The Flint Street Nativity
The Playhouse, Liverpool
Author: Tim Firth
Director: Matthew Lloyd
Producer: The Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse
Cast Includes: Neil Caple, Kate McGregor, Helen Carter, Samantha Power,
Daniel Casey, Karl Davies, Alan Stocks, Annabelle Dowler, Rina Mahoney,
Craig Els.
Running Time: 1 hour 50 mins.
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The moment every adult dreads is when someone – usually a parent – brings up the time they appeared in the school nativity. The memories of the mayhem and the jealousy of the prime roles being taken by bitter enemies may fade for the participants, but for the parents they linger and it’s these that make for a plot that is never riotous but always fun, with a cast filled with plenty of TV faces to recognise.
Kate McGregor in the role of Mary, who is suitably pompous as the classroom swot who can also carry a tune, is perfectly cast and a far cry from Emmerdale’s Emily. Neil Caple as Joseph, whose rubbery, childlike faces and perfectly timed asides are faultless and also Helen Carter as Mary Wannabe, Gabriel, “the chief, number one boss angel”, is superb as the playground bully.
Stealing the show, however, are Karl Davies as a know-it-all Star of Bethlehem who gets a large portion of the laughs with some general astronomy-minded nerdy-ness, Daniel Casey as a Wise Man Frankincense with a pronounced lisp and the worldly-wise daughter of a farmer played by Samantha Power, who is simply hilarious in her forthright honesty as a Shepherd.
The songs, amended carols giving insights into the children’s home lives, do get a little lost with some heavy harmonising at times, but still succeed in adding a certain quirkiness to the proceedings and, all in all, help make The Flint Street Nativity such a good, fun night out.
Chris High
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break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.