The Christmas Thing by Tim Clarkson & Owen Visser. Seven Dials Playhouse, 1A Tower Street, London until 21 December 2024,

4☆☆☆☆. Review: William Russell.

“Mayhem and Madness.”

Prepare for the unexpected in this gloriously silly night in a broadcasting studio presided over by a man in yellow suit, Tim Clarkson, who comperes things, and one in a red suit seated at the controls in a red suit, Owen Visser, assisted by people we do not get to see. Clarkson is a manic presence, pulling people out of the audience to help – one hapless reviewer got a helmet with a remote control camera placed on his head and made to transmit interviews with equally hapless guests plucked rom the audience on to a screen for all to see. \meanwhile Visser, who is minimally more restrained, worked at the control desk, activated robots and remote cameras and sometimes gets thing wrong. What it is all about is anybody's guess but it is undeniable hugely entertaining, nobody gets humiliated, even the real delivery men summoned to bring food to the theatre who arrive at the stage door to be dragged on to the stage – at least I think one was real, but as to the second one I am not so sure – are well treated. There are no smutty jokes, a few double entendres and a bust of a bottom with a red carnation stuffed in the obvious place among the items adorning the set which oddly never gets used or referred to. But best not to sit in the front row as more than one person there ended up on stage. It is an evening of mayhem and madness, not quite a play but more of an event.

Cast

Tim Clarkson

Owen Visser.

Creatives

Don Clarkson – Additional Material.

Andy Chisholm - Musical Director.

Jack Garrat – Composer.

Gus Melton – Video Director.

Rob Visser – Lighting Designer.