A comedy based nativity play which is performed by adults is coming to Twickenham next month.
Everybody knows the nativity story, but Tim Firth’s Flint Street Nativity remodels it by having adult actors portraying primary school children and their efforts of putting on the play.
The opening night is on 10 December and finishes on 17 December at Mary Wallace Theatre, down by Twickenham’s river front, by Richmond Shakespeare Society.
Dramatist Firth, most known for his screenwriting on the classic film Calendar Girls, wrote the nativity for the BBC film in 1999 and then was adapted for the stage at Everyman Theatre in Liverpool in 2006.
The play focuses on the pre-performance classroom preparations to the performance itself with a twist ending.
It delves into a child’s dramatised world, full of infant power politics, backstabbing, naked ambition, emotional blackmail, seething vendettas, bruised egos and many misunderstandings.
Director, Michelle Hood said: ”It’s a way of seeing the world afresh through the innocent eyes of small children.
“And that’s just the children – wait until you get to their adult selves.”
Hood has previously directed many plays at the Richmond Shakespeare Society, from musicals like the Wizard of Oz to more serious plays such as Kindertransport.
Originally Hood was set to direct The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but due to difficulties with the rights was redirected towards The Flint Street Nativity.
Hood said: “The nativity play was sort of thrust on me.
“But its now become part of my daily life and I’ve grown to adore all the characters and their foibles.”
The play consists of many familiar Christmas carols with a surprise element of different lyrics to shake things up.
For more information visit: https://www.richmondshakespeare.org.uk.
Featured image credit: Jim Linwood via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 licence
