The Flint Street Nativity (The Musical)

‘The Flint Street Nativity’, written by Tim Firth, tells the story of a school nativity from the children’s point of view.  We start with Mizzis Horrocks admonishing the children to own up to a misdemeanour and the children gleefully ratting out the culprit – Bradley (Bob Harris) the problem child who never seems to do the right thing. The children are then left unsupervised, and this is an opportunity for teacher’s pet Jenny Bennett to wield her authority firmly assigning tasks to the children much to the annoyance of Ashleigh.  Ashleigh is playing Gabriel ‘the boss of all the angels’ but is determined to play Mary the lead role which has of course gone to her arch nemesis, Jenny.  Ashleigh is accompanied by her henchwomen the shy Jess (Kim Elliott) playing Wise Gold and vying for Ashleigh’s attention, Shamima (Sharon Harris) playing an Angel.

Other characters come to the fore: Ryan who (due to an outbreak of chicken pox) plays two roles: Joseph and Herod.  Marcus the star who is the expert on all things astronomical who is most disgruntled that his star looks nothing like a real one. Tammy who in school uniform is playing the narrator with her extra-large cardboard script.  The no nonsense Zoe playing the role of the shepherd who has seen it all because she lives on a farm. Adrian who is playing another King who due to his inability to pronounce his ‘Ss’ can’t say Frankincense.  Finally, there’s donkey, a lonely but happy child from the special unit who is thrilled to be wearing a cardboard box for a head.

Gabriel, played by Jo Fitzwilliams, dripped menace and spite with every syllable exercising her Svengali like hold on her cronies and her cruel taunting of poor Jenny.  She is the school bully, but her actions hide a frustration that comes out in her song ‘A way to kill Mary’ as she watches her archenemy perform her dream role and outlines her life as a stepsister.  This was skilfully handled by Jo showing the vulnerability of her character.

I really liked Gayle-Howitt-Bradley as Zoe, who provided much of the humour whether sparring with her twin brother Bradley over his unrequited love for Jenny or her hilariously graphic biology lesson about giving birth.  I loved her little row of sheep each wearing their own false beards.

Jenny Bennett herself, played by Sandra Colman, had some fun scenes with the reluctant, Question of Sport obsessed Ryan (Henri Garraway) following him around with an over-sized comb determined to groom him into her ideal mate.  The clever little madam delighted in telling him his lines and stage directions but especially ‘not to wave at his mum and dad.’

Another nice scene was featuring Marcus (Adam Harris) who following Bradley’s bullying and a song about not ‘Growing up like his Dad’ grows in confidence to challenge his oppressor by entering Mizzis’ Horrocks ‘special place’ forbidden to the children.  Bradley, the less than friendly Innkeeper with a talent for colourful improvisation, opened up about his own dad who is obviously his role model and a mirror to his behaviour.

Alisha Coote played Narrator Tammy, determined to impress her parents with ‘knowing all me lines’ and her heartbreaking revelation that her mum doesn’t live with them anymore was very poignant. I noticed Alisha stayed in character throughout nervously twiddling her tie and shuffling her cards while waiting for her lines.

Marino Jackson played the bumbling donkey who no one wanted to play with but who found a friend and ally in the new boy Adrian (Trevor Fenton.)

Special mention goes to the ‘very important sheep’ complete with slippers from Tesco.  A stroke of comedy genius on Andrea’s part with herself and Debbie Hudson acting as scene changers and time-fillers before the finale while the characters changed into their adult costumes.

The scenery was simple since it was required to be packed away ready for the next location.  The new stage at Burgh Le Marsh was on two levels which presented a few issues with available space on the main stage resulting in characters being blocked.  I liked Mizzis’ Horrock’s cupboard complete with a poster saying, ‘Keep Calm and Teach’ and a lovely picture drawn by Jenny Bennett.  The backdrop was ingenious on two sides: one with the school room complete with children’s paintings and lots of teaching materials downloaded from Twinkle and the other side a Bethlehem skyline. Well done to the cast for their lightning-fast reflexes in preventing tragedy from a falling stable door! Lighting was provided by Richard Hall with sound by Rebecca Sylvester and Tanya Brackley.

All in all, a funny show which kept the pace and was well received by the appreciative audience.  The front of house team made me feel most welcome and a nice chat with Andrea and Sandra at the end.  Well done to Andrea and her cast and to all concerned behind the scenes.

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