{"id":771,"date":"2016-03-31T18:50:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T17:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madf.im\/?p=771"},"modified":"2016-03-31T18:50:47","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T17:50:47","slug":"the-flint-street-nativity-was-a-cracking-end-to-2016-easter-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madf.im\/?p=771","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Flint Street Nativity\u2019 was a cracking end to 2016 Easter Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final night of the 2016 Easter Festival presented <\/span>Wellington Theatre Company <\/b>with their production of <\/span>The Flint Street Nativity <\/i><\/b>by Tim Firth. This play was originally a TV comedy in 1999 but Firth rewrote it and added music for the stage production. Flint Street Primary School is based on Stockton Heath Primary School where Firth attended and his mother taught. The events of the play are also based on real events that were collected over a period of ten years by Firth\u2019s family and friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Flint Street Nativity <\/i><\/b>is set mostly in Mrs Horrocks\u2019 classroom free of adult supervision as the children prepare for their nativity. Squabbles arise among the group of seven-year-olds because Angel Gabriel (<\/span>Kay Bishop<\/b>) wants to play Mary (<\/span>Sarah Newall-Lecrivain<\/b>), Herod (<\/span>Ben Branson<\/b>) won\u2019t stop waving to his parents and Wise Frankincense (<\/span>Joseph Maclean<\/b>) is verbally challenged by a lisp. There are many mishaps and misunderstandings during the preparations of the nativity and through Firth\u2019s addition of carol singing each actor voices the children\u2019s innermost thoughts, from the Innkeeper\u2019s (<\/span>John Britton<\/b>) dad smelling like beer to Mary\u2019s stress of parental pressure to succeed. At the end of the play the actors appear as the children\u2019s parents, maintaining certain characteristics of the relevant child. The audience can see who the children are destined to become.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the words of the adjudicator, Mike Tilbury, \u201cthe line between children and adults is never thinner than during the nativity\u201d which is evident in Firth\u2019s play <\/span>The Flint Street Nativity<\/i><\/b>. Characterisation is unbelievably important in this comedy as the actors, all adults, have to portray young children and later evolve into the children\u2019s parents. <\/span>Dan Phillips<\/b>,<\/span> who played the narrator, had a strong acting voice with well-marked characterisation. His body language and facial expressions were brilliant throughout the performance and he portrayed his character well, this was carried through to his portrayal of his character\u2019s parent. The Shepherd, played by <\/span>Cat Fisher<\/b>, was excellently depicted, this was particularly apparent in her speech about birth, it had excellent comic timing and caused her to receive a great reaction from the audience. Another strong characterisation was <\/span>Maclean\u2019s <\/b>Wise Frankincense with a good lisp but the adjudicator advised <\/span>Laura Delves <\/b>to develop her character, Wise Gold, further however she did have some good moments showing her character\u2019s childish nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a whole the adjudicator also felt that the <\/span>Wellington Theatre Company <\/b>needed to work on pace and rhythm, and in particular the Star (<\/span>Jack King<\/b>) needed to concentrate on quickening his pace and his entrances. <\/span>King <\/b>did however have very good facial expressions conveying what was important to his character well through his descriptions of real stars and his stories of his Uncle Ted from NASA. <\/span>King <\/b>and <\/span>Britton <\/b>created a nice contrast between their two characters in the insect scene, <\/span>King <\/b>showing the nervous nature of his character whilst <\/span>Britton <\/b>presented a more misbehaving, mischievous character. Another good contrast was set up between <\/span>Bishop\u2019s <\/b>Gabriel and <\/span>Newall-Lecrivain\u2019s <\/b>Mary during the dolly scene and their song where they acted as their parents. The adjudicator suggested that this song needed some work as at times he felt they were over projecting, the song was very funny and I thought that the two actresses showed a good contrast not only between each other but also between their character and their character\u2019s parents. Others also needed to work on their projection and most of them needed to watch diction and audibility. <\/span>Newall-Lecrivain\u2019s <\/b>Mary and <\/span>Branson\u2019s <\/b>Joseph was a great pairing and they worked well together really highlighting the difference between their two characters. Additionally, the adjudicator advised that the cast develop the relationships and rivalries between the characters, something which I believe improved as the show progressed. The adjudicator thought the Silent Night fight mime was \u201cterrific\u201d with \u201cgreat action\u201d as you began to see the rivalries between the characters, in particular between Mary and Gabriel. This was a good song choice and the lighting was effectively chosen as it added to the chaotic mood the characters had created.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was a brilliant choice of nativity costumes, great authenticity and there was a good contrast between them and the adult outfits. In particular, the simple box for the ass\u2019 head really captured <\/span><\/p>\n

the comic elements of Firth\u2019s piece. The Angel\u2019s (<\/span>Ali Fear<\/b>) pink, fluffy wings were brilliantly selected and <\/span>Fear\u2019s <\/b>scene about the embarrassment of the wings was handled well with a well-timed cue of the lights in these wings at the end of the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brian Hughes<\/b>, the director, created a lovely set for the primary school classroom with the coloured plates as planets, the nativity paintings and of course the star chart of \u2018Who\u2019s been good\u2019, where the perfect student Jenny who plays Mary has numerous stars. Along with the over-decorated, lopsided Christmas tree in the back, these were brilliant touches made by the director. The adjudicator suggested that the set could be further improved with more large scale furniture to highlight that we were in the children\u2019s world and to create a greater contrast between the children\u2019s world and the adult\u2019s world. Perhaps, more big chairs and a larger rubbish bin. <\/span>Hughes\u2019<\/b> use of the stage added a different level to the set and the actors used this area well which added interest to the play.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall, <\/span>Wellington Theatre Company\u2019s<\/b> performance was realistic and there was good characterisation throughout, yet the adjudicator felt that if the actors had \u201cmore control and discipline it would be more powerful\u201d. Also the movement of the action needed more purpose and direction, and the grouping of the different characters needed more work to ensure the audience didn\u2019t lose the focal point of the action, specifically in the adult scenes. The stage area was used well and most actors had good comic timing, however some entrance and exits should have been slicker. As a whole <\/span>Wellington Theatre Company\u2019s <\/b>production of <\/span>The Flint Street Nativity <\/i><\/b>was a pleasurable evening with some great rib-tickling moments and was a fun end to the 2016 Easter Festival of plays.<\/span><\/p>\n