The night before Christmas

Anthony Neilson

Christmas Eve and an elf lands in a warehouse full of cheap and stolen toys. Gary, not fully convinced it is an elf, calls Simon, not fully convinced Gary is sane anymore. The intruder who pleads with them to release him. Kept away from his job and the steady supply of the almost-narcotic 'Christmas spirit' magical powder, he might just die, ruining his own Christmas, surely, and perhaps everyone else's. 'The Night Before Christmas' is a hilarious anti-pantomime, a funny but ultimately warm-hearted cri de coeur against the Christmas industry, first performed at The Red Room, London, in December 1995.