Title: The Flint Street Nativity
Author: Tim Firth
Directed by Gerry Rhodes
Performed at The Cut Halesworth on 13 & (twice on) 14 January 2012.
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There’s more to Flint Street than at first appears. It is a comedy, but underneath there is a lot of pathos, and it calls for some very subtle acting. I loved it as a film for television, then when I heard it had been re-written as a stage play I started badgering Circle 67 to let me direct it for them. There was some uncertainty among some members of the committee, but my persistence prevailed and it became our winter offering for 2011-12.
The play requires each actor to take two parts — themselves as seven-year-olds performing their school’s nativity, then as their parents who have just watched them perform. A mixture of old hands, returners and new-comers to Circle 67 came to terms with the split set, playing young children, and getting their tongues round the songs to produce a funny and thought-provoking evening’s entertainment.
Emotions are laid bare as Bradley, the psychotic classroom bully having a bad hair day (Steve Chadwick) unsuccessfully tries to woo Jenny, Little Miss Perfect (Mia Hacker), who in turn is setting her cap at Ryan (Mike Davison), who is far too preoccupied playing ‘Question of Sport’ and having to learn Joseph’s part as well as Herod’s. Into this mix add she-devil Ashley (Beci Rhodes) as Gabriel but who really wants to be Mary, playing power-politics with Jess (Sophia Biggin) and Shamima (Sue Trovell). Shamima meanwhile has her own problems with a set of angel wings which threatens to outshine (literally) Gabriel’s.
If this is not enough Tim the narrator (Luke Scriven) is trying to get his lines right because his dad is coming to watch him, the boy from the special needs class (Jeremy Secrett) prefers his donkey head to his own, Adrian (Daniel Self) is upset because he can’t say what he’s brought as a gift for the baby, and Marcus (Sam Barrett) wants to go to NASA with his Uncle Ted. Zoë (Ro Williams) is worldly-wise because she lives on a farm, and delights in telling the true facts of life to anyone who will listen.
The scene shifts seamlessly from classroom, to the stage and wings, and the outside playground with the aid of lighting by George Harvey.
The frenetic action is broken up with songs, which I in my naivety thought were just Christmas carols with different (funny) words. As a non-musician how wrong I was! My thanks are due to Bernard Fox for his excellent accompaniment and to Sue Trovell for coaching the singers through what proved to be tongue-twisting lyrics and strange harmonies.
The show was completed by excellent costumes (Gilly Macartney) and properties (Pam Bailey). Credit must also go to David Metherell who kept the cast on the straight and narrow with their words; not an easy job considering the complexity of the script, and I would also like to thank Jean Gillies for holding the fort during my absence from rehearsals.
This report would not be complete without mention of two most important members of the cast. Firstly, Dirty Pedro, the lascivious donkey beautifully crafted by Sophia Biggin, who disgraced himself during one of the most tender moments of the nativity, and secondly, Peter Crouch, the stick insect who escaped his cage and appeared on the OHP like Godzilla, courtesy of Bernard Fox and his cyber-wizardry.
We gave three performances of Flint Street at The Cut to an audience totalling 225. There were plenty of laughs, and as the audiences left, they were SMILING!
All the cast came up to the mark on all the performances and gave the audience what I believe to be the most important thing — value for money. I think everyone enjoyed taking part — I certainly did. And I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved, on stage and backstage, for their team effort in making this another successful production.
If you'd like to let Peter Crouch out of his vivarium one last time, please click on the black box below and press your space-bar!...
