Tim Firth’s adaptation of his own Flint Street Nativity to an Edinburgh setting works well - despite the odd detail being overlooked. A strong ensemble cast of young actors and well-known faces off the telly create merry havoc as a class of seven-year-olds staging their nativity play. Director Joanna Read does well to keep them in check and ensure that the comedy builds on gentle recognition.
Nancy Surman’s oversized set works well in the expanse of the Festival Theatre, dwarfing the actors and emphasising that they are children.
Julie Wilson Nimmo finds an easy bossiness as Mary while Ryan Fletcher is a confident Joseph - until he clocks his dad in the audience. Sara Crowe’s bullying Gabriel plays Shabana Bakhsh’s particular Angel and Jane McCarry’s needy Wise Man off against each other.
Christmas carols pepper the production, their changed words indicating individual character’s real feelings for their parents - details which are well highlighted in the twist as the set shrinks and each character appears as their parent.
The deliberate pace of the nativity play works well but the second phase becomes lost in the space as the pace grows more naturalistic. A grown-up Christmas show with a thought-provoking twist that isn’t as good as it ought to be.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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