Oxford’s Old Fire Station will premiere Before the Millennium, a nostalgic and gently surreal festive production written by Karim Khan and directed by Adam Karim, running from 1 to 25 December 2025.
Set at a Woolworths staff Christmas party in 1999, Before the Millennium follows best friends Zoya and Iqra — Pakistani migrants and co-workers — as they prepare for the turn of the century. When a mysterious new colleague, Faiza, arrives with unsettling knowledge about their past, the countdown to midnight becomes a moment of reckoning.
The production marks the Old Fire Station’s seventh original Christmas show, continuing its tradition of presenting festive theatre that speaks to adult audiences. Rather than pantomime, the venue offers stories that explore the season’s complexity, contradictions, and quiet moments.
Writer Karim Khan said:
“The Old Fire Station is where my theatre journey began as a child, so I couldn’t be more honoured and excited to be sharing my next play here. Before the Millennium means a great deal to me, not least because I get to tell my very own Christmas tale through the prism of my experience as a 90s baby, and ultimately get to honour a generation of women who migrated here during that time. I cannot wait for audiences to be transported back to a time where Woolies still existed, and Pick ‘n’ Mix was available to steal from.”
Karim Khan is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter whose breakout play Brown Boys Swim won a Fringe First and Popcorn Writing Award at Edinburgh Fringe 2022. He is currently under commission with the Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre, and Soho Theatre.
Director Adam Karim won the Eastern Eye Best Director Award in 2025 for his JMK Award-winning production of Guards at the Taj. His directing credits span RADA, LAMDA, the Young Vic, and the Donmar Warehouse.
The Old Fire Station shares its building with the homelessness charity Crisis, and people with lived experience of homelessness are actively involved across the venue as staff, creatives, and audience members.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
