"The Flint Street Nativity" by Tim Firth

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

Written by Tim Firth, who also wrote "Calendar Girls" and "Kinky Boots", here is a festive comedy about a class of seven year olds of Flint Street School who are putting on their annual Nativity for their parents.

For anyone who have had, or have children, and have attended the school Nativity, you'll have experienced the joy of a bunch of seven year olds singing, when they can remember the correct words, and acting for their parents. In this play though all the kids are played by adults.

We see the internal squabbles, the jealous streaks, the workings of a seven year old's mind and also some insecurities that lie with some of the youngsters. 

The ending see the actors then playing the parents, and also gives an incite to the background of the children's characters, showing that the apples do not often fall far from the tree. There's also a lovely little twist involving one particular character at the end.

Danielle Hall plays Jenny, who is very excited at being cast in the main Nativity role, Mary, and Jenny is adamant that everyone, especially her Joseph knows all the script, and when he doesn't she plays his parts as well. You could see in Danielle's eyes that she loved playing this role as they sparkled.

Clare Moss is the Shepherd, who is played in this play within a play by Zoe. Zoe has her own sheep (just the one) which is explained in the song that she sings.

Michelle Arscott plays Jess whose character at Flint Street is Wise Gold. Guess which gift this wise man brings?

Caitlin Bowers plays Ashley playing Gabriel:not one of the angels but THE angel!

Roisin Kelly is the Angel, which in the Nativity is played by Shamima, a character that literally lights up the play.

Jamie Goodliffe plays Marcus who in the Nativity doubles as the Star and the Ass. One of the best comic character roles in the play as he gets to say naughty words, especially in his solo carol parody. He has really got into the mindset of a seven year old with his physicality of Marcus.

Aaron Connolly also doubles up on roles playing Herod as well as Joseph is also a magical role. The Flint Street character he plays is Ryan, and again as Herod he morphs into moody seven year old, and as Joseph a completely different character.

Richard Fife plays Adrian who in the play plays Wise Frankencense. Adrian has an issue with his lisp so having to say Frankencense is just a bit of an issue with Adrian, so he changes his gift at the last minute.

James Whitby plays Bradley who gets the role of the Innkeeper in the Nativity. Now to understand Bradley you need to know that he has a bit of a thing for Jenny, but there are rumours that Jenny fancies Ryan, and as they play Mary and Joseph, deciding about the biblical pair staying at his Inn, gives Bradley the power to accept and reject. James is one actor that i knew would love this character driven seven year old, and James showed this onstage.

And last but not least playing the role of the Narrator is Joseph Smith. Joseph is new to the Lace Market Theatre but I've known Joseph for a few years now and have seen him perform in several productions, so know what a cracker of an actor he is. This role is perfect for him as he gets to dig deep into a seven year old's mind who has just realised that not everything at home is rosy while perfecting the script to please his Dad. It's quite rare though to see a seven year old with a beard and moustache.

The class teacher, Mrs Horrocks is never seen but is indicated by the stage being swathed in a red light. We never hear Mrs Horrocks but the children's reactions say everything we need to know about the teacher. Another character we don't get to see, but is mentioned several times is Peter Crouch, who does make an appearance in silhouette at the end.

Directed by David Dunford, assisted by Chris Henry, there have been some reworking of the Firth script to bring everything up to date, although I wonder how many audience members can remember the high street store "Fords".  I am sure that it was intended but no one wanted to have the French flag to wave during the Nativity, indicating a topical note over the football. 

I also loved the parodies of the carols and hymns which told the stories of the children as well as the adults in an amusing and novel way. Take a careful listen to the new lyrics to understand what I mean.

I watched the original TV production from 1999 before seeing the stage version and you can really tell the amount of work that has gone into the production to make the script more relevant, and that in itself adds more mirth to the production.

The set is designed by Alison Holland and straight away shows that this is an updated version of the 1999 version by announcing that this is Flint Street School 2022 as paper flags at the back of the set. I actually felt like I was visiting an infant school.

Lighting Design is by Allan Green and Sound Design by Philip Hogarth, both areas were perfectly executed, and it didn't take long to realise that the red lighting was the teacher, Mrs Horrocks, indicating that non physical things can be highlighted by just a change of light.

The projection at the end is by Matthew Allcock.

The costumes throughout are by Max Bromley.

And we all know that a Nativity is not complete without a pianist, and doing the honours here is Emma Kerrison.

We all love a play where adults act as daft as a seven year old and this is the ideal musical festive offering. I also have a feeling that the actors had just as much fun as the audience did with this show.

"Flint Street Nativity" is at the Nottingham Lace Market Theatre until Saturday 17 December