Having built a cult following over multiple acclaimed runs at the Edinburgh Fringe, duo Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser bring their multimedia festive spectacular The Christmas Thing back to Seven Dials Playhouse for Christmas 2025, following a 2024 London run that drew a host of glowing reviews.
Part TV special, part live variety show, The Christmas Thing transforms the theatre into a chaotic broadcast studio. Audiences are swept into the on-air mischief as the night unfolds with surprise guests, Christmas games, video sketches, music, remote-controlled cameras, drumming robots and plenty of technical hijinks that keep the festive bedlam buzzing.
It channels the spirit of Morecambe & Wise, the energy of The Muppet Show, the chaos of Noel’s House Party, the whimsy of Taskmaster and the glorious stupidity of Shooting Stars – all captured on live cameras that are gleefully broadcasting… to nowhere.
Tom and Owen have been making each other – and audiences – laugh since childhood, a shared history that drives the easy, off-the-cuff rapport of The Christmas Thing. The stage becomes a makeshift TV studio, with cameras roaming, cables criss-crossing and the audience cast as the live studio crowd for a nightly Christmas special full of variety-show mischief.
What sets The Christmas Thing apart is the way it fuses finely-tuned craft with gleeful anarchy. Tom and Owen build a full-blown Christmas television special in real time – with props conspiring against their owners and gadgets misbehaving, and the audience drafted in as the live studio crowd – creating an extraordinarily playful sense of a broadcast balanced between precision and chaos.
Combining a streak of nostalgia with gleeful slapstick and a generous dose of Christmas cheer, echoing the unruly energy of a family gathering; this is a show for anyone after a seasonal night out that’s a little wilder than the standard Christmas Carol, offering a distinctly different – and delightful – kind of holiday entertainment.
“We’re so excited to be back at our festive home, the Seven Dials Playhouse, for Christmassy Chaos 2025! Growing up, we loved the magic and mayhem of Christmas TV… the specials, gameshows, singalongs, cameos, and surprise knock-at-the-door guests. You just don’t see anything like that anymore, so last year we decided to make it ourselves!
We’re back in the studio ready to go back “on air” with a stocking full of surprises, new games, jingles, and guests so pull on your finest Christmas jumper, maybe quaff an eggnog or two, and join us in Covent Garden for a nostalgic, unpredictable, and festive Christmas special that broadcasts nowhere, to nobody!”
– Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser
