Review: Christmas Day (Almeida Theatre)

Review by Daz Gale

⭐️⭐️⭐️

We are now in the final week before Christmas, and families across the country are preparing to bring their rituals and traditions for the big day itself. Of course, not everybody has the same rituals, with different cultures meaning not everyone celebrates Christmas, though some choose to anyway. That is the premise we find ourselves in with the final production in a stellar year for Almeida Theatre, the fittingly titled Christmas Day. Would this vicious comedy be bursting with all the trimmings, or would it leave me hungry for more?

The world premiere of the latest offering from the Olivier Award-winning playwright Sab Grabiner is set in an abandoned building above the Northern Line. It is Christmas day, and the streets are deserted outside, with only a large number of foxes occupying the street. Inside, a Jewish family gathers to attempt their own tradition - a Chinese takeaway. With partners, exes and scary housemates in attendance, tensions threaten to boil over, with differing views about identity, belonging and rituals causing heated arguments and a Christmas Day nobody present will ever forget.

The first thing I need to address with the themes of the play is how painfully relevant and timely they are. Coming just days after the awful events that have been on the news, one of the play’s themes of antisemitism hits home harder than perhaps it would have done prior, with the heightened security at the theatre itself a stark reminder of the world we live in. Of course, the war and genocide also come up with characters arguing both sides of it, with references to the Holocaust. It can make for quite an uncomfortable sitting, but one that has no shortage of material to make for a thought-provoking watch.

The problem is it doesn’t always manage it. While Sam Grabiner’s writing is clearly outstanding in its own right, it all feels a bit uneven throughout the course of Christmas Day. Running at one hour and 50 minutes without an interval, the play simultaneously manages to feel as if it has a lot to say, yet nothing to say at all, not quite making up its mind what point it is trying to get across and managing to feel quite confusing at times. There are several moments in the play that showcase Grabiner at his best, with a particularly tense conversation at the dinner table causing the family Patriarch to scream “IT’S OURS” repeatedly.

It can be quite affecting when it is at its best. However, those moments are few and far between in a play whose pacing is all over the place, most notably in the frustrating scene that preceded that highlight. There’s only so long you can watch a group of people eat a Chinese meal, making moans of delight, before it gets a bit tired and repetitive - sadly, Christmas Day failed to find the right balance here, crossing the line and outstaying its welcome.

There are some clever touches in the production, notably in the set design by Miriam Buether and sound design by Max Pappenheim. A rather bizarre hanging heater and the sound of a Northern Line train underneath the house may seem innocuous enough until you consider what they are meant to represent in their similarities. James Macdonald’s direction opts for some daring and creative choices in the characterisations and how they are realised on stage. Similarly to the writing, some of these work phenomenally well, but others are less successful. One thing is for certain, however, it is never boring.

Samuel Blenkin dominates Christmas Day as Noah, with all other characters gravitating towards him. It is a characterisation of extremities, with emotions flying all over the place. Blenkin navigates this with ease in a commanding and captivating performance that thrills at every turn. As his sister, Tamara, Bel Powley is a standout in the cast with her fiery and argumentative side leading to some of the more intriguing and powerful conversations of the play, even if not all of them find the right balance. Powley’s ability to spar with various people at the table and her extreme reactions make her performance a joy to witness, even if the subject matter isn’t always joyous itself.

Nigel Lindsay delivers a memorable performance as Noah and Tamara’s father, Elliot. In a performance that is initially used for comic relief, more complexities in his nature are explored, and the generational gap between him and his children leads to an interesting dynamic and some of the more uncomfortable moments in the play. Jacob Fortune-Lloyd gives a solid performance as Aaron, though his character does suffer from being somewhat underwritten, only coming into his own when he is sparring with Bel Powley’s Tamara. Callie Cooke gives a slow-burning performance as Maud, acting as the peace-keeper before she finally gets to use her own voice. Though Cooke herself stuns in the role, it left me longing to see more, and what we did see came too late to be of any use. The cast is completed by Jamie Ankrah in a variety of brief but largely comic roles that often break up the tension in the more serious moments.

Christmas Day is certainly an interesting play, and it has no shortage of strengths to it, but it also feels wildly inconsistent, suffering from uneven pacing and writing that doesn’t feel fully fleshed out. In some respects, it still feels like a work-in-progress, as if it hasn’t reached its full potential as yet. The subjects it does talk about are affecting, thought-provoking and pretty powerful, though they don’t always land with the weight such important topics deserve. It is still a fine show, and one that ticks along nicely, though overall it needs a bit more stuffing to allow this mixed bag to thrive as it could and should.

Christmas Day plays at Almeida Theatre until 8th January. Tickets from https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/christmas-day/

Photos by Marc Brenner