The Nativity Saga

The Nativity Saga was written by John Holliday and was originally performed by Richmond Operatic Society in 2018. It follows the ups and downs on and off stage of a local Amateur Society as they plan their Christmas Nativity production and incorporates a mixture of Christmas and popular music. The musical director Chinami provided excellent accompaniment throughout.

In the role of the “Chester le Street Repertory Amateur Performers (C.R.A.P.)” director Paul, Geoff Graham had the unenviable task of trying to keep his cast in order whilst hiding his own extramarital relationship. This together with serious miscasting and the constant interruptions from stage and wardrobe, kept him on stage for the majority of the production as he tried to pull his cast and production together. As the Narrator/Innkeeper and Angel Gabriel as well as Gary’s wife and Paul’s Love interest (it’s complicated!), Rachel Smith gave a strong performance with good comedy and excellent vocal performances too especially in “All I Want For Christmas is You”.  Andy Smith as Gary, the reluctant recruit to the society and Joseph of the Nativity, gave a great comedic performance and played his character well especially when the Inn Keepers door kept falling on his head. The casting of “Mary” played by Susan Haswell was contentious for  the members of “C.R.A.P.”, her experience being the main reason rather than her age…  Susan is well versed in playing the straight laced comedic character and played the role well. Paul’s daughter Emily was played by Becky Howarth who provided a performance that was energetic, funny and exhausting to watch; she had to move swiftly around the scenes and the set and did a great job as well as providing some super vocals.  The role of Alison the costume mistress was excellently played by Kay Anderson. Kay made her character so natural and believable as well as relatable to those of us who have encountered such a character during rehearsals, her relationship with her on stage son Ryan was also good, dragging him along to play his part even when he was in a full cast from a rugby injury. As Ryan, Gary Eglinton gave a very funny performance as the love struck donkey even managing to get expression across while wearing a full mask.  Karen Scott portrayed Paul’s wife Susan and her rendition of “Fairy-tale of New York” complete with an attack on her cheating husband was hilarious. There was excellent support by Bill Watson, Christine Cassy, Rowanne Allon, Elizabeth Blanchard and Jo Siou as the stagehands, kings and shepherds, all interacting well and also providing good vocal support in the musical numbers.

This was a show which those of us who perform in or are involved with amateur theatre could definitely relate to, it was funny but also had hope of redemption at the end. With people playing multiple characters and the story switching from the Nativity to “off stage” I can imagine this was both a challenge as well as hilarious to rehearse. Congratulations to everyone involved.

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