Christmas Day at Almeida Theatre Review
Written by Bronagh for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
Content warnings: please refer the the Almeida Theatre website
‘There’s something perverted about a Christmas tree… it gives me the creeps’. This opening sets the tone for the remainder of the production, and the obscurities that follow. Christmas Day follows a Jewish family on Christmas Day, where heavy conversations follow, and truths come to light.
We enter the Almeida Theatre, which has been transformed by Miriam Beuther into an abandoned office block now acting as a living space for fifteen people. There’s a malfunctioning heater in the corner, which turns on intermittently, a ghostly Northern Line tube rushing past, and the toilet requires some complex problem-solving skills to work. The space is bleak, giving the appearance of a squat. Not the place Elliott expects to find his children living.
Sam Grabiner’s script explores what it is to be Jewish and the experiences that go with it, as well as the ongoing genocide in Gaza. On more than one occasion, we hear Tamara (Bel Powley) ask the others if they have ‘seen the news?’ today, which I took to mean images coming out of Gaza. She also states that she ‘doesn’t want to be the bad person anymore’, showing sympathy for Gazans. There is a turning point when the family patriarch Elliott (Nigel Lindsay) bangs his fists on the table and declares that it’s ‘ours’ over and over again in an intense display. He is, of course, referring to the land in Gaza. This makes for uncomfortable viewing, albeit the type where you can’t take your eyes off the stage. Antisemitism is also explored throughout; a topic that ordinarily does rightly so evoke emotion, however, even more so in this production, with the recent events in Australia fresh in our minds.
I enjoyed all the different characters, finding them interesting to watch, well-rounded and with enough depth to see us through the show. Maud (Callie Cooke) is the only non-Jewish person, providing insight to her peers on Christian Christmas traditions and showing interest. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd plays Aaron, Tamara’s ex boyfriend who has just returned from Tel Aviv. He has just returned from Israel, sharing that he feels taller there than he does in London.
There is no doubt that this is an ambitious production, exploring anything from identity to history to inherited trauma. However, there are a few oddities throughout. We sit and watch the cast members eat Chinese food, making appreciative noises and the odd comment, for what feels like far too long. This could have been cut right down without taking anything away from the production. At one point, Elliott lies on the floor as he is too hot, stripping off, before he hits the aforementioned heater with a golf club until it breaks. The character of Wren (Jamie Ankrah), who wanders around stoned out of his mind, before going out with no trousers on, and bringing back a dead fox. This is not quite absurdist, a bit of a cheese dream if you will. The final scene is the one that raises the most questions, both myself and with fellow audience members I heard whilst leaving the auditorium, however, I won’t spoil that scene.
This is a brilliantly acted production, very dark and very uncomfortable. Christmas Day in name, but not in spirit. The change in atmosphere will almost give you whiplash, if you can tear your eyes away from the stage that is.
At the Almeida Theatre until 8th January 2026.
★★★★
