Nativity play question

[Frog253]

Hi

I am due to organise a nativity (or similar) for our church shortly. I have a quite few limitations as to what we can put on these include

1. Not much space to 'act'
2. Only one rehearsal before the show
3. Unknown quantity of children until rehearsal time(plenty unable to read / remember a script).

My plan is to do a narrator led nativity so the only speaker is the narrator (with possibly the Angel G. saying something). Anyway, I could write something myself (done before) but I was wondering if anyone knew of a site where there were free nativity scripts or scripts that are slightly different eg the narrator being the donkey or shepherd. My google time hasn't bought up much of any use.

Joe Carpenter & Son by Graham Clarke. Graham Clarke is an artist who mainly does etchings but has written a few books as well. Google him.

You can pick up a secondhand copy from Amazon or Ebay.

I can't remember exactly what it is like, or whether it would be suitable for children, but saw it performed about 10 years ago and remember it as being quite good and informal. I'm guessing as it's a book it would be suitable for a narrator-led performance.

Apologies if it's not suitable, my memory isn't great but it's the one that sprang to mind when I read your post!

Might have found the perfect one from Tearfund-a free to use script.

TES website often has scripts for assemblies etc uploaded by teachers for others to use free of charge. There might be a Nativity script there.

Thanks, I'll look there as well.

We don't do a scripted nativity at all. We ask the children who come to that service to dress up as characters from the story: we tell the story and at the relevant time, we ask all the shepherds to come up, or the kings. Sometimes we get only two kings and five Mary's, but it involves everyone, not just the children who come to the church regularly.

If you are using the regular junior church children, you basically need a narrator script for an adult, which can be cobbled together out of the birth narratives, and you need a few adult helpers who will usher children up the aisle at the relevant point. So long as you have definitely got a Mary and Joseph (and provided your own doll for Jesus), just roughly allocate angels and kings and shepherds to everyone else. The final tableau is the main thing, not whether the children have been able to act and point at a star, or shaken their head at an inn door.