Doctor, Doctor I think I have Theatricitis!

As the winter months draw in and there is a chill in the air it suddenly becomes impossible to take a bus journey without being assaulted by coughs, sneezes and sniffles. But some of you may have noticed another affliction spreading as the festive season approaches, a disease dubbed theatricitis. Symptoms include the following ...

- Spending the last of the month's wages on tickets to that must-see show. Yes, the only groceries left in the flat may be old cheese and tins of baked beans, yes you can't afford to put the heating on, but it's had rave reviews and it has what's-his-name in it who was brilliant in Hamlet. And you can always put on another pair of socks to brave the Arctic of your bathroom in the mornings.

- Relating everyday speech to theatre dialogue or musical lyrics. Example: flatmate struggles to finish a sentence and repeats 'because' several times, prompting me to sing 'because of the wonderful things he does' (Wizard of Oz reference in case you didn't twig). Greeted by a resounding unimpressed silence.

- A bookshelf groaning under the weight of theatre programmes, various play scripts, DVDs of every musical under the sun, cast recordings galore and a hefty tome of Shakespeare. And of course not forgetting the obligatory album/scrapbook filled with tickets.

- Walking down the street and getting strange looks for apparently no reason. Then realising, after considerable racking of the brain, that you are humming a musical score out loud. Oops.

- Becoming known by name at the box office. When phoning Delfont Mackintosh to book Les Mis tickets for my 21st birthday and giving her surname, my mum was actually asked 'is this Catherine?' So fair enough I don't exactly have the most common surname, but this may be a sign that I buy a few too many theatre tickets ...

- Referring to different parts of a room as upstage, downstage, stage right ... you get the idea. This is a particularly severe symptom and one which I have yet to suffer from personally. It may lead to people finally writing you off as certifiably insane.

The cure for this expensive malady? With Christmas on the way there are plenty of festive treats to satisfy your theatrical cravings, with highlights including Festive Fever at Freedom Bar in Soho, Theatre MAD Trust's A West End Christmas and the touring production of Christmas with the Rat Pack. And you never know, you might even get some tickets from Santa to ease the strain on your purse.

There was one last symptom that I forgot: spending your afternoon writing a fairly pointless post for your theatre blog instead of one of the 101 other things you should be doing ...

If you think you might be suffering from theatricitis and have spotted any other symptoms then leave them in the comment box!