July 17 (UPI) — Notting Hill and Four Weddings and a Funeral filmmaker Richard Curtis has announced he is working on a theatrical variety show called Christmas Actually.
ANNOUNCEMENT | Christmas Actually comes to the Southbank Centre this festive season… The ultimate festive variety show curated by Richard Curtis in partnership with @ComicRelief [7 - 11 December 2023] https://t.co/E6kFrOsBt7 #ChristmasActually #RichardCurtis— Southbank Centre (@southbankcentre) July 17, 2023
The holiday production, which is not a sequel to Curtis’ similarly named 2003 rom-com classic, Love Actually, is to open Dec. 7 in London to raise money for Curtis’ favorite anti-poverty charity, Comic Relief, according to the South Bank Centre Royal Festival Hall website.
No casting has been announced yet.
“We hope it’ll be a real chocolate box — or perhaps advent calendar — of delights,” Curtis told BBC News, adding the show will run for eight performances and be “noisy and emotional and full of surprises and jokes, with some proper celebrity sparkle.”
“I remember I didn’t always love the Christmas shows I took my children to, but I always took them to one,” Curtis said.
“So, we thought it would be fun to make a show for Christmas that really is fun for all the family,” he added. “And then the idea of doing it also to raise money for Comic Relief made the idea irresistible.”
