Sleeping Beauty runs at the Corn Exchange from 27 November to 2 January, previews £20.25. Pinocchio is at the Watermill from 25 November, from £15.

Newbury has two Christmas shows, and they are not the same kind of night out. The Corn Exchange has a full pantomime, Sleeping Beauty, from Friday 27 November 2026 to Saturday 2 January 2027. The Watermill at Bagnor has a musical, Pinocchio, from Wednesday 25 November to Sunday 3 January. Both are on sale now, and the cheapest way into each is a specific set of dates rather than a concession.

Sleeping Beauty, Corn Exchange Newbury

The Corn Exchange prices its panto in five bands, and the gap between the cheapest and the dearest seat is nearly £17. From the theatre’s own show page:

Band Price
Preview £20.25
Off-peak £26.25 to £31
Peak £29 to £35.75
Adult Nights £31.75 to £37
Schools £14
Ages 0 to 18 months £1 babe in arms ticket

Group bookings of more than 10 go through the box office on 01635 522733.

The three cheapest performances are the previews, and there are only three: Friday 27 November at 7pm, and Saturday 28 November at 1pm and 5pm. After that you are into off-peak at best.

The show is by Plested, Brown and Wilsher, set in the Berkshire School for the Best Behaved, and the theatre puts it as suitable for all ages. It is supported by Rivar Ltd.

Adult Only nights

Six performances are billed as Adult Only, and they are the priciest band. If you are booking for a family, avoid them:

Friday 4 December 8pm, Thursday 10 December 8pm, Friday 11 December 8pm, Thursday 17 December 8pm, Friday 18 December 8pm, and New Year’s Eve at 6.30pm.

Access performances, and one the theatre does not list

The Corn Exchange’s own Special Performances box names only one access performance. Its own calendar lists four, so check the calendar rather than the summary:

  • Sunday 6 December, 4pm: Relaxed and British Sign Language interpreted. This is the one in the summary box.
  • Sunday 13 December, 12pm: Captioned and relaxed.
  • Monday 28 December, 1pm: Dementia friendly.
  • Tuesday 29 December, 5pm: Audio described and relaxed.

Three of those four are in the off-peak band, which is a useful coincidence.

The days it is not on

There is no performance on Christmas Day or on New Year’s Day. The theatre is also dark on Sunday 29 and Monday 30 November, and on Mondays 7, 14 and 21 December. The run ends with two shows on Saturday 2 January, at 1pm and 5pm.

Christmas week is the densest part of the run: Wednesday 23 December has three performances, at 11am, 3pm and 7pm, as does Saturday 19 December, at 11.30am, 3.30pm and 7.30pm.

The venue is the Corn Exchange, Market Place, Newbury RG14 5BD. The box office is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm, or until 7pm on performance days, and Sunday 11am to 4pm.

Pinocchio, the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor

The Watermill is not doing a pantomime. It is reviving its 2024 musical Pinocchio, which its own show page says was rated one of the Guardian’s top 10 theatre shows that year.

Tickets are from £15, the running time is 1 hour 55 minutes, and the age guidance is “most suitable for ages 4+, but all ages are welcome”. The theatre flags that the show contains haze, smoke, flashing lights and pyrotechnics, and that there are moments of peril including imprisonment.

The first week is thin, and that is easy to miss when booking. After the opening run of Wednesday 25 to Sunday 29 November, there is nothing until Saturday 5 December. Through early December it plays Saturdays and Sundays only. Daily performances start on Monday 21 December.

Watermill access performances

  • Saturday 5 December, 2.30pm: audio described and captioned.
  • Saturday 12 December, 2.30pm: relaxed performance.
  • Sunday 13 December, 3pm: signed and captioned.

The run ends on Sunday 3 January 2027 with performances at 11am and 3pm.

Eating there

The Watermill sells a dinner and drink package on selected early dates. Its winter warmer menu is a main course and a drink for £17.50 an adult and £10 a child. There is also a free hot drink and sweet treat for under-16s on the opening night, Wednesday 25 November.

The theatre is at Bagnor, Newbury RG20 8AE, and the box office is 01635 46044.

Which one to book

If you want a traditional pantomime, with morning school matinees and adult-only late shows, that is the Corn Exchange. If you want a straight musical with a shorter running time and a lower entry price, that is the Watermill. The Watermill’s weekend-only pattern through early December makes it the harder of the two to fit around a working week.

Getting there and parking

The Corn Exchange is in Market Place, inside the town centre pedestrian and cycle zone, which since September 2026 reopens to traffic at 5pm rather than 11pm. Evening performances are therefore easier to drive close to than they used to be. Car park tariffs and free periods are on our parking in Newbury page, and anything live on the roads is on Newbury roadworks and travel.

The Watermill is at Bagnor, less than two miles north west of Newbury town centre as the crow flies but reached by narrow lanes, so allow more time than the mileage suggests.

The rest of the festive diary, including the switch-ons and the Festival of Light procession, is on our Newbury Christmas lights page.

Every price, date and time above was read on 3 September 2026 from the Corn Exchange’s and the Watermill’s own show pages.