Ship of Fools: Nativity Play Delights

Thread: Nativity Play Delights Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Cottontail (# 12234) on :

Yesterday, our church enjoyed a delightful nativity play, sung in its entirety by our children. Apart from a shepherd falling over his stick at one point, and an angel in wellies, things went pretty smoothly.

Except ... the third Wise Man was wearing a Dracula cloak! He supplied it himself, and I thought he meant a rich black cloak with a red trim that we could tart up with a bit of tinsel. But no, it really was a Dracula cloak, short, and with a scalloped bat-wing-effect edge!

So the Baby Jesus was visited by a Vampire King. Who knew? [Devil]

How did your Nativity Plays go this year? Or any year?

Posted by tessaB (# 8533) on :

I work with 2-4 yr olds so our nativity can be quite funny. We have had at the manger, as well as the usual sheep, donkey and cow, a tiger, a spider and a dinosaur. Trying to persuade the angel Gabriel to actually hand the baby Jesus over to Mary is always interesting and we have had to break up a fight between the king as to who gives which gift.
It is a fabulous occasion every time though. Serious aah factor. Also what other job in the world do you find yourself saying things like "Mary, stop treading on the baby Jesus, and Joseph take your hand out of your pants please."

Posted by MrsBeaky (# 17663) on :

two tales from Nativity plays from my teaching career:
Infants school: Enter the Angel Gabriel who tripped over the piano leg and arrived "on stage" flat on his stomach but still flawlessly delivered his lines....
SEBD school: The Virgin Mary dropped the baby Jesus and stormed off stage shouting "F**king Hell!"

....Those were the days!

[ 23. December 2013, 12:36: Message edited by: MrsBeaky ]

Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :

My sister and my mother were once at a Christmas pageant at which a number of small children had been cast as sheep, wearing furry little sheep ears. My mother and sister allegedly cracked up at the sight of this and had great difficulty in not bursting out with laughter. (I was not present; this is family folklore.)

Posted by Carex (# 9643) on :

And here I thought the thread title was referring to this Nativity play...

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

One group of children had made their own nativity play to be performed in assembly. At the crucial moment, Mary was at the back of the stage, there was some unspecified activity, and the baby appeared. They had hidden the doll in the gap behind the stage blocks - it was very effective. Teacher led nativities had tended to have the baby arrive in the manger as it was added to the stage.

Posted by rolyn (# 16840) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Cottontail:
Except ... the third Wise Man was wearing a Dracula cloak! He supplied it himself, and I thought he meant a rich black cloak with a red trim that we could tart up with a bit of tinsel. But no, it really was a Dracula cloak, short, and with a scalloped bat-wing-effect edge!

So the Baby Jesus was visited by a Vampire King. Who knew?

Rather apt I think , considering Stoker's famous Gothic horror story was very much inspired by Victorian Christian beliefs and practices .

A point that may well have been lost on your audience I expect [Biased]

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

We had our nativity on Sunday. Highlights - one of the older children as Gabriel carrying a chair to stand on to give the variious messages, and "Mary", a rather confident 4 year old, on being told that she was to have a baby, matter of factly saying "OK".

Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :

About 6 years ago, my then-13 year old son begged to be Gabriel in the church nativity . Unfortunately neither I, nor anyone else, thought to ask why, but it turned out that he had got the idea that Gabriel would be carrying a flaming sword into church.

His dismay when, too late to change parts, he discovered there was no sword, flaming or otherwise, and that he was actually going to wear a frilly white nightie, tinsel fairy wings and a tinsel halo can be imagined.

Unsurprisingly those of his classmates who were at the service photographed him with their mobiles and by the time he walked into school the next day, it had gone viral round the school.

I was gutted for him - I felt that a better mother might have enquired as to why a 13 year old boy wanted to be Gabriel. I felt that I had let him down badly.

Astonishingly, the photos of him in the frilly nightie and fairy wings weren't social suicide, but neither has it ever been quite forgotten. He's been asked to be Gabriel again at the Watchnight service tomorrow. His costume has more of a Gandalf-the-White vibe than frilly nightie this time round. It's going to be such a contrast to six years ago. There's no way I'm going to watch him as Gabriel tomorrow without welling up.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

Poor guy. I think he really ought to get a chance at that sword. [Big Grin]

[considers future nativity play possibilities]

Posted by Martha (# 185) on :

My 3-yr-old was in his first nativity play this year! My husband's favourite moment was when they were all ushered onto the stage at the beginning. Toby looked around, spotted Dad taking photos and started shouting, "Use the flash, Dad!"

Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :

A few years back at the Family Mass (I used to go just for the Nativity play) one of the Kings made an unscheduled entry leading his little brother in his debut as a shepherd. He was feeling shy.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

Ours was written and scored by a member of the congregation this year. The children acted it all out while the choir sang the original songs and the narration was done by our oldest (94) gentleman. The youngest member of our church is 13 months and her mother carried her to the front where she just stood there in her plaid taffeta dress while the cameras flashed. What more could you want?

Posted by bib (# 13074) on :

4 year old granddaughter was Mary ( so were 5 other little girls), most of the boys chose to be kings and there we only 2 shepherds. Trouble was the shepherds carried sticks and started poking each other on stage and then got into a fight.

Posted by Chamois (# 16204) on :

My favourite Nativity Play incident was a few years ago. Everything appeared to be ready, but the play hadn't started. Eventually the vicar came forward and announced that the angel Gabriel had missed the bus and was therefore going to be late. Said the vicar, "I wonder if God had this problem?". We sang some more carols, and eventually the next bus arrived with Gabriel on board.

Posted by Siegfried (# 29) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Carex:
And here I thought the thread title was referring to this Nativity play...

Thank you so very much for posting that link. That was so much fun.

-Even Lowlier Shepherd

Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on :

Last night our three-year-old sheep was in a world of his own and started sort of dancing by himself in front of the altar, doing these hilarious vogue moves.

Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :

This wasn't at a nativity play, but about ten years ago we had three little girls of similar age -three and four- and they all decided to dance in a ring in front of the altar to "O Come All Ye Faithful" after the choir and altar servers had processed at the midnight service. It was the most beautiful thing! [Tear]

Posted by Galloping Granny (# 13814) on :

Our local churches do a 'walk through Christmas' in which groups of 5-8 year-olds from local schools come for what is often their first visit to a church. They go to each of three churches in turn, and ours does the actual Christmas drama.
When the Three Kings arrived, Rev Mary invited the children to tell her what gift a block covered with gold paper might be. One child recognised the wrapping and thought it might be chocolate. Another thoughtful young woman suggested it was one of those things that you put by the baby's cot so that if he cries the mother can hear him in another room.
I walked one year with one of the teachers who admitted it was the first time he'd been in a church.

GG

Posted by Dormouse (# 5954) on :

A long, long time ago, working in a multi-faith school, I staged a nativity play with my reception class. Mary was a serene little Hindu girl, who looked after her "baby" beautifully, but the show stealer was the small Jewish Angel Gabriel who bounced onto the stage, flapping her hands. She stopped, eyed Mary and said
"You're going to have a baby..."
Gabriel then approached Mary, looked at her threateningly and hissed
"...and you'd better call him Jesus!"
Without taking her eyes off the thus menaced Mary, Gabriel then hopped backwards off stage again.

Posted by Keren-Happuch (# 9818) on :

Years ago, I spent Christmas morning trying to keep one of the 4-year-old shepherds from slumping off his seat and falling asleep on the floor throughout.

Neither of the school nativities had any major incidents this year but KGlet2 kept trying to run on stage and join his big brother, which was a little wearing.

Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :

Bit of a tangent...Things I have enjoyed reading to children. Joyce Grenfell's Nursery School rehearsal for the Nativity Play.

Grenfell monologue

And "The best Christmas Pageant ever" aka "The Worst Kids in the World" by Barbara Robinson, also I now find available as a play. In which a bunch of children "known to social services" (and the police, and the fire service), get involved in the church nativity play and cast new light on it, with interesting opinions about Herod and the wisdom of the kings, among other things. Its a hoot, but also thought provoking.

Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :

Best nativity moment? Years ago the rather bolshie 8 year-old son of friend was cast as the innkeeper, rather than the Joseph or King he thought was his due.

Having been brought up going to church he knew the story. Rehearsals went just fine and Thomas knew all his lines.

Come the performance. when Joseph enquired if there was a room up steps Thomas and declaims "Rooms? Have we got rooms? The inn is empty - take your pick." Joseph just stood there, Mary got the giggles, the donkey fell over when both halves laughed too much, and the Angel Gabriel (older sister) was clearly heard saying "You little sh*t, Thomas".

Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
...And "The best Christmas Pageant ever" aka "The Worst Kids in the World" by Barbara Robinson, also I now find available as a play. In which a bunch of children "known to social services" (and the police, and the fire service), get involved in the church nativity play and cast new light on it, with interesting opinions about Herod and the wisdom of the kings, among other things. Its a hoot, but also thought provoking.

