmasPaul Heaton GlasgowIn support of the release of his 10th studio album The Mighty Several, Paul Heaton hits the arenas of the UK with his new sidekick, Rianne Downey.Alongside new material, the pair promise an array of Housemartins and Beautiful South hits, mapping the territories of British heartland pop with suitably wintery wit.JWOVO Hydro, and touring.Ruination LondonA five-star show from dance-theatre company Lost Dog.Ruination is based on the tragic myth of Medea – she murdered her children, if you remember – which is chirpy subject matter for the festive season.

Yet in director Ben Duke’s capable hands, it becomes a funny, moving, inventive and unexpected journey through Medea’s story and the characters of the Underworld.LWRoyal Opera House: Linbury theatre, 2 December to 4 January.The Three Musketeers Newcastle-under-LymeThe team at the New Vic know how to create a spectacle, and here assemble a cast made up of dazzling stage combat performers.Will D’Artagnan impress the infamous Musketeers? Will they discover who is the spy in their midst? Expect swashbuckling scenes and daring duels in Theresa Heskins’s new adaptation of Dumas’ rip-roaring tale of friendship, cunning, and courage.KW New Vic theatre, to 25 January.

The World of Tim Burton LondonThis exhibition brings director Tim Burton’s sweetly spooky vision to life in a goth funhouse environment worthy of his superstylised movies,Iconic costumes such as that of the suburban outcast Edward Scissorhands, models and movie set designs sit alongside works from Burton’s personal archive,Drawings, sketchbooks and animations from childhood onwards map his lifelong love of oddball outsiders, from misunderstood kids to space aliens,SSDesign Museum, to 21 April,The Human League & Sophie Ellis-Bextor CardiffGiven that Don’t You Want Me and Murder on the Dancefloor are both office party staples, HR managers across the nation could do a lot worse than sacking off the usual Christmas arrangements and taking the whole team to see the Human League, who have seen fit to offer great value on their arena tour by bringing along Sophie Ellis-Bextor (and 80s favourites T’Pau) for the ride.

JW Utilita Arena, and touring.Scottish Ballet’s The Nutcracker GlasgowYou’ve got to have a bit of Nutcracker at Christmas, and Scottish Ballet’s production delivers on all the essential elements.Snowflakes, sparkle and a bit of stage magic? Check.A land of sweets topped off by the Sugar Plum Fairy? Yep.Tchaikovsky’s delightful music? Indeed, and played live, too.

It’s choreographed by company director Christopher Hampson and designed by Matthew Bourne collaborator Lez Brotherston, always good for some style and panache.LW Theatre Royal, 6 to 30 December, and touring.John Etheridge NottinghamTwo diverse gigs in December confirm the gifts of the British guitarist John Etheridge, a vivacious virtuoso at ease in almost any idiom.Etheridge played on the exploratory rock fringes in the 1970s, but went on to work with stars from Soft Machine to French swing-violin legend Stéphane Grappelli, and classical virtuoso John Williams.Hear him play funky guitar/organ blues at Nottingham.

JF Peggy’s Skylight, 7 December; East Side Jazz Club, London, 17 December.Art of Action NationwideAction is a key genre in cinema, but one that doesn’t always get its fair dues as a legitimate art form.This BFI season, playing in about 50 other venues around the UK, from Belfast to Brighton, looks to set the record straight, celebrating the actors, choreographers and stunt performers who do their best to pump adrenaline into the veins of big-screen entertainment.CB Cinemas nationwide, to end of December.Jacob Collier LondonWith six Grammys and a host of big-name collaborations on his CV, multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier might still be one of the UK’s least spoken-about superstars.

But even in a venue as big as the O2, audience participation will be a must; album series Djesse relies heavily on the belief that anyone can form a choir, adding a spontaneous feeling of gravitas that feels right in line with the spirit of the festive season.JW O2 Arena, and touring.Adam Riches and John Kearns Are ‘Ball and Boe’ LondonRiches and Kearns are two of British comedy’s weirdest geniuses: the former is beloved for his terrifyingly interactive long-form sketches, while the latter performs observational comedy in a joke-shop wig and teeth.Naturally, they’ve decided to team up to impersonate cheesy crooner duo Michael Ball and Alfie Boe for this festive extravaganza.Expect a pitch-perfect send-up of light entertainment balladry, with a ludicrously offbeat twist.

RA Soho theatre, 10 December to 4 January.Treasure Island EdinburghLooking for a voyage of discovery and danger? Seeking a boatload of sea shanties? The Lyceum brings Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved classic to the stage in all its sea-salted, ragtag glory.It’s Christmas Eve and a group of ex-seafarers are swapping their best tales.Adapted by Orkney playwright Duncan McLean, this playful production has all the makings of a good story: pirates, puffins and plenty of peril.KW The Royal Lyceum, to 4 January.

From the Canyon to the Stars ManchesterOlivier Messiaen’s 12-movement suite, commissioned for the US bicentennial in 1976 and inspired by a visit to Utah, is a celebration of the desert landscapes of the American south-west.With its typical mix of Christian mysticism and awe for the wonders of the natural world, it’s a panorama of birdsong, glowing instrumental colours and moments of apocalyptic grandeur.Ludovic Morlot conducts the BBC Philharmonic’s performance.ACThe Bridgewater Hall.Digging in Another Time: Derek Jarman’s Modern Nature GlasgowThis exhibition looks back to 1989 when Jarman was detailing the creation of his now-famed garden in Dungeness, a Glasgow performance work and his film The Garden in his diaries.

