The Flint Street Nativity

This is a very clever and well-observed play by Tim Firth, set in the fictitious Flint Street Primary School. It focuses on a group of seven and eight year old pupils who are giving the one and only performance of their annual nativity play. Guided by their unseen and unheard teacher, Mrs Horrocks, the children are seen preparing for the performance back-stage, and then giving the performance which, inevitably, ends in the sort of disaster that not even the use of an overhead projector can resolve!  All sorts of mishaps, misunderstandings, fragile young egos, jealousies and fallings-out are portrayed along the way, as the children turn into mirror images of their parents – who emerge for the post-show gathering in the last scene, played by the same actors who portrayed the children. Parents and grandparents who have watched their offspring in school plays will know what to expect! The play is a mixture of humour and witty lyrics (to well-known carols), but does not shy away from moving its audience with some real-life emotions.

The play presents an ideal opportunity for every adult actor to unleash their inner child, and Director Carol Sealey has been most successful in persuading the cast to forget normal stage rules and adopt all of the fidgety, thumb-sucking, foot twiddling, rubber band pinging characteristics of young children. You quickly forgot this was a cast of adults portraying children – they became those children.

It is very much an ensemble piece, with everyone interpreting their characters beautifully, but I must single out a few for special mention. Nicky Cresswell was a totally believable jealous Angel Gabriel, setting the other girls against Mary (Caroline Powell) – the part she thinks she should have got. Her appearance in Act 2 as a second Mary, in gaudy makeup and with a second baby Jesus, was hilarious and the consternation on Joseph’s face (Mike Clay) as he tried to adapt the story to fit the situation was a joy. All sorts of poignant back-stories emerge during the play, making you wonder whether any of the children had a happy home life, but my favourites were from the Wise Man carrying the gold (Chris Tatum), about why he couldn’t carry the Frankincense, and the Star of Bethlehem (Liam Gray) hating his father for making his mother cry and idolising his Uncle Ted (who turned out to be his real father). Both actors put over their stories so well they were heart-breaking.

The main set was a very realistic primary school classroom. This was augmented, as required, by lighting changes and a truck containing a door representing the “Special Place”, and the use of areas just off the front of the stage for the playground and “home” room. Although there were a lot of scenes in the play, the stage crew managed the changes unobtrusively and this kept the action flowing seamlessly. Although the pace dragged a little during the first act, it was fast and furious during the second, when most of the mishaps occurred, really adding to the humour.

Along with the rest of the sizeable audience, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. This was a play that could have been difficult to pull off, but was presented with great aplomb by this talented group. Well done!

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