No treading the boards this month, lots of fringe theatre, really good fringe theatre (look out for a future post on what to see in London if you can't make it to Edinburgh)  and lots of celebs out and about, which is unusual.

* As someone who often books tickets in advance before the cast has been announced I do feel smug when someone 'popular' gets announced such as Mark Strong in Red Barn at the National. *Smug*.

* It's a shame the Almeida doesn't put its tickets on sale before the cast is announce and then perhaps there wouldn't be the usual website melt down. I'm already dreading trying to book for Juliet Stephenson and Lia Williams who were announced for Mary Stuart. They will alternate the roles of Mary and Queen Elizabeth by tossing a coin. Alternating roles is obviously the thing this year as they do something similar in the RSC production of Doctor Faustus. Very excited to see Lia and Juliet on stage together whichever part they end up playing.

* Thanks to Mark Rylance, @PolyG and I have some New Year's Eve theatre. There isn't always much on - last year was a case in point - but it is a nice way to spend the last night of the year when possible - previous trips have included Richard II at the Donmar and Mojo with Ben, Colin and Rupert et al. This year we'll be spending the evening watching Mark Rylance's new comedy Nice Fish at the Harold Pinter. We have a table at the back of the stalls which is going to be rather novel. Let's hope we can see something.