The Flint Street Nativity

This hilarious as well as poignant play within a play is a portrayal of the nativity by the 7-year old children of Flint Street Junior School in which the characters are all played by adults who later in the play portray the parents of the children, thus exposing the source  of the children’s’ characteristics.

The costumes, scenery and lighting were appropriate for the piece and the traditional carols with rewritten, revealing lyrics were beautifully accompanied by Chinami Smith.

Steve Robson, as the nervous narrator keen to impress his father, portrayed his character very well; he convincingly dealt with the petty squabbles and the disappearance of “Peter Crouch”, the school stick insect, and played the role of the father with tenderness. Jonathan Robson played a star who was very perturbed at the fact his star wasn’t representative of those at NASA, and stomped about appropriately. Elizabeth Purcell, as the ruthless little madam, Gabriel, who coveted the role of Mary was excellent; she also made an enlightening transformation into Gabriel’s mother. The innkeeper with a sinister streak and his own version of the script was perfectly played by Gary Saunders, and the innkeeper’s twin sister, the hilarious straight-talking shepherd, was superbly played by Kay Anderson, her comedy delivery being excellent. Bill Watson, as Joseph/Herod with an obsession for TV quiz shows, had the audience in stitches with his cheesy grin and waving at the most inappropriate moments. As the straight-laced, perfect Mary, Tina Knight was convincing, providing a complete contrast to Gabriel, and her scene at the conclusion of the play was also very moving. Susan Haswell, as Wise Gold, and Karen Scott, as Angel, were both very good in their portrayal of little girls desperate not to lose friendship with the manipulating Gabriel, and their characterisations were super. Susan also had the audience laughing out loud with her portrayal of the bingo-playing, hard-talking mother.

Peter Lynn covered the role of Wise Frankincense the evening I attended (Sue Atkinson at other performances). He played the role well, especially with portraying his character’s speech impediment. The scene between his character and that of the Ass, played by Alex Richardson, was very good. Alex managed to show expression despite wearing a cardboard box on his head for the majority of the performance! The whole cast worked well together and looked as though they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience enjoyed their performances. Well done everyone.

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