In our commercial world, the true meaning of Christmas is often lost. Children focus on what they will receive and not on the story of Jesus’ birth.
In the late 80s, Peter Hutley acquired Holly Barn from a neighbouring estate to add to his own Wintershall Estate and told his son he would, ‘Do something for God’. In 1989 he wrote a nativity play to retell the Christmas story so that children and families might experience the good news it in a multisensory way. Last year 6,000 people attended, either in families or as part of school groups.
As we were developing the ministry, we felt that many were turning away from the Church in its current form and we wanted to spread the word in a fresh setting that would appeal to believers and non-believers. The Nativity is performed by our cast of 50 volunteers in stunning biblical costumes. The play begins in Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph arriving by donkey. The shepherds tend their sheep and the angels sing. The wise men arrive on horseback and you can follow Mary and Joseph’s journey through the story.
The play seeks to reacquaint its audience with the true meaning of Christmas. It’s suitable for all the family, particularly school-age children, who respond so well to the animals they often want to hug and pet them. School teachers have reported that their schoolchildren remember the play in great detail. Through The Nativity, we have attracted an audience to our other plays, The Life of Christ performed at Wintershall in June each year and The Passion of Jesus (an extract from The Life of Christ), which is performed to 20,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Good Friday each year and on Guildford High Street on Easter Saturday.
We are fortunate to have a group of very loyal followers who attend our plays again and again, and our volunteers help us make each event possible by giving their time to check tickets, sell programmes and so on. Through our loyal cast, followers and volunteers, we have a wonderful community that spends time together and supports each other. Some of our cast members joined the cast as children and are still with us today.
The play has not been without its problems, such as adverse weather during the performances, a late birth of a lamb being used for the play, animals relieving themselves at the wrong moment or cast members losing their voices, but thankfully we have overcome these. The Nativity has evolved every year, with a larger cast and historically accurate costumes and props. Each member of our cast helps to develop the play; they are encouraged to offer ideas and suggestions for improvement.
Our loyal audience says that the performance gets better each year. One person said, ‘It was a wonderful and inspirational performance and a very faithful telling of the Christian story.’ We are extremely lucky to have the wonderful setting of Wintershall, with its views, beauty and peacefulness. Our barn theatre has evolved as the play has grown in popularity, with improved facilities each year.
We hope to remind everyone and to bring a message of love, belonging and tolerance to all. Michael Billington of the Guardian described The Nativity as, ‘A refreshing antidote to the rampant glitz of most seasonal theatre’.
If you wish to set up your own play:
Find a wonderful cast of volunteers blessed with talent, patience and belief. Our task would be impossible without them.
Create a play that is alive with action, maybe even an open-air play. We have Angel Gabriel in a tree, Mary arriving on a donkey, sheep walking down the aisle between the seats, wise men arriving on horses and a real baby playing Jesus.
Use live animals. Everyone loves the animals. We have horses, a donkey, sheep and a sheepdog.
Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Each of our plays involves many hours of rehearsal to fine-tune our performance.
Allow the play to develop using ideas and suggestions from all your cast and crew.
