Review: 21 Round for Christmas at Park Theatre

Funny festive treat, 21 Round for Christmas by Toby Hampton and Matthew Ballantyne, is playing at The Park Theatre in Finsbury Park 12-23^rd of December. Directed by one half of the writing team, Toby Hampton, this buoyant and pacy one-woman show is sure to get you into the Christmas Spirit or in the case of our hilarious protagonist, Tracy, consuming it.

We open in a kitchen, a well-executed design to capture the recognisable tone of a modern house. We find ourselves here most of the time as the action unfolds. However, the intelligent use of lighting and sound effects transform the space into the manifold locations we are busily whisked to: pubs, clubs, railway stations, a dodgy garage off the A406… by the heavily put-upon Tracy, who is tasked with cooking Christmas dinner to cater for the very 2023 dietary needs of her horde of guests. As she says though, she’s ‘awoke’ enough to deal with it.

The compelling Tracy is played by the brilliant Cathy Conneff, whose levity, warmth, cheeky glint-in-her-eye attitude and ability to joyfully play both within the bounds of the script and occasionally directly with the audience kept us fully engaged and on side for the duration. The proof of this is in the pudding, as the audience laughed, groaned and got involved with Tracy’s hazy mixture of reminiscence on the past and constant interruption by her frustrating and at times genuinely touching present.

Director Hampton keeps the pace rattling on, scoring the succinct dramatic beats and leading us around the rich and so wonderfully working-class life of Tracy with assurance and glee. Some people, I’m sure, have a vision of Christmas that is a bit more, shall we say ‘Nigella’? This play will strike a chord with those who have experienced the kind of Christmas Day that features a raging, over-worked cook, an army of chocolate-fuelled children rioting and the majority of adults three-sheets to the wind by midday. The play packs the kind of no-nonsense stuffing that echoes the writing of Godber, Bennett and in particular, it made me think of The Royle Family with a pinch of Shameless. All in all, 21 Round for Christmas, is a cracker of a play that is sure to bring you some yuletide cheer and is definitely no Turkey.