So begins a remarkable journey involving giants, shepherds, kings, devils and angels. A journey covering hundreds of miles and ending in a divine miracle.
In 1898 Bertolt Brecht was born. Brecht felt that the popular theatre of his time was to escapist, and wanted people to go the to theatre to be entertained, with stories that entertained them as well as made them think. The Nativity is written in a Brechtian style as it does not attempt to create the allusion of reality, the audience is acknowledge as being present, and the mechanics of the performance are visible throughout.
My main role in The Nativity was Herod’s Attendant, although my other roles included a villager and the star carrier. As Herod’s attendant my scenes were taken place in Herod’s palace, with Herod himself and the minister of justice present.
The Nativity included several dramatic devices to enhance the viewing. The whole performance of The Nativity was conducted in the round, which was a new style to me. At first I was wary of how well this would work as I knew how inefficient it is for an actor to have his back to their audience, however the play proved to be a refreshing success.
Every actor in The Nativity had two roles, one acting and one narrating their character or other characters movements. When doing this, the actors directly addressed the audience, displaying another dramatic device.
To create man objects during the performance, physical theatre was used, for example the creating of the mountain, where four boys made it up for Mary to walk on.
The Nativity was performed in the round which I found to be very challenging and exciting as an actor. My previous experiences of scripted performance had all been on proscenium arch stages. For example, I had seen a production of Les Miserables at the palace theatre in London’s west end which included an elaborate set and many special effects. This also applied to two other productions I have seen, Stones in his Pockets and the Wimbledon Theatre and Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre.
When performing in the round the set needs to be minimalistic as large amounts of scenery would block the audiences view, therefore there is more pressure on the performers to communicate with and engage the audience.
One of my roles was the Star Carrier, and I had to move across the stage holding the star in such a way that it did not block the audiences view, at first I was a little concerned about this but it turned out fine when it came to performing it.
I was thoroughly pleased when I was chosen to take part in the school production as I enjoy acting very much. I also enjoyed my roles, as they were not too large and it gave me the opportunity to study acting by looking at the sixth formers. I bonded well with the people I was acting with and everyone was very friendly, and the director was helpful in guidance. I perhaps would have liked a little more to do, but overall I was happy to be part of the team.
