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?!

My children were good readers, confident speakers and could hold a tune. Ergo, narrators, Angel Gabriel or on one memorable occasion First Sheep. Which was a significant speaking part.

My feisty, adventurous daughter, (and I love her for it!), was absolutely desperate for a starring role in her Reception class nativity play.
In the weeks leading up to it, she curbed her spiritedness and behaved so sweetly, studiously getting on with her work, being polite and not putting a foot wrong.
She was rewarded with the role of Mary.
This was fine, until, during the dress rehearsal in front of all the children in the school, and teachers, there was a, shall we say disagreement, between her and Joseph.
Joseph had hold of Jesus, who was a plastic doll, and wouldn't let go. My daughter tried to snatch Jesus, who ended up in a tug of war during which my daughter ended up with his legs which had come apart from his body, and Joseph had the torso. Many tears!
I thought she might have been "rested" for the main performance, (in front of parents), but escaped with a gentle reprimand.

When I was at school there was a group of children who the teachers always talked about having "big voices". They were the narrators every year.

One year I had a massive tantrum because I wanted to be a mermaid in the school play and the teacher said only blonde girls could be Mary and I had to be a person from Hawaii and wear a grass skirt. I still have the photo of the 8 mermaids. 7 blonde haired girls and one with hair so dark it's almost black . That was in 1987 though, it probably wouldn't be allowed now.

At the dc's school it seems to be fairly random. My Dc2 and dc4 both played a tree in year 2, same play, 4 years apart. It's a pity they were such different sizes, they could have worn the same costume.

@LindyLou2020 my son was a shepherd in reception and he was doing really well until the donkey tried to take his sheep. Ds snatched his sheep back and hit the donkey on the head. Fortunately the donkey was wearing a well padded mask and the donkey 's mum thought it was funny.

@elliejjtiny
Don't you just love them!

I have the job of casting our nativity. I find the only really coveted role is Mary, and I try and arrange it so everyone who wants to will get a chance over the few years they are the right age. For the other roles, it's about who can read, who can speak up, and who can remember what to do.

Gosh, what dis the first sheep have to say?

My daughter was Jane (Mary's sister) ??
We still laugh about it now and she's 36

I once cast the wriggliest most unreliable boy as the star of Bethlehem. I made him a shiny costume and he had to stand on his own in full view of everyone for the duration. He was well chuffed with the 'star' role and everyone was happy.

Mary - usually a quiet girl, maybe a bit shy.
Joseph - loud voice, could remember lines
Angels- anybody boy or girl
3 Kings- Ditto
Shepherds - ditto
Animals - anybody else
Narrator - I usually did some of it myself with any suitable children adding bits solo or in chorus.

Having worked all that out there was nearly always an outbreak of chicken pox or D&V to mess it all up so i made sure everyoneknew all the parts. One year I had the angels lined up ready to go into the hall and one of them threw up all over the child in front. I had to nip into the hall and fetch both parents out and cobble together a replacement costume for the one who had been vomited on.

"Baaaaaaa"

This is genius but also risks a last minute growth spurt by one child 😆

I was always the girl that had her hand up in class offering answers. Very confident, loved reading but could also likely be a bit of an arrogant know it all. So in reception I was an angel and then a star. First year in juniors I was given the biggest speaking role, I was narrator for a new type of play they were doing which wasn't the linear typical nativity. I smashed it. Thought thank god that's over as I didn't enjoy it even though the teachers all raved about my confidence and "speaking to the back".

Next year- narrator.
Year after- narrator.
Last year-narrator.

I got to senior school and was DELIGHTED that taking part in the school production was voluntary.

To this day though , I don't mind public speaking. I think maybe I even enjoy it a bit. I can happily get on a stage and improvise if need be. I just seem to lack the fear thing that holds other people back. My dad says it comes from a place of strong self esteem and genuinely not caring what other people think of me. And he could be correct as I don't dress "typically" and has done crazy hairstyles and outfits. Still have . And in heavily tattooed. Who knows! It's passed on 3 of my 4 children and two are very confident on stage indeed and pursued theatre as a hobby as an adult. My dad is also still on stage playing in his band every single week despite being 78 !

@TempestTost "Gosh, what dis the first sheep have to say?"

First Sheep was the narrator in ovine form. Dd was outraged-all the other girls were angels or stars. She's still bitter about it 20 years later.....

I tell you from about June onwards judging heights, who'd just had a growth spurt, who might have one was popular at the schoolgate. My son was the shortest boy the year he was in it, there was very little chance of him catching up with any of the others so no suspense in our house, we knew he'd be the "youngest" shepherd carrying the lamb.

Early Years teacher here - Reception at our school have their own nativity.

Every child has one line to make it fair. Some plays call for a couple of children to have a couple of lines (this year the lead inn keeper and Joseph). Children who are chosen for such a part (and it really is two lines instead of one) will be ones we know have a clear voice and will be confident enough to speak loudly! Something like Mary, the donkey or King Herod (more stand alone part as opposed to shepherds who are normally in a group) will go to children who can simply demonstrate that they can focus enough to remember to stand up alone for example or remember instructions to move around the stage. To be honest the parts in our play are near enough equal in terms of how much they perform.

