Is too late or too early to talk about Christmas?

Back in July 2025 when we were planning our Christmas projects (and writing our ACE project grant application) we thought that it would be a great idea to restart our blog to document our experiences, in case they might be useful to any other theatre makers or spark conversation. This has been on the to do list for months and there is a good reason why it is only just reaching you in February, when Christmas is the farthest point from most people’s minds…

Christmas 2025 was busy, possibly our busiest yet with one new show, one remount & national tour and a co-production out simultaneously. January was a blur of storage Jenga, van returns, evaluation, invoicing, and our own individual tax returns which we had been putting off for too long. And suddenly it’s February.

For the last couple of years we have often joked that we only make Christmas shows now. There is no denying that offering festive or winter themed productions for early years audiences throughout November – January can be very fruitful for touring companies. Outside of the half term holidays or the more dedicated PYA venues, it is often the only time of year that there is the offer of an extended run of shows.  For a sector that operates largely on 1-2 day bookings and same day, speedy get ins, it is a joy to be able to really settle a piece into a venue. For audiences, it gives them the chance to come back again and bring their friends, which is possibly the best proof that this work is wanted and needed.

And from our experience audiences do come out at Christmas time, which is made even more wonderful when you consider the level of competition that we face from winter light trails and Santa experiences to train illuminations and winter wonderlands. I know from having my own children how many activities there are out there, we are spoilt for choice. Maybe it’s a product of the Panto traditions that run so deeply here in the UK, Christmas is often the only time that people head out to the theatre to see something that promises fun & laughs for the whole family. But as we know these big productions aren’t aimed at little ones who would find them too long, too loud and too wordy (from the experience of a Mum who attempted to take a 3YO to a big scale Pantomime). So audiences need an alternative, something that has been created with young ones truly in mind that offers a real high-quality experience tailored to them.

We have shared conversations with our partners and peers that ponder “wouldn’t it be great if audiences came out like this at other times of year?”. As a director sitting quietly at the back of an auditorium you hear all the right things, adults turning to their friends and saying, “we should see what else they have on here”, a Dad leaving the theatre exclaiming “I enjoyed that 200% more than I expected”. I don’t know if we are inspiring families to become regular theatre goers, that is a question for the Box Office reports, but if families are going to come out once a year at Christmas time, then we as theatre makers have a duty to show them how wonderfully nuanced and beautiful early years productions can be.  

As a touring company we enjoy being able to embrace the seasonal opportunities to share our work with larger audiences. From November 2025 – January 2026, we reached almost 11,000 people with our festive offering, not bad when most shows have a limited capacity. Juggling three productions was a delicate balance, especially when we were thrown the odd curve ball of poorly children, cast illness and tech glitches. It was non-stop and we have our amazing teams, collaborators, and partners to thank for making it even remotely manageable.

The biggest challenge to us as a small organisation came not in the rehearsal and touring madness, but in the ACE Grantium implosion. Filskit are not a regularly funded organisation, we rely on a rolling process of applying for a variety of small and large project grants and attempt to time these applications to ensure that we are never left out of work for too long. We had planned to submit an application in the summer to take a new early years show (not Christmas related) into production this Spring, but that couldn’t happen. By the time the temporary system was up and running we were deep in Winter tour prep, travelling here, there, and everywhere. We could not fathom finding the time to consider our next steps, let alone having space in our brain to have creative thoughts about a new project. Being a company that relies on project funding is a hustle, and it’s a shame to lose the momentum of such a fast-paced winter season. This is the obvious down-side of being a small, 2 person core team, when we’re delivering projects it feels like a huge task to find the time and space for those all-important ‘what’s next’ conversations.   

So, here we are, facing a rather quiet Spring, writing blog posts and dreaming up some new show ideas whilst we await the outcome of a funding application …and thinking about next Christmas.

Love and solidarity to our fellow theatre makers and touring companies.

Sarah & Katy

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