Sam Grabiner’s ‘Christmas Day’ is a deft exploration of religion and family politics. Over a Chinese meal in a barely habitable warehouse guardianship, a Jewish family debate their sense of belonging within their faith, giving rise to deep rooted tensions within their respective relationships. From the off, the exposed brick wall of the Almeida and the cold warehouse setting chimed carefully with the budding theme of familial expectations. With a boxy heater hanging ominously overhead, tension literally began to swelter within the play’s closed space, where characters gradually shed Evie Gurney’s smart costumes.
Steadily, the outside world permeated the somewhat isolated setting. Aided by the intrusive rumbling of the Northern Line and the pervasive glare of the Christmas tree, the audience were dipped into the complexities of complicity and neutrality during times of conflict. ‘Have you seen the news?’ escalates into a detailed dissection of the Israel-Palestine relations, resulting in a nuanced and admirable run of disputes between characters. Meditating on the contemporary conflict, we also journey through Jewish history and reach some interesting questions about the role of rituals and oral storytelling in the Jewish faith itself. At times, this leant towards a talking heads model, where the well-fleshed characters appeared to be taking turns as the writer’s mouthpiece.
Under James Macdonald’s direction, the actors noticeably thrived on the terse family dynamics. From sibling competitiveness, to battling the unspoken understandings inherent in a parent’s gestures, each character stumbled for the social advantage. Jamie Ankrah, as the lumbersome housemate ‘Wren’, stilled the room with his bovine entrances and functioned almost as a Lorquian messenger of truth. Add to this the clash of Bel Powley’s ‘Tamara’ with the fiercely arrogant ‘Jack’, the ex-boyfriend played gracefully by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, and a gentle storm went brewing.
Sadly, the ending was prolonged by indulgence in overt religious imagery, which felt unnecessary given Samuel Blenkin’s magnificent portrayal of his character’s turbulent inner life throughout the preceding dialogue. This seemed to be symptomatic of the play’s Achilles heel: the choice to deploy characters with sudden musings on politics/religion became increasingly disagreeable with each instance.
Taking a scalpel to the notion of identity, this three-acter offers a stark narrative (albeit flawed) that is well worth watching. ‘Christmas Day’ runs at the Almeida until Thursday 8th January. Tickets can be found here: https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/
Reviewer: Eleanor Hall
Reviewed: 17th December 2025
North West End UK Rating:
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