Nativity Play

(True story) As nativity plays go, this one was a doozy with plenty of chances to fail and even after all the countless rehearsals it did, on a Biblical scale. My part, I was Joseph, and Barbara was Mary, the Jesus doll wrapped in a sheet three wise men in the wings with tea towels on their heads plus trainers and pumps on their feet. The donkey was resting, a little bizarre since the creature was mounted on wheels and in the light of the candles it's red plastic handle just made the scene slightly surreal. The stable was made from the school's Wendy house for the play they used just two hinged walls as the wise men came Joseph leaned back on one arm and the whole structure started to fall. The look from the prompt at the front of the stage signified I was in real deep trouble as the magi and shepherds all valiantly scrambled to pull Mary from out of the rubble. The infant child surfaced though held upside down from the tangle of thatch straw and rafters as his messenger Gabriel rolled on the floor in a fit of hysterical laughter. The following year I found I was demoted as teacher didn't want to lose sleep over what new disaster I'd find myself master so I took the back row as a sheep.