A Christmas Thing

Seven Dials Playhouse

A Christmas comedy cocktail; a puppet, musical puns, with a whole lot of chaos. The audience are the guest stars.

What utter planned and hilarious Christmas chaos. The Christmas thing is a warming Christmas live tv talk show set up and audience participation is a huge NEED for this show to carry a fraction of its comedy. Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser are the writers and performers, they are comic, dynamic duo. There are moments in between scenes where pre-recorded videos are played to keep the audience's Christmas spirit at a high level and of course, engaged with the show. The aim is to fill up the box of Christmas Spirit (The Christmas thing) and keep it protected from the notorious Krampus. Beware of The Krampus.

Both Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser have this chaotic, yet hilarious stage presence and they fall on the stage, in Clarkson's case quite literally. The dynamic between the two is intriguing, they complement each other's personalities and have a fantastic talent of improvising/working around any unplanned moments. For instance, one of the audience members states that their party trick is the ability to climb through a coat hanger and the member proceeds to squeeze himself through this hanger. However, he gets stuck and the two joke about him being stuck and don't break character, although they need to free him from the hanger, and this is an admirable skill. You can see the crew stressing at the sides and ready to act if they need to and luckily, they were able to free him, as they had some pliers to hand. This moment was impressive, because the two kept their cool, carried on the comedy and show without showing any phase, it was quite clear this moment was not planned. A big fraction of the show is the two working with the audience to play silly Christmas games and showing their party tricks. It was hilarious watching them working with the audience to create such a slick and spontaneous show. However, some jokes are repeated rather a lot, which makes them a little over done at times.

Tech elements of the show were highly depended on. There were faulty moments of the machinery on stage, such as the name printer; that chose the members of the audience stopped working and Visser had to improvise. Although these moments were funny and the two worked round them; this happened often, it did interrupt the pace of the show, and the audience would lose their engagement with the show as a result of this.

However, the quality of the show is uplifted by its virtual moments that are pre-prepared; at the start of act two a video is played of 'A Christmas Thing's' parody version of the recent Jamie Llyod directed adaptation of 'Sunset Boulevard' act two opening. This moment is highly comedic, even if you aren't a musical fan! There are also some Westend musical stars in this video (No spoilers). Along with the virtual calls with Puppet Steve, the side character whose addition to the show brings a lot of fun, he reminds you of 'The Muppets' from his character's style and the fantastic Christmas classic film 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol', but of course he also heightens the drama and fear of 'The Krampus'.

Mayhem unveils in act two when the cast are fearing The Krampus; his search for 'The Christmas Thing' and how it is on stage. The tension and fear they share with the audience complements the comedy. If you don't know what the Krampus is, you will after watching this show. The reveal of the Krampus is the climax of the show and is unexpected. This is a strong acting moment and a highlight of the show.

This show is a bit of Christmas fun and will put a smile on your face. If you are not a lover of audience participation, this would not be the show for you, because you would always be in fear that you were next. The tech in this show is the most effective element and it its very impressive; when it works that is. It spreads Christmas cheer in a fun and chaotic fashion. It's not the best Christmas show you'll see, but it definitely is one of the funniest, because of its spontaneity. A Christmas thing captures the essence of finding Christmas joy in the most unlikely and smallest things. It is just a well done Christmasy joke and this one truly is very Christmasy.