Small talk

This afternoon I was treated to a unique perspective of the traditional nativity. A seven year old girl demonstrated enormous comedic potential using little Fimo figures and a bare table top.
Armed only with these props and unerring natural comic timing she held her classmates [ and me] transfixed as she provided the characterisations for the figures.

We were introduced to three stooge style Not So Wise men - two of whom kept asking 'Are we there yet?' We met an exasperated Gabriel who had to deal with a stroppy Mary keen to call her baby John, not Jesus and a chronically absentminded Joseph who brought a sheep instead of a donkey for her to ride on their way to 'Bethlebam'.

The piece de resistance though was the scene wherein a lazy shepherd couldn't be bothered to go visit the baby. He has a protracted conversation with an increasingly irate Gabriel about how vital his role was to the country despite the fact that he had only one sheep in his care. Gabriel had his work cut out persuading the shepherd to pick up his crook and go. The whispered asides from the sarcastic sheep were top class.

It was fascinating to hear a seven year old apply contemporary issues and attitudes to the well known tale. The child was exceptionally clever in her use of language and visual humour. I wondered how much of the Mary/Joseph dialogue was a distortion of things she had seen or heard at home or on tv.

In any event, it was the best entertainment I have witnessed in a very long time. Imaginative play is very much alive and kicking!