Thick & Tight’s Camp as Christmas affectionately trashes the festive season, offering a lively and subversive alternative to traditional holiday cheer. This performance is part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary program.
Camp as Christmas features a classic nativity cast that includes the Virgin Mary, Father Christmas, Reform UK, Judy Garland, the Three Unwise Men, Big Ben, a turkey, Melania Trump and her body double, the Devil, Little Donkey, Liza, and Jesus. Expect Thick & Tight’s unique take on show tunes, avant-garde elements, lightning-fast costume changes, and possibly a carol.
Starring in these roles are Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry from Thick & Tight, alongside guest performers Annie Edwards from Candoco and Harry Alexander from Michael Clark.
The atmosphere will be celebratory, inclusive, and queer, striking a few festive notes while adding a healthy dose of irreverence to the conventions of the season.
Daniel and El told QX:
“When the Southbank Centre invited us to create a Christmas show for the Purcell Room, we knew exactly what the assignment was: An hour of non-stop entertainment utilising everything we have learnt as performers and choreographers. In a way, it will be a bit like returning to our roots. Though El and I trained in ballet and contemporary dance at Rambert, as theatre makers, we began developing our style while performing in gay bars and queer venues.
“We combined the rigour and physicality of dance with what was happening around us, like drag, lip-syncing, and live art. We love to make work which exists somewhere between high and low art, campy yet refined, outrageous and gorgeous, strange and silly, showbiz and avant-garde, anti-elite and exceptional. Political AND entertaining AND accessible. Camp as Christmas will keep bouncing between these seeming opposites, as that is what we love and what entertainment is to us.
“For years, Thick & Tight have created portraits of famous and infamous people: Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Freud, Madonna, Andy Warhol, the Kardashians, Quentin Crisp and more. Camp as Christmas will have a whole new troupe of stars, some from the classical nativity cast and modern additions. We also want the show to celebrate everything that is wonderful and awful about the times we are living in; expect to see those that have been naughty and nice on Santa’s list (we’re looking at you, Andrew and Farage). This is also going to be a wonderful excuse to try our turn at some of the pinnacles of camp culture like Judy Garland and Liza; they’re always relevant and part of our culture for very good reasons.
“We want this show to be a great alternative show at Christmas time, for anyone who loves to watch dance, a panto or a carol concert but wants them all wrapped in one. A show which satirises and gift-wraps the season for you. We love to give audiences exactly what they want and hope they leave both giddy and stuffed to the brim!”
Thick & Tight: Camp as Christmas runs from 10 Dec 2026 to 3 Jan 2027 at Southbank Centre (Purcell Room), Southbank Centre, Belvedere Rd, London SE1 8XX, United Kingdom.
Tickets form £26
BSL Performance 15 December 7.45pm, pre-show access session date TBC. Post-show Q&A with Thick & Tight 16 December.
Age guidance 15+, running time 1 hour
More about Thick & Tight
Thick & Tight is a dance theatre company based in the UK, co-directed by Daniel Hay-Gordon and El Perry. They make queer-focussed work which entertains, whilst challenging elitism, ableism and stigma in the arts, and in wider society.
Formed in 2012, Thick & Tight have presented work at venues including Sadler’s Wells, Wilton’s Music Hall, The Tate, Royal Vauxhall Tavern and at the Southbank Centre. They are Associate Artists at Lowry and Philharmonia Artists in Residence, recipients of the UK Theatre Award for Achievement in Dance and have been twice nominated for National Dance Awards. They also won an Offie in the Best Cabaret category in 2024.
Their 2025 show Natural Behaviour was the winner of Achievement in Dance at the UK Theatre Awards. It’s also beenranked No.1 dance show for 2025 in The Guardian. Their film Weathered Blue about Derek Jarman is currently doing the circuit at film festivals and has been very well received. Thick & Tight recently performed newly created work with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well, and Manchester Collective, plus Danny Boyle’s You Are Here festival at the Southbank Centre