KS1 - Year 2s get the bigger parts. They are asked to specify lots of lines, some lines or no lines. They are then asked to list 3 parts that they would like. Then the teachers spend time (feels like hours) working our who can be who by preferences. They’ve generally always managed to give children one of the 3 parts they liked most. Big parts in terms of lines will go to children who show they can speak clearly and remember lines and they have opportunities to show that in the build up to rehearsals, mini auditions I suppose.

KS2 don’t do the nativity but do do a concert and I think it’s similar in that, a child who wants a solo, duet or to read or whatever needs to put themselves forwards and has a few chances to do so - I’ve never been involved in that though.

The children who can be relied upon to be listening, ready, well behaved on stage at most times, confident to speak in public and able to learn and remember lines will be picked for the main speaking roles.
After that we decide by personality and what we think their preferences might be.
The little girls (or boys) who like dressing up and twirling will be angels and stars.etc…

Our Mary this year is the class chatterbox who won’t stop nattering throughout every rehearsal so far…..and our Joseph is the same! It’s proving quite interesting…..

I always got the part of narrator in this sort of thing. I attended a co-Ed school, during the nativity-age era, and none of wanted the role of Mary as it was largely non speaking and you had to hold the arm of one of the boys. It was usually given to someone reserved and passive.

Parts seemed to be a mix of suitability and favouritism, and the same could have been applied to any play (even as an adult and am-dram)

My children didn't ever have a nativity. RC schools too. They opted for carols and readings instead.

At DS' school they asked the children what part they wanted.....and then gave them exactly not that part. Lots of upset children from what I've seen on the school WhatsApp chat.

DS very much wanted to be an innkeeper and has been cast as a cow 🐄 he is a confident speaker but suspect they don't trust him to stand still.

I do reception so they are all quite young and new to school.
It changes every year depending on the children, mostly the actual characters are played by children who can't speak clearly or loudly, or are shy or who wouldn't remember lines or sing. Because they really just have to walk around and point at things and the narrators speak for them. It generally gives them a confidence boost because they are 'main characters'
The confident children are narrators if they can read well or background roles e.g. angels, sheep, villagers etc if they cannot, because they walk on in front of the others to sing the songs so they get to stand at the front multiple times, sing and do all the actions. So everyone gets time on stage, time off stage, nobody really has to learn lines and can all be seen by the audience.

This year we have 6 confident readers, they are the narrators. They also wear costumes so we have four angel narrators, one shepherd and the innkeeper who also narrates the story.

We have 12 others who are confident and who like to be 'lead singers' they are split into the 'choir of angels' and the 'band of villagers' they stand at the front for the songs and then fit into the nativity scene as it gets built.

Our main characters are all the more quiet side of the class, 3 are girls, we let them choose Mary, Angel, or Star.
We just assigned the boys roles which seemed to be fine by them.

In my class the same girl was Mary 3 x in a row! Had long dark brown hair and looked like Mary looked in pictures but though confident not overly so (not naughty) and could read lines well.

My best friend’s little sister who had very dark brown curly hair, dark brown eyes, and an angelic look was chosen to be Angel Gabriel one year. She was a bit Goody Two Shoes in character.

Oh my god! Even in the 1980s this shouldn’t have been acceptable 😕

Last year when DS was in reception he said the teacher just went round asking everyone who they wanted to be and if it hadn’t been picked yet they got it. DS didn’t know all the parts as only did one nativity at nursery, in which he played the donkey. He didn’t want to be donkey again and could only remember the part of Joseph so he said that and the teacher said ‘ok, you’re Joseph then’. I thought this was a bit random but it could have unfolded differently for all I know. Apparently all the girls wanted to be angels so they had to pick one to talk into being Mary.

I was the “ music lady” in infants schools for nearly 40 years so have done lots of nativity plays!
I found the best plan to be , have all of the reception children as a sort of nativity tableau- so all dressed as animals with a Mary and Joseph ( plus reserves as chickenpox always strikes during December!) with no spoken lines, maybe a song.
If we had 4 classes in yr1 and 2 each class was the same so one class angels, one shepherds , one innkeepers and one kings, pages and “ extras”. All sang a song each, groups read lines from the story together, all made their way around the hall to end up on the stage by the tableau way and all sing “ Away in a manger”

That way if someone was absent, wet themself, got stage fright, cried cos they saw their mum in the audience etc the show could carry on regardless!
Basically , the simpler the better. And never spent ages “ rehearsing” as it was never going to be any better than the second or third time through.

When I taught KS1, I always started by asking who wanted which part as it wasn’t always what I predicted. Then I would ask who wanted a speaking part. Pretty much anyone who wanted one got one, of varying lengths.
Some years we worked it out so one class were shepherds, one class kings and ‘courtiers’ etc.
I certainly didn’t give a second thought to irrelevant crap like the colour of their hair or who their parents were.