Brighton Dome has 15 Christmas shows from 29 November to 28 December, led by Circa's Duck Pond. Ceilidh the Musical is cancelled and tickets refunded.
Brighton Dome has 15 Christmas events across its Concert Hall, Corn Exchange and Studio Theatre between Sunday 29 November and Monday 28 December 2026, with Circa’s circus version of Swan Lake as the biggest. One show from the original programme, Ceilidh the Musical, has been cancelled.
Quick answer: the main family show is Duck Pond by Circa in the Concert Hall, 23 to 28 December, from £12.50. For young children there is The Adventures of the Little Red Hen (22 to 24 December) and The Snowman with a live orchestra (19 December). For adults, Brighton’s Big Drag Pageant (10 December), ORGANOKE (18 December) and Live at Christmas comedy (20 December). Book at brightondome.org.
The Dome describes its December as “a veritable selection box of festive treats”, taking in “modern twists on much-loved tales and traditions for the whole family”, shows “from some of the region’s best queer artists”, classic concerts and singalongs, crafting, comedy and shopping.
Ceilidh the Musical is cancelled
The release listed Ceilidh the Musical in the Corn Exchange from 15 to 20 December. It is no longer happening. The Dome’s listing says the producers have moved the UK tour planned from November 2026 to a later date in 2027, and that it cannot say whether the new dates will include Brighton. Ticket holders were emailed on Friday 6 November and are being refunded automatically: “You do not need to contact the Ticket Office,” the Dome says.
Duck Pond: Circa’s Swan Lake for families
The Australian circus company Circa brings Duck Pond to the Concert Hall for eight performances, from Wednesday 23 to Monday 28 December, for ages 5 and up. The Dome calls it “a family-friendly reimagining of classic stories Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling” with “sumptuous aerials and jaw dropping acrobatics, shot through with cheeky humour and contemporary energy”, a story “of identity and finding your true self, complete with a flipper-wearing duck army and a burlesque black swan”.
Performances are Wednesday 23 December at 7.30pm; Thursday 24 December at 2pm and 5pm; Saturday 26 December at 2pm; Sunday 27 December at 11am (a relaxed performance) and 2pm; and Monday 28 December at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets are £31.50, £27.50, £19.50 and £12.50, and the show runs about one hour 20 minutes with no interval (Brighton Dome). Circa has been to Brighton Festival before, with Humans 2.0 in 2025, Sacre in 2022 and the outdoor show Depart in 2017.
The Purcell Singers bring the first Christmas concert to the Corn Exchange
On Sunday 29 November, 7.30pm, The Purcell Singers and the harpist Eleanor Medcalf give what the Dome says is the first Christmas concert staged in the Corn Exchange. The programme is built around Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, written in 1942 for choir and harp and performed by candlelight, with carols and Christmas music from the Renaissance to now: the Sussex Carol, I Saw Three Ships, In the Bleak Midwinter, the Wexford Carol, Jonathan Dove’s The Three Kings and Paul Fincham’s Ring the Bells among them. Prices and the full running order are in our Christmas concerts and carols guide and on the Dome’s listing.
For young children
The Adventures of the Little Red Hen, by Stuff and Nonsense Theatre, is in the Corn Exchange from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 December at 11am and 2.30pm, with puppetry, live music and comedy, for ages 3 and up. Tickets are £21.50 for adults, £14.50 for children and £58 for a family (Brighton Dome).
The Snowman, the film shown on a big screen with a professional orchestra playing the score live, is in the Concert Hall on Saturday 19 December at 1.30pm (a relaxed performance) and 4.30pm. The show also includes Fleece Navidad, a Shaun the Sheep Christmas short, and ends with everyone singing Walking in the Air. Tickets are £23.50, £20.50 and £17, under-16s £15.50 (Brighton Dome).
Crafty Christmas workshops in Anita’s Room are for children aged 3 to 11 working with a parent or carer, an hour each, all materials provided. The Dome lists £12 for one adult and one child plus £10 for each extra child, with a maximum of two children per adult:
- Spoon puppets: Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 December, 11am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm
- Shadow lanterns: Saturday 12 December at 11am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm, and Sunday 20 December at 11am and 1.30pm
- Winter in a box (a snowy scene): Sunday 13 December at 11am, 1.30pm and 3.30pm, and Saturday 19 December at 11am and 1.30pm
The One Voice Festival of Singing brings more than 2,200 young singers from primary and special schools across Brighton & Hove and East Sussex to the Concert Hall in December. It is produced by Create Music, the music education service that is part of Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival, with Glyndebourne, and also plays Glyndebourne and the De La Warr Pavilion (Brighton Dome).
Drag, karaoke and comedy
Brighton’s Big Drag Pageant returns to the Concert Hall on Thursday 10 December at 7.15pm (doors 6.45pm), hosted by Alfie Ordinary, with a horror theme this year. The Dome’s line-up lists Lydia L’Scabies, Arran Shurvinton, Ex-Girlfriend, Asifa Lahore, Shallow Vera, Peanut and Melanin Monroe competing for a cash prize. It is 18+, a chilled performance and BSL interpreted. Tickets are £15, £22.50 and £32.50, or £40 for a front “Pageant Patron” seat (Brighton Dome).
ORGANOKE is on Friday 18 December at 7.30pm (doors 7pm): Christmas karaoke to the Dome’s pipe organ and a live band, led by “Brighton’s own rapping pensioner” Ida Barr. The first half is a mass singalong; in the second, names drawn from a tombola get a solo. Tickets are £23.50, or £18.50 for under-26s and low-income concessions, with standing and unreserved seating; under-14s must come with an adult (Brighton Dome).
Live at Christmas is on Sunday 20 December at 7.30pm, £32, for ages 16 and up. David O’Doherty and Sara Pascoe share the headline, with Amy Gledhill hosting and Toussaint Douglass on the bill. The October release also named Bridget Christie, but the Dome’s listing on 12 November names Ania Magliano instead (Brighton Dome).
Christmas Craft and Chat is the adult version of the craft workshops, 18+, with the bar open: a snowy scene on Saturday 19 December and a shadow lantern on Sunday 20 December, both 3.30pm for 90 minutes, £15.
Choirs and Christmas concerts
Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus has a new Christmas show on Saturday 12 December, a “camp murder mystery humorously told through Christmas classics”.
Christmas with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Brighton Festival Chorus is on Sunday 13 December, conducted by James Morgan with the mezzo-soprano Juliette Pochin, and includes a chance for audience members to try conducting.
The Big Christmas Singalong on Tuesday 15 December is led by The Choir with No Name Brighton, whose members have been affected by homelessness, with the Brighton band Arxx as guests. Donations and profits go to the choir, which runs in partnership with the homelessness charity BHT Sussex.
Gaudete! on Friday 11 December, in the Studio Theatre, has the folk duo Green Matthews with a violinist and an early woodwind player, playing carols, winter folk songs and dance tunes from 600 years of Christmas music, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.
Times and prices for all four concerts are in our Christmas concerts and carols guide.
Shopping and the Big Give
The 11th Brighton Etsy Christmas Fair fills the Dome’s foyer on Saturday 5 December with more than 90 local designers, artists and makers, free to get in; details are in our Christmas lights and markets guide.
Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival is also taking part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge this December, raising money for bursaries for Create Music students. The appeal page says Create Music will offer 1,000 bursaries this year to children from low-income families, covering lessons, ensembles, performances and instrument loans (Big Give).
For the rest of the city’s Christmas, from the Valley Gardens market to Christmas Day lunches, see Christmas in Brighton 2026.
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