The D I Y Nativity Play
“Again, a fantastic script. It is perfect for our teens and youth group who are at an age where they do not want to ‘perform’.”
Lucie Thomas and ten 13 to 19 year olds
Abertridwr Community Church youth group and Sunday School, South Wales
“Just had to drop you a line to say the DIY Nativity was a great success. In fact one of the older members said he had seen 48 nativities and this was THE BEST”
Jan Longfield
Who did you have in mind when you wrote the script?
THIS IS A VERY SPECIFIC SCRIPT. Originally it was purpose written for our own church nativity, due to having an awkward age group within our Sunday school. The script was therefore inspired by individuals who were getting to that difficult age between child and teenager, and who were ‘getting too old for nativities’. We had a small Sunday school, and many of the youngest children were too shy to take part, so we couldn’t rely on the cute factor either!
If you can relate to that situation, this script will work for you. The older children lead the nativity using an entirely rhyming script which calls upon some of the congregation to join in at certain parts. Naturally, these narrators have lots of humour written into the script in the form of sarcastic, humorous comments directed at the adults who are joining in! I have shared my first hand experience of the script below, but feel free to click here for the script preview and let it speak for itself.
Click the titles below to find out ideas on how to run the DIY Nativity:
- YES. But even then, it’s specific to a family atmosphere and fun-loving congregation. When an older member of our congregation read the script, she considered it to be too cheeky and ‘disrespectful’ for the children to talk to the adults the way that the script does, but once the parts were cast and acted with the comic effect intended she loved it.
- Very definitely for a small cast.
Absolutely, it would be perfect on both counts. There are a couple of occasions in the script that make reference to ‘the children’, which you could easily adapt slightly if you didn’t have any in the cast.
See the script preview to get an idea of how you might cast it
Yes BUT…. It is unashamedly Christian in its message, having been written especially for a church nativity service, so be sure that the message is something that the group is comfortable with. You will also need to consider what songs you will use, as the script is intended to include congregational carol singing. If all that works for you, you will have great fun with it!
No problem. All the acting is done to narration, and the humour is written in to the narrated script. You’d just need a confident reader to step in who, preferably, has some familiarity with the script.
No. Other than reading the script and being conscious of what participation is involved, there is no rehearsal you can do! The audience participation makes it what it is.
