PANTO

Cinders (Olympia Theatre, 26 December to 7 January 01-6793323/0818 719330 www. ticketmaster. ie)

NOBODY can shout, "It's behind you!" at June Rodgers. She's very aware it's all in front of her.

"There's 110 kids and myself in this play, so I've booked myself into the nursing home for January, " she explains.

The panto queen makes her long-awaited return to the festive stage after seven years, and has flown in the face of the well-known actors' dictum of not working with children or animals. Instead, she's the only adult in a huge cast that also includes two Shetland ponies and a dog.

"It's something completely different to what I did in the past. I'm used to working with kids but usually the principals would be adults. Stuart O'Connor [of Spotlight Productions] contacted me. I have had people saying to me for the last few years, 'When are you going back to pantomime?' and I kept saying that I didn't know what to do. But I said I'd go back if there was a different way of doing it, and when Stuart said there was 110 kids, I said, 'OK, well that's something different'. To step back into it again, there had to be a different angle and the kids give it that."

After ruling Christmas pantomimes for six years from the Gaiety, Rodgers did her own show in the Red Cow for five years. Last year offered some rare downtime, with the luxury of a Christmas where she could relax and spend time with family and her husband Peter. Batteries recharged, she chose to return for Cinders, which also features boy band Ozone and . . .consider this fair warning . . . a video appearance by Louis Walsh.

Rodgers plays the Fairy Godsister ("I decided I was too wonderful and youthful-looking to play a Fairy Godmother") with a propensity for getting her spells wrong, but she has no doubt that the magic of panto is alive and well.

"I meet people who used to bring their kids and now they're bringing their grandchildren to see me. As a child my mother used to take me in to see Santy in Clerys and we would then be taken to see Maureen Potter in panto. Christmas though, without wanting to sound too 'ugh' about it, is for kids. And it's great for them to be introduced to theatre and live entertainment at that age, especially when kids have so much now. It's amazing that they still find going to the theatre so gob-smacking."

Also: For families with ankle-biters, panto is always a win/win option. Whether your reasoning is admirable (expose your offspring to some culture early in their lives) or selfish (let them tire themselves out screaming at someone else for a change) you can't go far wrong.

You could do a lot worse than the versions of Aladdin in both Cork (Opera House, 16 December to 6 January, 021-4270022) and Belfast (Waterfront Hall, 1 December to 13 January, 04890334455, www. waterfront. co. uk), while the Limerick Panto Society's version of Babes in the Wood (University Concert Hall, UL, 27-29 December and 2-4, 6, 7 January, 061-331549) is a surefire winner. At the Gaiety, Mother Goose is the big panto.

There's also A Christmas Muddle (Glor Irish Music Centre, Ennis, 3-23 December, 0656843103, www. glor. ie) and An Ghrianan Productions' version of Jack and the Beanstalk (An Ghrianan, Letterkenny, 6-23 December, 074-9120777), which moves on to Tallaght (Civic Theatre, 28 December to 7 January, 01-4627477). Also, the version of Aladdin (1-7 January, 091-569777, www. townhalltheatregalway. com) by Performing Arts Galway in the new year should be well worth the wait.

EXHIBITIONS

The Butterfly Effect: An ArkLink Retrospective. (The Ark, Temple Bar, until 6 January, closed 22-26 December and 31 December to 1 January, free admission)

HAVING completed his painting of a river, young William immediately set about pruning his masterpiece with a scissors.

When asked why, he points out that, "Water has no corners".

Obviously. While most artists concentrate on looking at the world from a fresh perspective, kids have the advantage of being naturally able to do just that.

For the past six years, children's cultural centre The Ark has been working in Fatima Mansions through ArkLink, an out-of-school arts programme covering. With the initial phase ending, this exhibition spawned by the budding artists marks the project being handed back to the community and the Fatima Regeneration Board.

"One of the major aspirations of the project was that it be sustainable and run within the community itself, " explains ArtLink project manager Bernadette Larkin. "It's a celebration of that, but also a celebration of children's art, because they don't get the chance to show their work as adults would." More's the pity.

The artists are aged between four and 14 and yet the displays include 3D Van Gogh homages, hats inspired by Philip Treacy's work, backdrops created for the play, No Messin' with the Monkeys by Roddy Doyle, and a documentary on the area courtesy of the film club Cinema Fatamiso.

While there is an emphasis on fun, part of the project's appeal is that the children are respected for what they have created.

For example, at some point you will invariably find yourself pondering the age of the artist, but that isn't on display.

"No, " explains Larkin, "People then have a tendency to say, 'That's very good for an eight year old', but maybe it's just very good. You wouldn't list the age of an adult artist, would you?"

Families looking to round off a day of culture the kids won't actually hold as a grudge could also take in A Picture of Me at The Ark (9, 16 and 27-30 December, 2-6 January), a gentle piece of comedy ideal for young kids.

Also: Air guitarists everywhere should see The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar 1931-2006 at the National Museum (Collins Barracks, until 21 January).

Apart from being a succinct history of the guitar, the exhibition features original and custom-designed axes wielded by the likes of Rory Gallagher, Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix.

Bold Art Gallery in Galway is never less than interesting and its end-of-year show (Merchants Road and Augustine Street, until 6 January) showcases the best of artists from the year.

