If you’re like me, you’ll have already started scribbling down all the festive virtual theatre fixes onto your calendar, while making a mental note to stock up on your mulled wine! Lucky for me there’s a brand new festive film streamed at the beautiful Globe Theatre which I can enjoy from the cosiness of my couch.
National treasure Sandi Toksvig will be bringing laughter, carols and the joy of Christmas from the Globe Theatre in an online film premiere of Christmas at the (Snow) Globe from Monday 21 December.
“A child stands in our wooden ‘O’ waiting for the show to begin but something’s not quite right. The theatre is bare. Where are the players, the audience and stewards? Fear not – the Snow Globe gang are not going to let anything stop them from giving the child, and everyone at home the gift of theatre, especially at Christmastime! Pull on a festive jumper, gather your loved ones as close as social distancing will allow, and watch the company restore the magic of Christmas. Filled with classic Christmas songs, get ready to sing along and join us in turning every household into a winter wonderland.”
To help share the Christmas cheer with as many people as possible, the Globe are offering all UK care homes and children’s hospitals Christmas at the (Snow) Globe for free. This film is based on the 2019 production which was written and directed by Sandi Toksvig and Jenifer Toksvig. Pip Broughton joins to direct this film adaptation which will be available until 5 January, runs at approximately 45 minutes, and is being shot on location at the Globe, currently closed to the public due to lockdown.
Online audiences across the world will be invited to don their best ugly Christmas jumper, pour a mug of eggnog and join the Globe on Twitter @The_Globe for some festive cheer with the #SnowGlobe watch party from 6.30pm on Monday 21 December.
Sandi is well known to UK audiences as a broadcaster, with television credits including celebrated series Call My Bluff (as regular team captain) and Whose Line Is It Anyway? She took over from Stephen Fry as host of QI, BBC2’s fiendishly difficult and hugely popular quiz, and she and Noel Fielding were co-hosts of The Great British Bake Off until 2019. She tours her one-woman live show The National Trevor Show in 2021, and her new book ‘Toksvig’s Almanac 2021: An Eclectic Meander Through the Historical Year’, was published this month.
For a decade Sandi was a familiar voice for BBC Radio 4 listeners as the chair of The News Quiz which led to her induction into the Radio Hall of Fame. Much of Sandi’s time is devoted to writing, with more than 20 fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults to her credit. Her adaptation of Mamma Mia! The Party opened at London’s O2 in 2019. Sandi is an activist for gender equality, and in 2014 she co-founded the Women’s Equality Party.
In addition to the festive film, throughout December the Globe is releasing a free advent calendar with a daily dose of advent joy full of festive food, fun, song and stories: including ‘Amazing Peace’ by Maya Angelou read by Dona Croll, ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas’ performed by Sophie Stone, and ‘Tilly’s Christmas’ by Louisa May Alcott read by Helen Schlesinger.