THE FLINT STREET NATIVITY. To 12 January.
Liverpool.
THE FLINT STREET NATIVITY
by Tim Firth.
Liverpool Playhouse To 12 January 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm except 12 Jan 9pm Mat Sat & 24,27,31 Dec 2pm & 20 Dec, 3 Jan 1.30pm.
no performance 25-26 Dec, 1 Jan. no evening performance 24,31 Dec.
Runs 1hr 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 0151 709 4776.
www.everymanplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 December.
See it for the first time, see it again, but don’t miss this show.
Several things are certain about Tim Firth’s stage version of his TV play, revived at Liverpool Playhouse for its second consecutive year. It’s the only show this Christmas to feature the line, “You’re sitting on Ally McCoist.” And tickets for Flint Street’s will again put hot cakes in the shade for sales.
So book now, because another certainty is that Firth’s play remains very funny while also being piercingly sad. It’s a fine piece for Christmas, not just because it’s about the nativity play Mrs Horrocks’ primary class presents, but because it focuses with unpatronising acuity on the vulnerabilities life inflicts on children.
These imbue each step, including the altered words of carols, of the preparations and performance by the children, first seen in awed stillness as their teacher, her presence aptly sensed only through the class’s reactions, gives her final instructions.
Alongside the individuality of high-achiever, bully, slow-learner and so on, Firth captures the tremendous trust these youngsters have in what their parents tell them. Only late on is there some questioning. And then it’s not long before the close-up, giant-proportioned classroom stage of Robin Don’s detailed set slips aside. The nativity scene becomes small and distant, the adults who’ve played these children returning as their parents.
There’s a risk of lowered energy here; the adults aren’t the main characters and have to be drawn in potentially reductive outline. But Firth pulls it off, as does Matthew Lloyd’s characterfully-acted production, by showing the parent through the child: the nerves behind childhood confidence, or the preoccupation with career that’s led to a son with no stage-sense creating fantasy editions of A Question of Sport (hence the McCoist references, originally current, now slightly historical).
Neil Caple performs this with sublime innocence, and there’s an unexpected match between Helen Carter’s boisterous Gabriel, determined to take over Mary, and the brightly bubbling parental form of her surly insistence.
New cast members bring their own variations, Alan Stocks’ looming Innkeeper contrasting the tightly-coiled Andrew Schofield’s version of this high-tempered figure last year, making Flint Street still the place to be, the second Christmas running.
Herod/Joseph: Neil Caple.
Gabriel: Helen Carter.
Wise Man Frankincense: Daniel Casey.
Star of Bethlehem/Ass: Karl Davies.
Wise Man Gold: Annabelle Dowler.
Narrator: Craige Els.
Angel: Rina Mahoney.
Mary: Kate McGregor.
Shepherd: Samantha Power.
Innkeeper: Alan Stocks.
Director: Matthew Lloyd.
Designer: Robin Don.
Lighting: Charles Balfour.
Sound: John Leonard.
Musical Director: Gavin Kaufman.
Pianist/Vocal coach: Markku Lorentz.
2007-12-09 10:58:03