A friend came up to me after church the other night.
“So,” she said. “Carols. What are we doing?”
I felt my blood pressure rise and the panicky internal dialogue begin. “It’s not that time of the year yet! It can’t be! Surely it was only a few months ago that we put last year’s Christmas services to bed. Don’t make me start again already!”
I calmed myself down and (rather skilfully) deflected the question to our ‘Share’ pastor. Responsibility for our carols services would inevitably bounce back to me, but I hoped to buy myself a couple more weeks.
But it was too late. Once the C-word is mentioned it might as well be December. My friend’s words jolted me into carols mode. And it’s not all bad. I really do love Christmas. But what should we do this year? Is there any way we can freshen up our services? Is there anything new we can try?
So when I saw Laurel Moffatt’s Nativity Carols service, Born Is The King, advertised on Facebook, I was immediately curious. Last year we had a brass band and choir. The year before, a musical. Perhaps this year we could do a play.
Laurel Moffatt is a part of Church Hill Anglican in Sydney. She wrote this play for her carols service last year and is selling the script, packaged up with staging tips, graphics and photos of their beautiful production, for $45.
For many, the $45 price tag will be the first hurdle – not because $45 is a lot to pay, but because it is a lot to pay when you don’t know exactly what you are getting. The preview only includes the first page of the script, which is nowhere near enough to judge whether the play is what you are looking for. In future releases, I’d love to see Laurel include much more of the script in the preview. When I produce a show in my work situation (I’ve directed five in the last 18 months) I order a non-printable perusal copy first, read it carefully several times and then make a call on whether or not it’s what I’m after. I would be happy to pay much more than $45 for a script like Born Is The King if I was confident that I was going to use it.
But having now looked closely at it and thought hard about how it would work in my context, I think it is likely that I’ll use it, if not this Christmas then next. My aim in the following paragraphs is to answer the kind of questions that I had before I read it, to help you decide if Born Is The King is for you.
In assessing a show, first up I am wanting to understand its mood. Is it light or heavy? Is there humour? If so, is it slapstick or more whimsical in style? What is the emotional draw? Is the show moving, beautiful, angsty or laugh out loud funny? Next, I want to know about the ‘point’ of the show. What is it and how is it made? Is there a specific message? Are the dots joined up with a thick, black permanent marker, or is a story told and the viewer left to drawn their own conclusions? Then, I’d ask about the quality of the writing. Is there poetry in the language or are the lines awkward and forced? Finally, I’m looking for an x-factor moment: that point at which the play stops being words and instead becomes a thing existing in its own right.
There is much to love about Laurel’s writing. Overall, her play is much lighter in mood than I expected. The humour is understated but genuinely funny:
Joseph: Bad news Mary. Caesar has decided he wants to count everybody.
Mary: That Roman is obsessed with numerals.
A string of small jokes like this keep the show entertaining – I will watch and listen and smile even though it is a story that I’ve heard so many times before. Any visitors to church would be put at ease by the fact that the production is not a thinly-disguised gospel tract. It isn’t preachy; it tells the Christmas story and makes some comments along the way about God’s ‘forever king.’
There are a few especially sweet spots in Laurel’s dialogue that show her to be an insightful writer:
Shepherd 1: What does a king have to do with us? (pauses) We’re just shepherds.
Gabriel: (speaking to audience) Such a small word. Just. As if there is such a thing as just anyone.
Nevertheless, I would like to have seen a little more intensity injected at a couple of points: notably at the part of the story where, in the scriptural account, Mary breaks into her magnificat. It might be because of my musical background but I’m desperate for a song here. Perhaps Laurel could write us one for the second edition…
As I make my final decision about whether or not to use Born Is The King this year, the big question remaining for me concerns not the script but the human resources at my church. I imagine that many who are looking at this resource would be thinking about it as a children’s production – as many nativity plays are. But in essence, this is not a kids’ play. There is a sophistication in the writing – particularly in the character Gabriel – that demands a skill and maturity level beyond even the most talented young person. The angel is simultaneously a character in the play, the narrator of the story, and the carols service leader. He/She has to know the script inside out, be 100% committed to the part, and be able to lead the cast, lead the congregation, and above all, act – for switching between being a character inside the story and a narrator standing outside of it is challenging.
I have concerns that ministers may unknowingly hand this script to Sunday School teachers and expect them to be able to pull it off singlehanded. If it is to succeed to best effect, it needs to be understood as a whole church project with musicians, song leaders, ministry staff and talented adult actors working alongside kids. It is an ambitious show – perhaps more ambitious than it initially appears. But I think it would be worth every ounce of effort you gave it. Done well, I can imagine it being sweet and funny and moving. If we use it, I want it to be all of those things and do justice to the writer’s significant work for the glory of Jesus.
All photos by Elize Strydom.
