The most exhilarating risk you’ll take all year
Looking for a bit of anarchy to spice up the holiday season? Part TV special, part live variety show, The Christmas Thing brings enough technical hijinks to keep you on your toes at Seven Dials Playhouse, writes Charlotte Lang.
Channelling something of The Muppets and something of Taskmaster, Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser don neon suits with the kind of chemistry crafted through years of friendship. The duo, now boasting a cult following from multiple successful Edinburgh Fringe runs, transform the theatre into a chaotic, makeshift broadcast studio
Nothing is quite as it seems, and everything is fair game. There are Deliveroo riders, GoPros, candid cameras, morph suits and even a robot — and strictly no hiding for each audience member, for they are drafted into the show. I arrived with an open mind primed for a carol and Mr Claus or two, but wholly unprepared for the technical marvel I was about to witness.
The entire show feels like it’s balancing on the edge of collapse, but Clarkson and Visser thrive on this tension. Tom’s exaggerated showman persona ricochets wonderfully against Owen’s concentrated, technician-meets-mad-scientist presence. Watching Visser is like witnessing a one-man broadcast station: part puppeteer, part conductor, part saboteur of his own creation.
Like pantomime, it revels in audience participation and adrenaline-packed mischief. But beneath the slapstick is a razor-sharp craftsmanship that keeps you on edge just when you think you’re on to the gambit. This time, it was goat-demon Krampus trying to steal their Christmas Thing. The heist unfolds like a dashcam heist, with a Lime bike chase for good measure.
It will not replace A Christmas Carol — and it shouldn’t. It is its mischievous cousin, the one who turns up unannounced, raids the drinks cabinet, and plugs in a strange machine.
For those seeking a holiday outing that trades sleigh bells for sabotage and carols for controlled catastrophe, The Christmas Thing may be the most exhilarating festive risk you’ll take all year.
Seven Dials Playhouse to 20 December 2025.
Booking and full details: http://www.sevendialsplayhouse.co.uk/shows/the-christmas-thing
