Reginald on Christmas Presents by Saki

A Night Before Christmas by Hana Gillani

Hana Gillani

Hana is a single disabled parent of an 8-year-old. Previously an asylum seeker and now a refugee, she loves creative writing and poems. She loves to paint this world with the beauty of words and storytelling. She tries her best to give a voice to the most voiceless. Her words are expression of unity and love. 

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Dancing Dan's Christmas Gift by Damon Runyon

Dancing Dan’s Christmas Gift by Damon Runyon is set on Christmas Eve in New York, where we meet a cast of associates drinking at a speakeasy. 

Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon was an American journalist and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era.

Jamie Parker

Theatre: Next To Normal (Donmar Warehouse); The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Southwark Playhouse Elephant), The Doctor (Adelaide Festival), Harry Potter and The Cursed Child (Palace Theatre, Olivier for Best Actor, and Lyric Theater, Broadway, Tony Nomination for Best Actor), High Society (Old Vic), Guys and Dolls (Chichester Festival and Savoy Theatre, Olivier Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), Candida (Theatre Royal Bath), Proof (Menier Chocolate Factory), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Chichester and West End), My Zinc Bed (Northampton Theatre Royal), Racing Demon (Sheffield Crucible), A New World, As You Like It, HENRY IV Parts 1 & 2, HENRY V (Shakespeare’s Globe), Revenger’s Tragedy, The History Boys (National Theatre), The History Boys (Broadway and World Tour), Singer (Tricycle Theatre), Between the Crosses (Jermyn Street), Holes In The Skin, The Gondoliers (Chichester Festival Theatre) and After the Dance (Oxford Stage Co.)   

TV: The Crown (Netflix), Masters Of The Air (Apple TV+), The Long Shadow, Endeavour, Des, Wire in the Blood, Foyle’s War (ITV), Becoming Elizabeth (Starz), BBC Proms, Jonathan Stage and Mr. Norrell, Count Arthur Strong, Silk, Burn Up, Silent Witness, Maxwell (BBC).  

Film: 1917, Dirty Weekend, Valkyrie, The History Boys, Journey Home, The Lady in the Van.  

Music: The Golden Age of Broadway (Proms, 2021), The John Wilson Orchestra Performs, Frank Sinatra (Proms, 2015) 

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Christmas with Kylie Always! by Anjum Malik

Christmas with Kylie Always! is a new story by Anjum Malik about negotiating a family Christmas after a big night out. It is read by Mina Anwar.  

Anjum Malik 

Anjum Malik is a script writer and poet, she is also a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan university and one of Manchester’s first multilingual City Poets for Manchester City of Literature, UNESCO. As a script writer she has been prolific writing for BBC Radio 4 Drama and Television, Coronation Street, ITV, regional and national theatres, community, and arts bodies. Her poetry has been featured in several anthologies as well as her own collection, ‘Before The Rains’. She was born in Saudi Arabia of Pakistani heritage. 

Mina Anwar 

Prolific stage, screen and radio actor, director and singer. TV includes The Thin Blue Line, Sarah Jane Adventures, Doctor Who, In The Club and Happy Valley. Theatre includes original casts of Olivier Award-winning Sheffield Crucible/West End shows Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Life of Pi, Spring and Port Wine (Bolton Octagon) and The Book Thief (Curve, Leicester). 

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It's A Wonderful Life by Clare Shaw

It’s a Wonderful Life is a new story set in a small town on a winter’s night.  

It is read by the author.  

Clare Shaw (they/them) has four poetry collections with Bloodaxe. Their latest collection Towards a General Theory of Love (2022) is a poetic exploration of love and its absence: it won a Northern Writer’s Award and was a Poetry Society Book of the Year 2022. Clare lectures at the University of Huddersfield, and runs courses for Wordsworth Grasmere, the Royal Literary Fund and the Arvon Foundation. Clare is also a popular performer with multiple appearances on Radio 3 and 4, including “Pick of the Week”. With a background in mental health and education, Clare is a keen advocate for writing as means of personal and social change, and they have established writing projects in workplaces and communities across the UK.   

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Reginald on Christmas Presents by Saki

A tribute to all relatives who are truly clueless gift-givers. 

Read by Samuel Barnett

Saki

Saki (real name Hector Hugh Munro) was a British Edwardian writer who began his career in 1896 as a journalist. Saki first found success in his short story writing, particularly those which acted as political satire. He also wrote two novels, The Unbearable Bassington and When William Came, before enlisting for the First World War. He was shot and killed in 1916.

Samuel Barnett

Originally from Whitby in North Yorkshire, Samuel studied acting at LAMDA and works across theatre television, film, radio, video games and voice over. He is an Oliver, BIFA and two-time Tony Award nominee, and winner of WhatsOnStage, Drama Desk and The Stage Edinburgh awards for his work in The History Boys, Twelfth Night and Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen.

He plays the titular character in Netflix/BBCAmerica’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, and other tv credits include Four Lives, Penny Dreadful, Desperate Romantics, Beautiful People, Not Safe For Work, Twenty Twelve, and John Adams. He can soon be seen in the films Lee, And Mrs and Polite Society, and other film credits include The Lady In The Van, Jupiter Ascending and Mrs. Henderson Presents. 

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