By Grace Hatchell

I’ve delivered enough Christmas cards to know that “you’re invited to a little festive gathering” can cover anything from three neighbours sharing a cheese board to somebody dancing on the furniture before the sausage rolls have defrosted.

Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party sounds firmly at the livelier end of that spectrum. There’s circus, comedy and a stripping Scrooge. I’d put your best Christmas jumper on. Perhaps leave the vicar at home.

Running at Underbelly Boulevard Soho from 13 November 2026 to 10 January 2027, the production will be the venue’s final show before it closes its doors. Underbelly and Three Legged Race Productions are promising a suitably exuberant farewell to the Soho space.

The premise is simple: Sophie has lost her Christmas spirit, and the solution is to throw her the most outrageous party imaginable.

Fair enough. Although I usually start with a mince pie and work upwards.

Each night, an audience member will be chosen to become Sophie, placing an unsuspecting guest of honour at the centre of the festivities. Everyone else becomes a party guest in a show mixing theatre, circus and audience interaction.

Expect visits from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, alongside aerial acts, acrobatics, high-energy comedy and a throwback soundtrack. With the audience helping shape proceedings, no two performances will be quite the same.

That stripping Scrooge is also on the guest list. Apparently, losing your Christmas inhibitions extends considerably further than taking your paper hat off.

Three Legged Race Productions founders Katharine Arnold, Isis Clegg-Vinell and Nathan Price lead the cast, joined by Nate Armour, Sam Goodburn and Hugo Desmarais.

Between them, their experience includes Cirque du Soleil, The 7 Fingers, La Clique and international circus productions.

Arnold’s work includes touring with Cirque du Soleil and working on Tim Burton’s Dumbo. Clegg-Vinell is a former Team GB gymnast and British and European Acrobatic Gymnastics Champion, while Price’s credits include serving as associate circus director for Disney Theatrical Group’s The Greatest Showman – The Musical.

Armour brings international juggling and acrobatic experience, including a three-year residency with Spiegelworld in Atlantic City. Desmarais has more than 30 years of circus experience, with credits ranging from Cirque du Soleil to Disney parks.

Then there’s Goodburn, whose achievements include three Guinness World Records involving custard creams.

Now you’re speaking my language, lad. Though I suspect my own biscuit consumption wouldn’t qualify as a circus skill.

There’s a farewell beneath all the festive silliness. Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party will be the last production to perform at Underbelly Boulevard Soho.

Underbelly director Ed Bartlam describes the venue as a special home for ambitious live entertainment, with this final production bringing together the talent, fun and shared audience experience the company values. Underbelly’s wider programme will continue, including its work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The Christmas production follows the international success of Three Legged Race Productions’ Sophie’s Surprise 29th, which won an Offie for Best Production in 2024 and the Seoul Arts Award in 2025.

For anyone planning a later night, selected performances of Sophie’s Lates begin at 9.30pm, offering a 70-minute version without an interval. Plenty of time for festive chaos before you start negotiating the journey home.

I can’t promise Sophie will recover her Christmas spirit quietly. With this guest list, I’d be surprised if anything happened quietly.

Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party runs from 13 November 2026 to 10 January 2027 at Underbelly Boulevard Soho, 6 Walker’s Court, London, W1F 0BT.

The main performance lasts 90 minutes, including a 20-minute interval. Sophie’s Lates lasts 70 minutes without an interval. The show is recommended for ages 16 and over, with tickets advertised from £30, including the booking fee.

Find performance dates and book tickets for Sophie’s Surprise Christmas Party.