Jewish family Christmas is grim but compelling
Almeida Theatre
In his latest play, Sam Grabiner brings together a Jewish family on Christmas Day to argue about a threatening outside world.
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4 stars ⭑⭑⭑⭑
The Guardian’s Arifa Akbar declared: ‘It is not a perfect play but an immensely courageous one. So is its programming by outgoing artistic director Rupert Goold. I have not seen a drama that deals with British Jewish identity with this much complexity. There are some manufactured rows between characters as a result, but they hold you, and emanate danger merely in their airing.’
The Times’ Clive Davis got all of a quiver: ‘Sam Grabiner’s account of a Jewish family gathering for a fractious Christmas meal is a fever dream of a play with a vicious, absurdist streak. There’s nudity, gore and vomiting, and the arguments about identity and Gaza stab at the heart. It’s uneven and downright confusing at times, but you are compelled to keep watching.’
Holly O’Mahony at The Stage enjoyed her evening: ‘It’s meticulously naturalistic, with the meal unfolding – and actually eaten – in real time. Grabiner has real skill for writing rounded characters with depth, and committed performances all round ensure Macdonald’s production never loses momentum, even in seemingly inconsequential moments.‘
Time Out‘s Andrzej Lukowski described it as ‘a dark, dark comedy about a jaw-droppingly dysfunctional British Jewish family. It is an anarchic meditation on the British Jewish psyche, that is really very fearless about ‘going there’ with certain political issues. It is about the British tradition of having a massive ding dong on Christmas Day. And it’s a comedy about living in London.’
3 stars ⭑⭑⭑
The Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish found that the play ‘captures the wrangling, dread-filled mood of 2025. There’s a sense throughout that you never quite know what is going to be said, or happen, next.’ He continued: ‘as the ancillary characters try to chip in, too, and the script lunges for head-turning talking points (“I sort of miss the pogroms.”), it’s as though the author himself is stumbling about, groping for a firm hold on his subject. It’s hard to fault the cast, or James Macdonald’s direction, but it feels as though this promising piece is a few drafts short of its full potential.’
WhatsOnStage’s Sarah Crompton summed up: ‘The play is often funny, catching exactly the family tensions – the hyper competitive quizzing, the dislike of a new girlfriend – that rip apart many family Christmases. Grabiner’s writing is chewy and tough-minded. It tries to do a lot, raising so many difficult, complex questions that are impossible to resolve, and doesn’t always feel fully realised. But its portrait of inherited trauma is convincingly explored and James Macdonald’s direction, responsive to each change of mood, ready to allow silence as well as explosions, makes it intense and compelling.’
Matt Wolf for LondonTheatre called it a ‘fascinating, beautifully acted play’. His main reservation was: ‘I’m not sure Grabiner has yet landed the knockout ending his consistently intriguing script requires’.
The Independent’s Alice Saville made a similar point: ‘It’s got all the ingredients of a theatrical staple: the family drama where old secrets emerge over the dinner table. But Grabiner’s approach is more opaque: he lets massive revelations drop without really acknowledging them, fills his story with strange red herrings, and finishes with an odd, symbolic, ritualistic scene that you’d probably need a panel of debating religious authorities to really get to the bottom of.’
The Standard‘s Nick Curtis reported: ‘Challenging and frustrating though the play is, I was hooked throughout. It’s bold of Grabiner to tackle the ramifications of rising antisemitism and the war in Gaza, albeit in a raw and elliptical form. Bold too of the Almeida to schedule it during the season of family shows and panto. Christmas Day is often viciously funny, thanks in large part to the delivery of the always-excellent Lindsay and of Cooke’.
Gary Naylor at The Arts Desk was challenged by the show: ‘Director, James Macdonald, is juggling so many themes and churning personalities that I’m unconvinced that the required clarity of storytelling is distilled from the script’s whirlpool of ideas. That said, Grabiner does expect his audience to meet him at least halfway, as the best playwrights must, in that task. The writing brought me to the minds of this family, but not its hearts, still less its souls. I’m not sure I had the necessary perspective to see that far.’
Critics’ average rating 3.4⭑
Christmas Day can be seen at The Almeida until 8 January 2026. Buy tickets directly from the theatre
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