Review: A TOWN CALLED CHRISTMAS, Brighton Dome
Photo credit: Lian Furness
Let the festive season continue and get ready to explore A Town Called Christmas in a heartwarming production brought to you by Gala Durham, Wrongsemble and Red Ladder Theatre. Brighton marks the final stop of their 2025 season and promises to bring Christmas cheer for the rest of this year with a limited run of the show.
In A Town Called Christmas, Clementine wishes to discover the place her late Aunt told her about in stories, setting Clementine off on a unique adventure where she tries to bring Christmas magic, hope and community back into the town. It is a great family show, perfect for keeping little ones entertained this Holiday season, featuring everything you need from fun songs to fake snow to festive jokes.
The cast consists of a trio of actors, Maryam Ali (Clementine), Roo Arwen (Glitch) and Charles Doherty (Tim). The role of Clementine really is the heart and soul of the show and Ali brings great energy to the part, developing a real connection with the kids in the audience, supported by the other actors.
A Town Called Christmas beautifully and seamlessly incorporates different features to enhance the accessibility and inclusiveness of the show, from integrated captioning on an onstage monitor to using sign language as a form of communication. These elements highly boost the success of the production and allow the show to be enjoyed by all, as all good Christmas theatre should be.
For the most part, the story is beautifully written, but having a robot tour guide as one of the central characters does feel like an obscure choice for a Christmas show. Arwen perfectly captures the mannerisms of the character of Glitch, as well as the other characters they multirole, but the script’s inclusion of robots as a core element to the storyline does feel a little bizarre, futuristic and unconventional for a festive show when the other characters are named after things that are instantly associated with Christmas, such as the classic Dickens’ character Tiny Tim, which becomes a hearty nickname given to Doherty’s character by Clementine’s aunt.
An original score for the show has been co-composed by Claire O’Connor and Bay Bryan featuring many beautiful songs packed with stunning harmonies and catchy tunes. Music is such a core element to the success of this production and the songs really help lift the festive spirit of the show.
End your 2025 with festive family fun through immersing yourself in this heartwarming story.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Heidi Downing
A Town Called Christmas plays at Brighton Dome until 31 December, with further info here.