This is my favourite Christmas book. I will be very happy when I see a Nativity where the wise men bring a ham to the baby Jesus and the Angel Gabriel's first word is 'Shazam'.

Posted by Charlie-in-the-box (# 17954) on :

Wow, such courage. I avoid those "plays" like the plague. It makes me shudder just thinking about it and for some stupid reason, the priest frowns on my silver flask that I would need in purse to get through such a trauma. I think anyone who attends those should get a big, fat emerald in their crown in the afterlife, or 50 years shaved off purgatory. Wait a minute, maybe I should have went. I need all the help I can get.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

Welcome to the Ship, Charlie-in-the-box! Heaven is a great place to get your sea legs!

If you like, there's a welcome thread in All Saints where you can introduce yourself.

jedijudy
Heaven Host

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

Whoops! I see you've already found the welcome thread! [Smile]

Posted by Sherwood (# 15702) on :

I had the honour of being in two Nativity plays in primary school.

In infants school, every year the entire second year was involved, meaning the amount of people who came to visit the stable had to be increased to allow for 50-odd five and six year olds.
The year I was involved, my class got split into two groups: potters and shepherds and their sheep. I got a bit miffed at this, not just because I was a potter and not a shepherd or sheep, but because I KNEW there were no potters in the Nativity. According to my mother, I was the grumpiest kid on stage.

Two years later in junior school, I got cast as the lead shepherd. This was a surprise to me as the teacher directing the play was my class teacher and we didn't get on at all. Anyhoo, opening night came along and five mins before the shepherd's cue, one of the Kings decides we should all be method actors. This meant taking our plimsoles off as they hadn't been invented back then. We all agreed and whipped them off quickly and went on stage.
All went well: we sang 'While Shepherd's Watched', the Angel Gabriel gave us the good news and we visited the stable. Then we had to depart before the Kings arrived, which meant walking off stage down some portable wooden steps and processing down the aisle between the audience.
Here is where I have to admit to being something of a clumsy so and so, and being even more so at 8 years of age. Especially in a floor length heavy felt kaftan. I step off the top step, my foot gets caught on the kaftan and I fall and slide a few feet along the floor...coming to a stop at my dad's feet. He's bright red from trying not to laugh, my mother loudly proclaimed "are you all right, poppet" and the Angel Gabriel is out-heehawing the donkey due to laughing so hard.

And that is how I never got picked for school plays ever again.

Posted by cattyish (# 7829) on :

quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
About 6 years ago, my then-13 year old son begged to be Gabriel in the church nativity . Unfortunately neither I, nor anyone else, thought to ask why, but it turned out that he had got the idea that Gabriel would be carrying a flaming sword into church.

<snip>

Astonishingly, the photos of him in the frilly nightie and fairy wings weren't social suicide, but neither has it ever been quite forgotten. He's been asked to be Gabriel again at the Watchnight service tomorrow. His costume has more of a Gandalf-the-White vibe than frilly nightie this time round. It's going to be such a contrast to six years ago. There's no way I'm going to watch him as Gabriel tomorrow without welling up.

Oh, NEQ, that's fabulous!! Right, he's definitely getting written into my 2012 NaNo novel when I rewrite it- you know, the one about Gabriel...

Cattyish, so happy to see that real life is still stranger than fiction.

Posted by The Intrepid Mrs S (# 17002) on :

Many years ago, our village church Nativities were led by a lady who had amassed an amazing selection of costumes (though she waltzed off with my last muslin nappy for Mary's headdress). Master S, who must have been about 4 or 5, was cast as Herod, and I remember him vividly, lolling in the Bishop's throne, clad in cloth of gold [Overused]

His comment on being told he was to be Herod?

'Cool! Do I get a gun or a sword to kill the babies?' [Killing me]

Mercifully method acting had not arrived in North Somerset ...

Mrs. S, still cherishing that moment

Posted by Enoch (# 14322) on :

quote:
Originally posted by The Intrepid Mrs S:
Many years ago, our village church Nativities were led by a lady who had amassed an amazing selection of costumes (though she waltzed off with my last muslin nappy for Mary's headdress).

That makes her sound like Linda Snell.

quote:
Master S, who must have been about 4 or 5, was cast as Herod, and I remember him vividly, lolling in the Bishop's throne, clad in cloth of gold

His comment on being told he was to be Herod?

'Cool! Do I get a gun or a sword to kill the babies?'

Mercifully method acting had not arrived in North Somerset ...

Mrs. S, still cherishing that moment

I like it. At least it proves he'd learnt something.
[Smile]

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