One of the highlights of our South Wales festive calendar last year was the CARDIFF CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL. It was all new, in a beautiful Spiegeltent. The shows we’re spectacular and delighted thousands of people, both young and old, during the run up to Christmas.

The great news is, the producers of Cardiff Christmas Festival (formerly Cardiff Castle Christmas Festival), have confirmed that the popular event will returns this Christmas – moving to the larger, established theatre festival site in Sophia Gardens.

Produced by Cardiff-based live events company LIVE UNDER THE STARS, Cardiff Christmas Festival presents three incredible shows offering something for everyone. The shows will be performed in the ornate and intimate 550-seat Fortuna Spiegeltent in the beautiful surroundings of Sophia Gardens and promises to transport us to a nostalgic and magical world.

This year’s festival includes:

SANTA’S WISH – back by popular demand following a triumphant premiere last year with demand outstripping supply following critic and audience acclaim. This magical Christmas musical adventure, which the whole family will love, is written by husband-and-wife team Matthew and Laura Brind.

You can look back at last year’s production, and some audience reaction, in our feature HERE.

CASTELLANA – a new production of Castellana, a jaw dropping blend of world class cabaret, circus, burlesque, and comedy, returns to tantalise, tease, and mesmerise. On its debut last year, it was described by critics as the ‘most unique show in town’ and ‘the most memorable festive experience’.

Again, you can look back at last year’s show in our review HERE.

WELSH OF THE WEST END – this season will also welcome the global internet and Britain’s Got Talent musical theatre group into the intimate surroundings of the Spiegeltent for what promises to be a unique opportunity to see and hear the group up close and personal for one night only on Sunday 17th December.

Cardiff Christmas Festival is created and produced by Richard Perry and John Manders, joint directors of Live under The Stars, whose credits include the 2022 Cardiff Castle Jubilee Celebration Concert, and the Live Under the Stars Concert series. 

Richard Perry, co-producer of the event told us…….

“After such tremendous feedback and support in 2022, we’re delighted to announce details of this year’s Cardiff Christmas Festival. The unanimous audience feedback from last year was that Santa’s Wish and Castellana were amongst the best live experiences that they had seen and, for the premieres of two new shows, that was enough for us to decide to not fix what clearly wasn’t broken.

“Therefore, Santa’s Wish is coming back and Castellana will include a fresh storyline, with many of last year’s world class acts and a few new ones too to amaze and keep people on the edge of their seats. We also listened to feedback that better accessibility was important for many, and we believe that this site in Sophia Gardens – with its adjacent car parking – offers greater convenience.”

We caught up with John and Richard last year inside the Spiegeltent. You can look back ot that feature, and see inside for yourself – HERE.

CARDIFF CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL runs from the 1st through to the 24th December. It may seem early but we can assure you that Christmas will be here before we know it and you may not be able to get the seats you wanted. You can get more details, and get your tickets right now from HERE. They start at £15* for Santa’s Wish and £25* for Castellana. The HYNT carer scheme will also be available to customers for all performances and available to purchase online.

*Booking fees apply.

Party/group bookings should call on 02921 520052 during normal office hours or email info@thecastle.wales The venue is accessible for wheelchairs. Please message the team with any specific requirements.

To finish on a personal note, the Spiegeltent is a brilliant place to celebrate the festive season with family, friends and maybe some of your work mates. We did that last year to celebrate our second ‘LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF THE YEAR’ award for the whole of Wales.

This year, we have just won that award for the third time, so I suspect we’ll be back to celebrate in the Spiegeltent again.