A series of star-studded variety nights are coming to the Royal Festival Hall this Christmas, from the creator of Love Actually, Richard Curtis.
Christmas Actually will be a series of fun-for-all-the family festive celebrations benefitting the Comic Relief charity, and will run from 7 to 11 December 2023 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
A celebrity line-up will perform live music, Christmas stories, poetry and comedy, all directed by Daniel Raggett, whose current show is West End hit comedy Accidental Death of an Anarchist at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
The evening promises to feature Christmas classics performed by a live band, powerful real-life stories, such as the World War One Christmas Truce and the Band Aid charity singles, and moving poetry brought to life by a multi-talented cast, all set against a backdrop of live illustrations from some of the world’s most well-known artists and illustrators.
The show will also include some brilliantly terrible Christmas cracker jokes read by celebrities on screen, children’s hilarious letters to Father Christmas and a good old-fashioned singalong.
The full cast, creative team and celebrity guests are to be announced soon.
Richard Curtis is co-founder of Comic Relief, and the charity has raised over £1.5 billion to support projects that tackle poverty in the UK and around the world during that time. As an award-winning film writer and director, his films include Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Mr Bean, Love Actually, The Boat That Rocked, About Time and most recently Danny Boyle’s Yesterday.
Richard Curtis said in a statement: “I hope this will be the perfect Christmas show: noisy and emotional, and full of surprises and jokes with some proper celebrity sparkle. And I know it will help support brilliant projects changing people’s lives, both in the UK and around the world, 365 days a year.”
Curtis also told the BBC that, “I remember I didn’t always love the Christmas shows I took my children to, but I always took them to one,” Curtis said. “So we thought it would be fun to make a show for Christmas that really is fun for all the family. And then the idea of doing it also to raise money for Comic Relief made the idea irresistible. We hope to cram a wealth of wonder into 90 noisy minutes. I suspect some members of the audience will go away with presents they weren’t expecting; there’ll definitely be some rowdy singing along and some unexpected famous people will pop up on the screens and even in person.”
The show is produced by Senbla, part of Sony Music Entertainment, and live entertainment company Roast Productions, in partnership with Comic Relief.
Book tickets to Christmas Actually at the Royal Festival Hall in London
