Nativity - The Musical

Nativity is a wonderfully funny romp of a show centred around three childhood friends from Coventry: Paul Maddens played by Rob Bennie, Gordon Shakespeare played by Adam Argent and Jennifer Lore played by Claire Hookham Williams, who go to drama school to pursue their dreams of being successful in the world of theatre and film.  Lore and Maddens fall in love with each other, but then she is lured away by the bright lights of Hollywood before Maddens can make a marriage proposal.  Staying behind in Coventry, Maddens declares his desire to be a primary school teacher and secures a job at a local state school, St Bernadette’s. Meanwhile Shakespeare fails to become an actor and instead also becomes a teacher working at the posh prep-school, Oakmoor. 

Maddens and Shakespeare are pitched against each other as they find themselves putting on their own competing productions of The Nativity at their respective schools with Maddens failing against the high standard created by Shakespeare so vows to never again direct.  St Bernadette’s is under the watchful eye of Ofsted and so some years later Headteacher, Mrs Bevan (Rachel Hirst Marshall) decides that Maddens will again direct the school Nativity.  So we are then formally introduced to Mr Poppy, played by Josh Roberts, who has already given an entertaining opening narration to the story.  Poppy is an over-excitable, giddy and childlike character with little sense of responsibility who becomes Madden’s Teaching Assistant at the behest of Mrs Bevan and tries, in his own creative way, to support the emerging production.  Trying to impress Shakespeare Maddens comes up with a fantasy of a visit from Hollywood.  Unbeknownst to him Poppy is listening and tells everyone that Hollywood is coming to the UK to film their Nativity.  With both Maddens and Shakespeare directing productions at their respective schools their childhood friendship is forgotten and it becomes a battle to see whose Bethlehem story will win the best review from local critic Patrick Burns played by Martin Farthing.

The show gives some brilliant opportunities to create characters and director Dee Bennie-Marshall certainly found the actors to do this.  Rachel Hirst Marshall as Mrs Bevan gave a touching performance as the headmistress of this failing school who was clearly excited to receive an invite to the Lord Mayor’s Ball as well as the prospect of a visit from Hollywood.   Anna Scarth was super as the American tour guide delivering some great one-liners for the audience to laugh at.   Martin Farthing was clear and confident as caustic critic Patrick Burns and Andrew Hibbert was a most demanding boss as Mr Parker.  There were many other great supporting and cameo roles which the rest of the cast played with energy including Frank Hoyland as the Mayor, Claire Best as Miss Rye and David Hookham (with a wonderful accent) as the local Parish Priest. 

The ‘Welcome to Hollywood’ routine had certainly been given the Bennie-Marshall treatment and was a delight of colour, high kicks and creative direction – the audience felt like they too had been transported to Hollywood.  The cast also did a great job of working with Mabel who played the role of the dog Cracker which Maddens had bought for Lore, before her departure.  Mabel was perfectly behaved and so believable in her role that the audience was left wondering how Jennifer could ever leave such a sweet pet behind?

The children at both Oakmoor and St Bernadette’s gave strong performances.   The slightly chaotic St Bernadette’s certainly gave the stuffy Oakmoor pupils a run for their money and all the scenes involving the children were great fun with lines being delivered with confidence.   There was also some wonderful flying by two of the children – very well done indeed for doing this with such confidence when rehearsal time in the theatre will have been limited.  Congratulations to all those who had named parts, lines and solos – excellent work.

And so to the four main characters.  Argent was a most unlikeable Shakespeare and definitely ensured that the audience despised him and the somewhat stuck-up brats at Oakmoor.  Hookham Williams was a lovely Jennifer, she captured the essence of the role showing the vulnerability and humour of the character.   The connection with Rob Bennie as Paul Maddens felt real, engaging the audience in wanting a happy ending for them both.  Bennie was definitely a frustrated, struggling teacher whose career and life were going nowhere.  With strong acting Bennie ensured the audience could feel his woes and he fully had their sympathy.   ‘Suddenly’ featuring Maddens and Lore was beautifully presented.  Josh Roberts was hilarious as Mr Poppy with great energy and an excitable nature.  His opening number ‘Mr Very First Day at School’ was simply lovely and perfectly set the scene for what the audience could see was going to be a big challenge for poor Mr Maddens.

The production used video wall content which had been designed specifically for this production and allowed the company to demonstrate their technical expertise as well as their huge performance abilities.  With some great personal touches – such as Poppy on the scooter through the window and the photos in the home of Maddens and Lore changing to reflect their relationship status they really were perfect.   Congratulations to the designers (Dave Griffiths, Rob Bennie and Matt Roberts) and the operators (Jess Roberts and Libby Fenwick) – they really added to the production.

The crew did a great job of moving the set pieces on and off.  It was fabulous to see the stage crew entering into the spirit of the production and donning costumes.  There were many costume changes for the cast which had been well-managed by the Costume Manager and Team.  Music was super and congratulations to MD Matt Symonds and the orchestra.  

Well done to all the production team, cast and crew – it really was a fabulous, feel-good production which will sparkle and shine all week to the sell-out Rotherham audiences.

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