On a more sombre note, 'Every Time I See The Seaf Life After The Tsunami' (Triskel Galleries, 21 Lavitt's Quay, Cork, until 31 December) is a multimedia exhibition featuring the work of photographer Tim Hetherington and ceramic artist Emma Summers, which looks at how the people of Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India are rebuilding their lives.

MUSIC

St Patrick's Cathedral (Office: 014539472; Cathedral: 01-4754817; www. stpatrickscathedral. ie)

MOOD and setting always add to musical appreciation so, to paraphrase Otto from The Simpsons, you don't need St Patrick's Cathedral to enjoy choral music in December, just to enhance it.

Dating back to 1254, St Patrick's is the largest ecclesiastical building in the country and its cavernous interior allows voices to soar.

"It's a wonderful space to sing in and the grandiose surroundings add a wonderful atmosphere, " says Peter Barley, Master of the Choristers.

"There's also the spirituality of it. A lot of the music being sung has a strong religious basis to it, and so it feels right in the building."

The Cathedral Choir's Christmas Eve carol service (Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols) has been broadcast on television for the past 50 years and it is difficult to get tickets, but there's a similar service on 17 December that is easier to attend.

Despite blotting its copybook by helping both Erasure and The Cranberries assault the pop charts, the choir has a long and illustrious history, including teaming up with the Christchurch choir to sing the first performance of Handel's Messiah on 13 April 1742 in Dublin.

Although being centred on the events of Easter, TheMessiah has become a Christmas anthem, and the Cathedral Choir will perform music from it on 31 December, while the Culwick Choral Society will perform a Messiah concert on 6 and 7 December. Perhaps the most interesting version, though, comes from the Irish Baroque Orchestra with the chamber choir Resurgam (St Patrick's Cathedral, 13 December, 014487777 and The Good Shepherd Chapel, Waterford IT, 14 December, 051-855038) who use period instruments to recreate what the original performance would have sounded like to the Dubliners who first heard it 264 years ago. Don't worry, it's lasted well.

Also The Frank and Walters are probably still best remembered for the wacky outfits, haircuts and videos that accompanied their breakthrough more than a decade ago with songs like 'After All' and 'This is not a Song'. But since then the band have managed to produce a clutch of excellent albums that have somehow remained off the mass buying public's radar. Shame, as they've lost none of their way with insidious hooks and catchy choruses. A new album, A Renewed Interest in Happiness, touches the highs of their classic release Grand Parade.

The passing years have done nothing to dilute the energy of their live shows and as they criss-cross the country this month it's the perfect chance to remind yourself quite how good they are (16 December, Olympia, Dublin; 17 December, Sky Venue, Portlaoise; 21 December, Electric Avenue, Waterford; 22 December, The Granary, Killarney; 29 December, The Savoy

THEATRE

The School for Scandal (Abbey Theatre, 6 December to 27 January, nightly at 8pm, Saturday matinees 2.30pm; no performance 25-27 December and 1 January; 01-8787222, www. ticketmaster. ie)

WHILE panto tends to dominate listings, theatre-goers less inclined to shout still have plenty of interesting options. Top of the list is Jimmy Fay's version of Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal.

Given Fay's background with contemporary experimental theatre and as a founder of the Fringe Festival, choosing an 18th-century comedy of manners for his Abbey debut may seem like a strange choice. Not so, he explains.

"I wanted to do something different. I liked the idea of doing a big play for the Abbey, that challenge. I wanted to see if it could fill that stage with a big cast.

Anyway, this feels experimental because I had to discover a new language. I might come in with my ideas, say I want to stage it underwater, but then you find that the play doesn't just work in one way, it's malleable, like any great work. Plus when you have a fantastic cast they'll help lead you too. They'll understand the territory as much as you will."

Character names such as Lady Sneerwell indicate the play's main concerns . . . gossiping and bitching . . . and a clear tip-off on the author's nationality.

"The play couldn't have been written by anybody other than an Irishman, " says Fay. "Even though it's set in London, it's full of verbose, bitchy scandal. It feels contemporary in its own way. Sheridan is subversive: he used stock in trade and made it into a comment on the society around him, which is similar to our society in a way . . . these people sitting around gossiping who have nothing better to do.

"I think it's perfect Christmas fare. The cast we have is great.

The key is entertainment. Sheridan wrote it for people to enjoy and to laugh at it, but there is a sting in the tale. As with the best entertainment and comedies, there's always something just a little bit dicey. And I think that's in this."

Also: Some alternative fare worth checking out is the Pan-Pan theatre company's version of the Playboy of the Western World (Project Art Centre, 13-16 December, 01-6796622, www. project. ie).

Rather than have the rocky romance of Christy and Pegeen Mike played out in some dull old shebeen, the action has been transposed to a modernday hairdresser's shop in Beijing with an entirely Chinese cast.

The play is in Mandarin but subtitles are provided . . . well worth checking out provided you're not too upset at the lack of good old-fashioned demure shawls.

Another classic being given a fresh spin is Landmark Productions' version of Sleeping Beauty (The Helix, DCU, until 7 January, 01-7007000, www. thehelix. ie) which mashes Shrek and Bollywood into the mix for a fairytale suitable for kids as young as six.