Nativities - how are parts chosen?

[SteppedOnTheLego]

As the title suggests - how do kids nativity parts get chosen? When I was a kid, it was always the kindest, best behaved girl in the class who was rewarded with the coveted part of Mary, whereas the part of Joseph went to the most outgoing boy who didn’t mind having several lines but wasn’t necessarily the nicest boy, kids who were studious were narrators, the ones who’s attendance couldn’t be relied upon were carol singers etc……for reference I was cast as a bell ringer 😂
But can any primary teachers shed any light……how do they choose which kid has which part?! What are the requirements for a Mary, a Joseph, one of the Three Kings etc?!

Handing out the best parts to the tallest children isn’t fair either, says someone short her whole life.

I was always cast as the narrator, being a fluent reader and a confident speaker. The only part I envied was the Angel Gabriel, always played by my friend who was tall and golden haired. She got to stand on a chair and wear a tinsel halo!

DS’s first nativity was very traditional. Private school with highly competitive parents. He was given the part of a donkey so I assumed it was fairly safe and I wouldn’t be stepping on the toes of more “important” parents.

But no, within days I was confronted by one of the school gate “Karens” ( sorry I don’t like the term but it’s ideal for this post), DS had only been their for half a term and I hadn’t met many parents. She had located DS’s coat hook and was stood next to it ready to pounce and greeted me with “ so this is Jnr Angrymum who is the donkey”.
I was a little taken aback but just thought she was a bit odd (she was but mainly due to being super competitive academically). I didn’t think the non speaking roll of the donkey who stood a lowing in the stable would be a prime roll. That is until I watch the performance. The donkey accompanied Mary and Joseph throughout and had his own song.
Apparently it was the coveted roll, all the boys wanted to be the donkey.

I was a narrator every single year. To be frank there were not a lot of kids in my primary class who were fluent readers so those of us who were had to read every year. I would have killed to have a dressing up part of any kind. I really wanted to be an angel but I didn't have the looks - they were all the pretty, blonde girls - but I would have taken back end of the donkey over standing up in my school uniform every year!

As someone who's organised a fair few nativities...

There's a lot of variety depending on how the school do that overall Nativity (all key stage Vs one class etc)
But it's mostly practical: who's likely to be there, who will fit in the costume if we have some already, who can manage/like being on stage for a long time or who needs to come off and sit/wiggle at the side for a break, who can learn and/or read a lot of lines.

I did try and incorporate children's preferences and personalities where I could i.e. giving the funny part to a child who likes being silly, not one who gets really self conscious.

I neither knew nor cared who's parent was PTA /at the school all the time etc

the kindest, best behaved girl in the class who was rewarded with the coveted part of Mary, whereas the part of Joseph went to the most outgoing boy

I've no idea how they are picked but hope we've moved on from

girls = kind
boys = outgoing.

When I was five and doing our nativity, a rather unlovely girl was given the part of Mary. Her parents were huge financial benefactors to the school. They took her away for several weeks to travel and she missed all the preparation and rehearsals, so another, rather more lovely girl stepped into the role and did all the rehearsals. The family returned just before the nativity and demanded their daughter be given the role of Mary again, despite her knowing nothing and having fucked off for weeks. I remember them screaming at the teacher in our class room.
The school rolled over and showed its belly and I remember the look on the lovely girl’s face. She had to just be in the choir as there were no roles left.

I remember feeling the injustice of it on her behalf. Awful.

The unpleasant loud ones used to get the main parts and the well behaved, sensible ones used to get the boring parts of angels and sheep etc. For some reason, the really naughty ones used to end up as shepherds.

This was exactly me!
I was so desperate to be an angel (any angel, not necessarily Gabriel). I even grew my (boringly brown) hair long for two years. I just wanted the white dress and tinsel halo.

I got the narrator part and wore school uniform.

Still not over it....!

I am 61 and still unreasonably resentful about not getting any significant role ever.

We need a MN Nativity for all the thwarted-as-children actors!

As a fellow shortie, I completely agree! It’s also unfair on any tall children who are shy and self-conscious, and/or suffer from stage fright.

Still, I suppose it’s preparation for real life, as some studies have shown that being tall can improve your chances of progressing in your career.

In my kids School it was the PTA Mums or Teachers kids that got the main parts. Every year the same. So bloody boring 🥱 Very cliquey School.

So glad I don’t have to sit through that hell anymore.

I would like to start by saying that it is very dependent on the nativity being done. With some, the main characters could be robins or sheep or whatever and the actual nativity characters are tiny parts.
i never subscribed to “good” or PTA children getting the best parts. The most confident readers en up having to narrate for obvious reasons, but I do feel for them when they are desperate for costumes like the others. One year, we had a child with quite severe SEND, who couldn’t tolerate a costume, in his pyjamas and dressing gown, pointing at the star and singing a solo of Twinkle Twinkle. Not a dry eye in the house!

Ex teacher here. Speaking parts always go to the solid reliable kids who won’t be too shy/nervous up on stage, and who will remember their lines. Narrators are always the more mature kids and better readers. And everyone else slots around them!

I was always ahead of my age with reading so got the narrator part. I don't remember who got the other parts except for one year, where our teacher was outrageously obvious about her favouritism of two girls. They got the main parts. I was still narrator so didn't really care... the narrator always does the most speaking.

Having seen DD’s Year 1 class perform
in a few plays and events, I’d suggest the following breakdown:

Gets nervous, flustered and sometimes ends up in tears - 10%

Cheerfully unintelligible - 40%

Reads/recite lines fairly well - 35%

Confident, remembers lines and speaks clearly and audibly - 15%

There are lots of small speaking parts in the nativity plays, and not surprisingly, the biggest speaking parts tend to go to the kids in the last category.

My kids school picks by looks. The prettiest little girl is always Mary. Guaranteed, every year. The tallest girl is Gabriel. The naughtier your child is, the later they come on stage - so they have less time to be naughty. Last year one poor boy who has lots of problems literally came on in the last 30 seconds and said “God bless us everyone” then it ended! I know he’s a handful but I thought that was awful.

In my school it was the tallest girl who got to be Mary, and the tallest boy got to be Joseph. (This was in the 1990's).

When I was at junior school it was the children of the local actors and/or costume designers who got the best parts. When my DC were at junior school the best parts went to the children of parents on the PA or the more challenging children - so they would have an incentive to behave.

If your child is on the end of a row by the door it means there is a risk of them being disruptive and they can be whisked away by a TA!

At our school they were chosen by random generator. DS is the donkey this year. He is not impressed.

Oh bleh, I was Mary in my church nativity and I was thinking recently that this was a good thing but clearly not 🤣

We always done it by age, eldest girl was Mary, eldest boy Joseph, 2nd eldest girl was the archangel, 2nd eldest boy was the 1st king and so forth.

Middle son came home in reception and said he had been chosen for the narrator part as he had the biggest loudest voice in the class.
I'm still not quite sure that's the compliment he thought it was 🤔