Nativity Re-imagined

Now the sun has safely set after the Solstice, it was good to put Yule behind us and get onto Christmas. At least, so I thought until I saw the Little Pebbles' "Nativity Re-imagined."

I mean, yes. Obviously setting the manger scene in a lock-up garage in a Kentish Town back street made perfect sense. Joseph was an Amazon warehouse operative rather than a carpenter, and the donkey was replaced by a 20-year-old Fiat Panda. All completely conventional.

The shepherds being converted into a group of playwrights, who were on Primrose Hill abiding, seemed a bit jarring. If the Gospel is good news for the poor, then a bunch of kids doing Alan Bennett impressions isn't necessarily what we're aiming for.

But the Wise People. OK, having seven Magi and not of them all male is fair enough. But when they hear Herod is coming for the child. I just think that tooling-up and putting armour on a Ford Transit like a Cockney A-Team seemed a bit incongruous. Herod dying in a hail of bullets while Mary and Joseph are told they're safe where they are. Not true to the spirit of the piece? There is literally no shoot-out in the original.

But then... Herod being rebuilt by the evil Roman Legion into a cyborg king? And the angel having to take him out with a bazooka? Where does an angel get a bazooka in 1st century Palestine? Many critics commented that this was straining the narrative.

Still, by the end, the robo-Herod is lying dead - again - in the remains of the stable while Mary, Joseph, Magi and Pokemon sing that traditional Christmas anthem, "Stay Another Day". So all in all, the spirit of the season has been kept intact. Well done to all the children and leaders, and I've made a mental note to move Kylie on to more adult-focused ministry in the new year.

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