Shown alongside his own art, its pages have inspired new commissions that speak to Jarman’s pervasive influence, including works by Luke Fowler, known for his elliptical documentaries of outsider figures, and Jade de Montserrat, who considers gender, race and class through a rural lens.SS Hunterian Art Gallery, to 4 May.Sign up to Inside SaturdayThe only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine.Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend.after newsletter promotionQueer NationwideLuca Guadagnino returns following tennis romp Challengers with this hotly anticipated Daniel Craig vehicle.

Based on William Burroughs’s 1985 novella, it’s set in Mexico City and follows an American expat (Craig) who falls head over heels for a younger guy (Drew Starkey), a drug user who has been discharged from the navy,It continues Craig’s veritable spree of creative leg-stretching after all that time as Bond, and more power to him,CB In cinemas from 13 December,The Holly King and the Oak King LondonLast Christmas, a wild wolf roamed the halls of Battersea Arts Centre,Glowing from the inside, he bewitched audience members who dashed across the seasonally shifting landscape created by gifted immersive artists Wild Rumpus.

This year, the stage company returns with an old Celtic folk tale.A battle between the Oak King, leader of summer, and the Holly King, ruler of winter, has left the world out of kilter.Explore the magically designed world and help restore the natural balance.KW Battersea Arts Centre, to 24 December.Electric Dreams LondonFuturists and retro-heads alike will find plenty to switch on to in this international survey exploring how artists have put new tech to the test, be it early AI or virtual reality.

It veers from lo-fi home computer experiments, such as Palestinian artist Samia Halaby’s 1980s “abstract paintings” with whirring neon patterns that she developed on her Commodore Amiga, to German artist Otto Piene’s immersive installations creating ballets with light.SS Tate Modern, to 1 June.AG Cook ManchesterRaised to mainstream prominence off the back of his work on Charli xcx’s year-defining album Brat, AG Cook’s Britpop was one of the underrated releases of 2024, expanding the limits of the hyperpop genre.The giddy stimulation of the record might be a bit much for some, but in a live setting, the energy is likely to be infectious.JW New Century; also appearing at SWG3, Glasgow, 15 December, and Electric Brixton, London, 20 December.

Hyde Park Comedy Club Christmas Special LeedsIn a disused petrol station a mile outside Leeds city centre lies one of the UK’s most important cultural hubs,Hyde Park Book Club was a formative venue both for this year’s Mercury prize winners, indie band English Teacher, and the current holder of the Edinburgh comedy newcomer prize, Joe Kent-Walters,The latter returns for this bumper Christmas gig, alongside surrealist Tom Lawrinson, Christy Coysh – Wakefield’s answer to Weird Al – and the charmingly confessional Alexandra Haddow,RA Hyde Park Book Club,Guy Barker’s Big Band Christmas LondonThis glitzy jazz Albert Hall show has become a regular Christmas jazz date for its celebration of accessibly multi-idiomatic music and the skills of its originator, the trumpeter, bandleader and composer Guy Barker.

Backed by an A-list band, Barker shrewdly balances the shmalz of familiar Christmas music with a deep devotion to all forms of jazz from its earliest origins.Singer-songwriter Paloma Faith is one of a raft of star guests.JF Royal Albert Hall.The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim NationwideThe works of JRR Tolkien may have had a variable relationship with the art of animation, but there’s no reason Tolkien is an inherently bad fit for inked adventures.This new adaptation has promising creative bona fides: produced by longtime Peter Jackson screenwriter Philippa Boyens and narrated by Miranda Otto (Éowyn from Jackson’s live action LOTR trilogy), this is a story set 183 years before the events of the War of the Ring, with Brian Cox voicing legendary hero of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand.

CB In cinemas from 13 December.Christmas in Exeter Street FarnhamDiana Hendry and John Lawrence’s picture book captures the fizzy excitement of a house overflowing with friends, family and too many pets at Christmas.Farnham Maltings’ new show translates that busy chaos from page to stage with 37 characters, seven animals and 10 instruments.As unexpected guests keep piling in, our gracious host, Maggie Mistletoe, makes room for them all – even if it means the baby sleeping in the kitchen sink.KW Farnham Maltings, 13 to 24 December.

Louise Giovanelli WakefieldThe feted young Manchester-based painter Louise Giovanelli channels the awe and mystery in Renaissance art’s religious scenes into a modern world of movies and pop icons.Conjured in painstaking pointillist layers of pigment, her typical subjects include closeups of screen characters with a singular glamour and drawn curtains with their suspenseful promise of a secular rather than spiritual revelation: the longed-for star taking the stage.SS The Hepworth, to 21 April.Mufasa: The Lion King NationwideDirected, rather surprisingly, by Moonlight film-maker Barry Jenkins, the big Christmas Disney picture of 2024 delves into the origins of Mufasa, Simba’s dad from The Lion King (voiced here by British actor Aaron Pierre), and is animated in the same photorealistic style as the 2019 Lion King, with Donald Glover, Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner and Beyoncé reprising the roles they made their own in that film.CBIn cinemas from 20 December.

Hansel and Gretel LondonIn its most recent Covent Garden incarnation, Humperdinck’s classic has become a regular Christmas favourite.Antony McDonald’s production was intended as a show for all the family; the gruesome possibilities of the Grimm-inspired story are downplayed, and there are enough witty allusions – to Hitchcock movies and other fairytale characters – to keep all the generations happy.AC Royal Opera House, 22 December to 9 January.