Christmas Actually Reviews

Josh from London, England

INCREDIBLE PRODUCTION FROM START TO FINISH

Can I start by saying I have seen several reviews berating this production, with a lot of misinformation of what this show was - it’s unfortunate people are ignorant, up tight and lacked awareness of the genius of this, moving on. From start to finish the show was succinct, flowed between diverging storylines and had a beautiful mix of happy, uplifting and some reflective stories - brilliantly illustrated by the cast. The hosts were great, their chemistry shone through and my family & I were pleasantly surprised the versatility of both Jayde and Sanjeev, well done both. The theatre was packed full of laughters which filled the room. On to the disclaimer, if you have a short attention span / are not quick at understanding jokes this show may run a little quick. Also, if you are expecting love actually then please do not turn up - it clearly states this when purchasing the tickets. Unfortunately this show will get bad press but I have to stand as an outlier on this, much as Love Actually initially had scathing reviews by relatively independent papers I fear this is the same, and we all loved Love Actually didn’t we?

Mrs Black from London, England

DISAPPOINTING

We went to this show with great expectations of having a good laugh, but I'm afraid this did not happen. Apart from a few highlights, the show seemed to struggle to get going and appeared amateurish and underrehearsed. A few people left early during the second half.

Joanne from London, England

BIZARRE ACTUALLY

False advertising. Pretty sure the adverts for this stated 'star studded cast' - really? Jayde Adams...never heard of her. 4 other 'cast' members - never heard of them. Although the bloke who was an extra in Love Actually was actually quite good. Miriam-Teak Lee never heard of her either. Her singing got steadily worse. Totally ruined the Christmas Singalong. Should have had more balls in the game. Ruby Wax, heard of her, was her usual obnoxious self. Sanjeev Bhaskar, heard of him, like him. He looked embarrassed to be there and rightly so. The 5 minute Christmas Carol was mildly amusing and there were a couple of other funnyish moments but otherwise rubbish mish mash of random, not particularly funny sketches peppered with videos of the film, video of famous people talking about Christmas, pretty bad singing and appeals for donations. Dont waste your money and 2 1/2 hours of your life. Just donate directly to Comic Relief

Rachel from London, England

AUDIENCE LEAVING EARLY ALWAYS A POOR SIGN..

This show was a bumpy ride and just didn’t flow well at all. Presented by Sanjeev Bhaskar (who was the best thing about the event) and Jayde Adams the variety of ‘acts’ included early on an amusing nativity with the script written by a chatbot and towards the end a 5 minute rendition of ‘A Christmas Carol, which only Sanjeev made worth watching. In between an odd mixture of skits which didn’t flow well: video of footballers reading bad cracker jokes, an audience participation event bouncing 5 balloons around the auditorium (organisers - you need a lot more ballon’s to make it fun! Maybe introduce red ballon’s and keep the prizes just for the red balloons and a lot more white ones), a not very scary ghost story, video footage of Band Aid and Live Aid could have been improved by showing the full track or a performance of the song on stage, and reading of children’s letters to Santa, poor singing of an alternative Christmas song by Jayde. It wasn’t a good night’s entertainment at all.

FK from London, England

SO SO

Felt like I was watching an amateur dramatics alternative Christmas show. Very staged, disjointed, band often too loud to hear the puns in the songs. Seeing Ruby Wax for 90 seconds was a brief bonus. Helping charity 👍🏻. Would I recommend it 👎🏻

Becky from London, England

AWKWARD

Not really sure what the idea of this show was. It didn’t have substance and was a disastrous mix of pantomime-style sketches and serious Children in Need TV clips. We left at half time, as did many others.

Liz from London, England

UNDERWHELMING AND DISAPPOINTING

My daughter and I went this afternoon expecting a really fun, festive, star cast performance as advertised but rather in person, the stars appeared briefly on video., very disappointed. I expected a higher standard and a more well rehearsed production. Thank goodness for Sanjeev trying to pull it together. Overall expected more from a Richard Curtis production. Left disappointed and underwhelmed. The only consolation. was some of the money went to Comic Relief.

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