New season at Mayflower theatre Southampton

THE entertainment currently on offer at The Mayflower is of a strictly seasonal nature, with Lily Savage embarking on her third week as the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

The annual panto continues at the Southampton theatre until January January 21, when the curtain is lifted on a new season of spectacular musical delights - and one or two surprises as well.

Apart from Lily and co, the remainder of January sees performances by the wildly creative percussion group Trash (January 29 to February 3), featuring unconventional "instruments" such as dustbins, water bottles and concrete mixers, and - in a last-minute addition to the Mayflower line-up - top comedy duo French and Saunders.

The hugely successful F&S will be bringing their latest live show - the first since 1990 - to the theatre on January 27.

Taking the theatre by storm later in the year is a trio of hit West End musicals - Jesus Christ Superstar (April 3 to 21), Grease (April 23 to 28) and, as the venue's major summer offering, Saturday Night Fever (August 21 to September 29).

Other musicals this year include Phantom of the Opera On Ice (February6 to 10), What a Feeling (February 21), featuring spiky-haired Eighties pop star Limahl, Southampton Operatic Society's production of Oliver! (May 1 to 5) and the hit musical Rent (May 14 to 19), stopping off at the Mayflower as part of its first UK tour.

The Welsh National Opera will be returning to the theatre in the summer with a trio of operas, Tosca, Katya Kabanova and The Magic Flute (June 19 to 23), while the English National Ballet will be delighting dance fans with their latest production, Giselle (February 27 to March 3).

Pop and rock fans are also well catered for, with a welter of tribute shows and original acts, including the Official Tribute to the Blues Brothers (March 12 to 17), Abba Mania, featuring The Real Abba Gold (March 18), and Sixties stars The Hollies (March 11).

And if all that glitz and glamour is too much for you, you can dip your toe into the dark side when the Circus of Horrors, complete with sword-swallowers, glass-eaters, bearded ladies and "vampire nymphs", casts its shadow over the theatre from March 26 to 31.

For tickets and information about these and other shows at the Mayflower, call the box office on 023 8071 1811.