“Broadcasting” Live from Seven Dials Playhouse: The Christmas Thing Returns!

This December, comedy duo Tom Clarkson and Owen Visser, better known as Mr Thing, are back at Seven Dials Playhouse with their brilliantly bonkers festive show, The Christmas Thing. The show takes inspiration from Christmas specials of yesteryear and includes a mix of games, sketches, songs and gloriously unpredictable tech mishaps. It’s silly, warm and full of heart - just the kind of chaos we all need at Christmas. We caught up with Owen and Tom to talk nostalgia, onstage tech disasters and the simple joy of bringing a bit of Christmas silliness to London audiences.

Firstly, how do you juggle making something that feels both silly and slick at the same time?

OWEN: Dolly Parton once said ‘It’s taken a lot of money to look this cheap’. You could say the same about our Mr. Thing, it can take a lot of effort to make things look so chaotic! The audience leave not quite sure what is planned and what isn’t. 

TOM: We’re not always that sure either, 

What’s been your biggest onstage “technical hijink” so far? And have you ever had a moment where the audience completely upstaged you?

TOM: We did a show once where Owen’s laptop had transferred EVERYTHING to the cloud, which meant that nothing worked.  

OWEN: And our show is really driven by all the tech.  We have cameras, sound effects, music, lighting cues.

TOM: It was fun though!  The show kind of thrives on things going wrong!

You’ve mentioned growing up with Christmas TV specials, which ones are still burned into your memory?

OWEN: Morecambe and Wise without a doubt! We still watch those Christmas specials every year.

TOM: The one that kept coming up as we were writing the show though was that Bing Crosby special with David Bowie knocking on the door and coming in to sing Little Drummer Boy with him. It’s from such a weird and wonderful era of television that we wanted to bring to life.

OWEN: Or the Noel’s House Party Christmas special!

TOM: Yeah, anything with special guests arriving through a door, covered in fake snow, that’s our jam.

OWEN: Or cinnamon-spiced chutney.

TOM: Somebody has been reading the M&S Christmas Food catalogue.

OWEN: A boy can dream.

What’s the best thing about performing live at Christmas time and how do you get yourselves into the Christmas spirit before each performance?

TOM: London is pretty hectic at Christmas but travelling in to do a fun show every night feels pretty special, knowing that we’re a little break in everyone’s present buying, Christmas partying chaos to just have a bit of fun, that feeling gets me into the spirit for the beginning of the show.

OWEN: What about our pre show whiskey tipple?

TOM: Oh, that also helps.

What does it mean to you to have Seven Dials Playhouse as your “festive home” for a second year running?

OWEN: We love Seven Dials! It’s such a perfect home for our show because it really feels like you’re walking into a TV studio.

TOM: And the team there are the best.  It really does feel like home for us.  But like a lockdown home, one that we never leave and get quite drunk in.

If you could sum up The Christmas Thing in three words for someone deciding what to see this December, what would they be?”

OWEN: Something uniquely different.

TOM: Just really fun.

‘The Christmas Thing' is at Seven Dials Playhouse from 2nd - 20th December. For tickets and more information, visit: https://www.sevendialsplayhouse.co.uk/shows/the-christmas-thing