Christmas Day is set in an abandoned office space in north London [Mark Brenner]

CHRISTMAS DAY
Almeida Theatre
3 stars

Sam Grabiner’s award-winning debut Boys on the Verge of Tears – an exploration of boys, men and masculinity set in a public lavatory – showed promise even though I had reservations about the play itself.

I feel a similar ambivalence towards his latest work, Christmas Day, a bittersweet interrogation of what it means to be British Jewish today. Given the recent Bondi Beach terror attack targeting Hanukkah celebrants, it couldn’t be more timely. But Grabiner tries to cover too many bases, the writing is uneven, and much of the early humour feels forced.

Set in an abandoned office space in north London (meticulously designed by Miriam Buether), a Jewish family gather for Chinese takeaway on Christmas Day. Noah (Samuel Blenkin) lives there with his sister Tamara (Bel Powley) and girlfriend Maud (Callie Cooke).

They are joined by their father Elliot (Nigel Lindsay) and Tamara’s former boyfriend Aaron (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), who has recently moved to Tel Aviv.

Like the erratic industrial heater suspended from the rafters, which flares intermittently into life, a series of additional characters (all played by Jamie Ankrah) interrupt the family dynamic without meaningfully advancing the action.

James Macdonald’s assured production is well acted, and there are affecting moments in their discussions of identity, anti-Semitism, and belonging. As tensions rise over the makeshift dining table, Christmas Day finally finds its footing.

Until January 8
almeida.co.uk