WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Action-packed Aladdin ticks all the Christmas boxes
Show-stealer: Robin Simpson in Aladdin
[Anthony Robling] 
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
Aladdin
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
ALADDIN could be used as a case study on how to stage a traditional pantomime, especially in the hands of Andrew Pollard, who draws on two decades of experience by packing the script with audience participation, innuendo and slapstick — a farting panda called Ping-Pong features prominently.
Played out on a glittery stage that resembles an outsize Yangtze board game, the show sparkles with enthusiastic choreography and updated musical numbers — Widow Twankey delivers Dolly Parton's hit as Washing 9 to 5 — and there's a spot of impressive illusion as Thomas Cotran's Aladdin takes a ride on a glowing magic carpet to Egypt.
The action brims with the usual topical jokes, including the compulsory ones aimed at Brexit and puns on local reference points. But Pollard's script, his third for Lawrence Batley Theatre, distinguishes itself by updating female characters for modern times.
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