A Class Nativity

Sunderland Theatre Company certainly know how to entertain their audience, and for their 2019 Christmas show they had parked the traditional pantomime and re wrote their Christmas spectacular show “A Class Nativity” which is a comedy performance where the adults play the children with hilarious consequences. Set in a school the show tells the story of a miserly scrooge head teacher who has last the essence of Christmas and forbids the staff and children to perform their annual Christmas nativity performance. Directed by Brian Leech who ensured that the show had something for everyone, great story line and a fantastic arrangement of 32 musical numbers to complement the story were well chosen and equally well delivered from the soloists and cast members: which culminated in a spectacular and thoroughly entertaining production. Congratulations to the production team the set looked fantastic and very colourful from the classroom scenes to the nativity performance well thought out and visually it looked spectacular, thanks to Angela Crooks who continues to support the group with costumes and props another great job completed, the finer details certainly add to the overall production.  Special mention to Ian Bianchi and Aron Taylor for the fantastic design of lighting which added a new dimension and enhanced each scene and finally to Lisa Smith and the front of house team who made us feel very welcomed

This polished performance was perfectly cast: with each cast member delivering individual character performances: special mention to those cast members who had dual roles, playing children as an adult is not an easy ask but the end product resulted in a very polished an enjoyable production: I loved the  clever display of childlike mannerisms and actions and it was completely possible to believe that they were children as times, which lead me to think of a quote whilst watching the performance “For in every adult there dwells the child that was: and in every child there lies the adult that will be” excellent performances and very entertaining.

Playing the role as the head teacher: Mr Scrinch was Stephen Fay, what a humbug he initially was: but when catastrophe struck he certainly saved the day, great stage presence and a sterling performance; vocally I liked his musical numbers “”You’re A Mean One” and his interpretation of the Michael Jackson number “Bad”, playing the school teacher: Miss Little Toe was Samantha Kennedy who delivered an excellent performance and for someone who was rarely off the stage she certainly maintained the forefront of the production delivering her character with lots of energy and enthusiasm   vocally I loved her musical number “Last Christmas” which was confidently delivered. Playing the newly appointed teacher Mr Mike Hunt was Mathew Clarke; Mathew made this part his own, and as always he throws himself into every role he is cast into, he has this magical ability to engage with the audience and this was an excellent character for him to play: great dialogue and he delivered his tongue in cheek character with vigour and plenty of energy; vocally I enjoyed his numbers “The Nativity Rap” and “Santa Babe”. Playing the school cook and traditional panto dame character was Nathan Dippie as Shirley Scrumptious: and what a performance from this young man who had me in stitches from the moment he walked on stage, stand out performance full of hidden innuendoes and certainly an audience pleaser loved his musical numbers especially “Dude Looks Like A Lady” and his duet with Mathew “Santa Clause Is Coming To Town” well done Nathan on another stand out performance. Cara Fowler delivered a fantastic performance as Jessica the teacher’s pet and Mary in the nativity, exceptional performance from this talented lady who has a natural stage presence and her musical numbers were extremely beautifully delivered especially “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and my favourite number “When You Believe”. Playing Ben and in the Nativity Joseph was Danny Benning; stand out performance from this young man, confident stage presence and good interaction with the other cast members, confident delivery in his musical numbers especially “River” and “All Shook Up”. Playing Archie, Narrator 1 and a soldier was Jorden Hildrew, good confident performance as did Gemma Fowler who was cast as Jemima and Narrator 2.  Playing Rosie and Narrator 3 was Linda Fowler who delivered a stand out performance as Rosie and I loved her duet performed with Gemma singing the beautiful number “Mary’s Boy Child” supported by the cast. Stand out performance from Gabrielle Smith as Roxanne and the Angel Gabriel beautiful vocals in her delivery of “My God” which was beautifully delivered supported by the female cast. Stand out performances from Lois Smith as Katie and the Donkey, Hannah Brettell as Isabella and the Reindeer and Derek Crooks as Tim and the Ox, incredible performances especially when these three were performing as the stable animals, well delivered great dialogue between the characters with some extremely funny scenes. Great performances from Chloe Douglas as Holly, Becky Baisotti as Daisy and Laura Gailes as Emily who also took on the parts of the shepherds with Abigail Mole as Mary and the Lamb. Congratulations to Rebecca Crackett who played Grace, Alison Carrick who played Lilly, Janice Farrow who played Jennifer and Marlene Delap who played Amy, great performances in your named roles and as Angels. Playing the boys and the Kings were Kristian Bailey as Dylan and a solider, great performance from this young man who compelling stage presence and his delivery is going from strength to strength: I particularly enjoyed his musical number “I want A hippopotamus For Christmas” which was well delivered.  Oliver Barker in the role of Michael and finally Sean Smith as Rupert whose musical number “Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer” was exceptionally well sang and very entertaining.  

The chorus numbers were beautiful delivered with excellent harmonies: worthy of a mention was the carol “O Holy Night” delivered by Gabrielle and Rebecca supported by the chorus: Crystal clear vocals and beautifully delivered, it is certainly one of my favourite carols, “Silent Night” and “When A child Is Born” to mention just as few. No Christmas show is complete without the traditional Christmas songs and in this show there were several to entertain the audience, I loved “The Twelve Days of Christmas” performed by Lois, Danny, Marlene, Rebecca, Cara, Kristan, Jorden, and Derek, excellent performance and very entertaining, the popular number “Baby Shark” performed by Jorden Linda, Derek Gemma and Oliver, “Santa Clause is Coming To Town” sang by Nathan and Mathew with the support from six rather anxious male audience members and for me the high light of the musical numbers “If I Were Not Upon The Stage” absolutely hilarious how any one of stage kept a straight face I don’t know performed by Mathew, Samantha, Derek, Nathan, Stephen, Kristian and Rebecca: what an incredible performance so entertaining it had the whole audience in tears well done.

Well another year over for this talented group of performers you should all be very proud of yourselves on delivering a first-class performance, can’t wait to see what you are going to do with your next show Rent, well done and thanks for your kind hospitality. 

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