Amongst all of the pantomimes and Christmas shows this year, Birmingham’s Old Joint Stock Theatre offers an alternative festive offering with Ginna Hoben’s The 12 Dates of Christmas.

This one-woman performance centres on Mary, a 30-something New Yorker who witnesses her fiance kissing another woman on the televised Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Mary then recounts her up and down year of dating that follows and a five-year-old who opens her eyes to real love.

With a simple set consisting of a Christmas tree and three wooden blocks resembling gifts, which are reconfigured to create new scenes, Sam Carlyle (who finished in the venue’s production of Our Christmas Carol only days before) successfully navigates her way through the 85-minute solo performance as Mary with utter professionalism, and successfully manages to sustain the pace of the show throughout. She is a superb comic actress with a great aptitude for improvisation when needed as well - usually latecomers are frowned upon but they allow for Carlyle to further show her intuition and quick wit as an actress. There is a slight Bridget Jones-ness about her character, particularly as she strolls out at the top of the show in PJs and pours herself a large glass of wine, later lip syncing along to anti-love songs - you warm to her immediately.

Being a one-woman show, Carlyle sometimes has to voice other characters, which could expose inconsistencies or flaws in her performance, but not here. She flits between accents with the greatest of ease and never loses the flow of the conversation she is retelling.

Well directed by James Edge, Carlyle takes the audience on a journey of highs and lows with her; one minute laughing along at the absurdity of some of her stories, and the next tearing up at her misfortune, but all culminating in one great big heartwarming moment that would thaw even the coldest of hearts. It is an emotional rollercoaster, which is an absolute pleasure to be on.

Some of the technical elements could be a little smoother, especially the transitions between lighting states, but there are lovely touches where light and sound works harmoniously to great effect, such as when Mary places a themed Christmas ornament on the tree to represent the failed date that preceded. The final scene content is also brilliantly matched technically and sends the audience off into the night with a real glow and spring in their step.

A play full of heart and Christmas spirit.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Jenny Ell

The 12 Dates of Christmas plays at the Old Joint Stock Theatre until 30 December, with further information here.