Details

And not forgetting the adults, a Christmas show that’s strictly for grown-ups.

Starring Tara Lynne O’Neill (Ma Mary from Derry Girls) as Paula who, this Christmas Eve, finds herself firmly back on the shelf.

Following its sold-out run in 2018, this smash-hit comedy is back with an updated version for the MAC that’s bigger and better than ever.

It’s Christmas Eve. Paula has a list and she’s checked it twice. She has the flat, the car and the career. Now all she wants for Christmas is the ring!

Her boyfriend has other ideas though and she ends up back On The Shelf.

Faced with spending a lifetime of Christmases alone, she decides to peel off the spanx, pour a drink or twelve and dish the dirt on love, life and turning 40.

Like the rest of Paula’s night though, things don’t quite go to plan with the arrival of an unusual and unwanted house guest (Chris Robinson (Bouncers).

Join us for a laugh-out-loud cracker. Time to get together for a guaranteed great night out this Christmas.

How Our Prices Work

Better seats. Better prices. Better get your skates on.

We set our ticket prices in a similar way to airlines - the earlier you book, the cheaper the seat. Our Upstairs Theatre tickets for the Christmas Show start low at £12.50 and rise over time to a maximum of £20 the nearer it gets to a performance.

Our ticket price promise: the earlier you book, the more you save

Unlike most price promises, we guarantee that ours will never be cheaper than they are today. The closer it gets to the performance date, the higher they become.

Seats in the Upstairs Theatre are unallocated so when you arrive, an usher will direct you to an available seat.

Dates & Times

Team & Cast

Cast

Tara Lynne O'Neill as Paula

Tara Lynne O’Neill has been a professional actor working in TV, Film, Radio & Theatre for twenty-five years.

Work includes:

Actor in numerous premiere productions including Everything Between Us (Tinderbox, Belfast, Glasgow, USA Tour).

Work on numerous Radio Productions for BBC & RTE most notably the Award-Winning Grenades for RTE (New Writing).

Work with numerous companies and theatres including Tinderbox, Kabosh, Ouroborous, Replay, PrimeCut, Greenshoot, The Lyric, Belfast, the MAC, Belfast, The Gate, Dublin, Solus Nua, Washington and 59E59, New York

Film/TV work includes dramas for HBO and CBS, BBC and most recently appearing in Derry Girls for Channel 4.

Writing work includes:

Commission for Brassneck Theatre Company, Belfast. Sew On and Sew Forth (First draft of play 2018)

Commission for Kabosh Theatre Company, Belfast. Gallagher Girls. (Produced 2018)

Co-Commission for the MAC & Cahoots Theatre Company, Belfast. The Elves and the Shoemaker (Full production 2018)

Co-Commission for the MAC, Belfast. A Christmas Carol (Full production 2019)

Commission for The Lyric Theatre, Belfast. Rough Girls (Full production 2021)

Commission for the MAC, Belfast. NINOW100.

Chris Robinson as Unexpected Guest

TV and Film includes: Stranger With A Camera, Back in 5, Derry Girls, Counsel, History Makers, The Frankenstein Chronicles, A Bag For Life, Quiet, Regional Variations, Ten Minutes, The Understudies, The Boys From County Hell, Breakfast on Pluto, The Machine, Wee 3 Cranes, In Cold Blood, The Day Mountbatten Died, Teethgrinder and A Touch of Frost.

Theatre includes: Bouncers (Big Telly/MAC, Belfast), About Time (Big Telly/ Warwick Arts Centre), On The Shelf & Xmas For Dummies (written and performed by Chris and Tara-Lynne O’Neill for The Grand Opera House, Belfast), Brendan At The Chelsea (Lyric Theatre and Off-Broadway, NYC), Forget Turkey, Forget Turkey II and PlayRights 24hr Plays (also for Lyric Theatre), Beckett Trilogy (Poet’s Theatre, Boston/MAC, Belfast), Carthaginians (Irish Tour), The Importance Of Being Earnest (MAC, Belfast/Bruiser), Group (MAC, Belfast), Over The Bridge (Finborough), Service (Theatre 503), The Gathering (Theatre Abandon), Diary of a Madman (MAC, Belfast), Miniaturists and A Bunch of Bees (Arcola, London), One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Rawlife), The Maids (Belfast Festival), Have a Nice Life (Edinburgh Festival and Pleasance, London), The Clandestine Marriage and Hush (Mill Studios), We All Fall Down (Replay Productions), Creatures ( Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Murder In The Cathedral and A Comedy of Errors (Ulster Theatre Company).

BBC Radio includes: How to Cope, Romantics and Revolutionaries and two series’ of the award-winning Don’t Make Me Laugh.

As a Writer his work includes Duet For One (As part of the MAC's On The Street Where We Live project), Xmas For Dummies & On The Shelf (Grand Opera House, Belfast), Baltic (GBL), Incognito & Degree Of Danger (Big Telly Theatre Co). He also has just finished work on a sitcom pilot called ConMen.