Before the Millennium: The Old Fire Station

★★★★★

Review: Before the Millennium, Written by Karim Khan, director by Adam Karim. At the Old Fire Station until 21 December. Book tickets here.

Before the Millennium is one of the best Christmas theatre productions I’ve seen in the past ten years.

As a blogger, I see a great many Christmas shows. Most are retellings of familiar Christmas stories – comfortable, reliable and commercially safe. There’s nothing wrong with that – I love a Christmas Carol adaptation. Many theatres in the UK live or die by their Christmas show ticket sales, so it’s a huge risk to do something untested.

So props need to go to the Old Fire Station’s CEO, Clara Vaughan, who has made the brave decision to give us something contemporary, exciting and new. The risk has paid off. Before the Millennium is a triumph.

Set at a Woolworths Christmas party in Oxford in 1999, the play follows friends Zoya, Iqra and Faiza through the final moments of the twentieth century and into the uncertainty of the new millennium. A mash up between A Christmas Carol, Back to the Future and a sharply observed local play, Before the Millennium feels like a contemporary Christmas classic.

Written by the extraordinarily talented Karim Khan, Before the Millennium is brought to life by three superb actors — Gurjot Dhaliwal, Prabhleen Oberoi and Hannah Khalique-Brown — whose performances are hilarious, assured and convincing.

The Old Fire Station has not only created a rare new piece of Christmas theatre, but one that quietly and unapologetically recognises the contribution of migrants to Britain’s social and economic life — something that still requires courage in today’s cultural climate.

Before the Millennium is funny, poignant and thoughtful, but most importantly it’s entertaining. If you’re looking for a Christmas show that’s a bit different from the usual retellings, then this show is for you. I loved it.

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All images, except the feature image, by Alex Brenner.