Nativity for Four Puppets
Cast
Mary
Joseph
Baart – Shepherd
Caspar – Wise Man
Gabriel – Angel puppet on a pole.
Scene – It is Jesus’s birthday.
(Joseph and Baart are on stage. They start singing.)
Joseph and Bart : Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Jesus. Happy
Birthday to you.
Mary
: Shhhh – I’m trying to get him to sleep – he’s had such an exciting day, I didn’t think
he would ever go to bed. So don’t get him all excited again now please !
(There is a knock at the door.)
Joseph
: I’ll get it.
(Joseph wanders off.)
Baart
: Five already. How time flies. Cor, its quite a trek here to Nazareth from Bethlehem,
how did you manage it then, being 8 1/2 months pregnant an” all, must have been
exhausting !
Mary
:It certainly was exhausting !. That was an eventful period… before and after his
birth.
(Caspar and Joseph enter.)
Mary
: Caspar, you made it.
Caspar
: Yes, sorry I’m late. Without a star to guide you it’s harder to find than you think.
And the traffic… I think every man and his camel are on the roads tonight.
Joseph
: Well at least you got here. This is Baart.
Baart
: Hi. I’m a shepherd. The wellies are a bit of a give-away I guess. As well as the fresh
aromatic aroma of sheep poo.
Caspar
: Indeed. A pleasure to meet you Baart. I am Caspar. Some call me a wise man, some
call me a magus but my friends call me Caz.
Mary
: Have you heard from any of the other wise men? I sent them all invitations.
Caspar
: I’m afraid not. After we visited you, we split up and went our separate ways. We
exchanged postcards for a while but things get busy, you’re all over the place
interpreting dreams and looking after kings that you soon lose touch. They could be
anywhere now.
Joseph
: Never mind. We can still enjoy the evening. What I thought would be fun is for
each of us to recount what happened when Jesus was born. It would be good to
know each other’s story.
All:
Ummm yes, good idea !! (general agreement)
Joseph:
I think we should get Mary to go first. After all it started with her.
(Mary walks to a ‘then’ spot)
Mary
: One day I was in my house.. by myself… getting on with the housework… when
suddenly…
(Gabriel on a pole, enters. Mary is shocked)
Mary
: Oh!
Gabriel
: Don’t be afraid Mary.
Mary
: What?! Who are you? How do you know my name?
Gabriel
: I am Gabriel one of God’s angels. I have come to tell you that God has chosen you
to be the mother of His son and you shall call him Jesus.
Mary
: Me? That’s not possible.
Gabriel
: With God all things are possible.
Mary
: But what do I tell Joseph?
Gabriel
: Don’t worry that will be sorted. You will marry him as arranged.
Mary
: If you say so.
Gabriel
: God says so.
Mary
: Oh, okay.
(Gabriel exits. Mary walks to the ‘now’ spot)
Mary
: Well that wasn’t something that happened every day. I went through so many
emotions. One minute I was filled with wonder and joy at what God had in store and
the next being full of fear as to what Joseph and the rest of our families would say.
As you can imagine Joseph was initially very upset.
Joseph
: Too right I was. I was livid. I was in my workshop one day, talking to myself and
getting all steamed up.
(Joseph walks to ‘then’ spot)
Joseph
: This is madness. Mary has told me she’s pregnant with God’s child. She said an
angel visited her. Have you ever heard anything so crazy? She must think I was born
yesterday to believe that… And yet somehow she doesn’t seem like she’s lying. I
don’t know, I think it would be better for both of us if we called the wedding off.
(Gabriel enters)
Joseph
: Aagh!
Gabriel
: Don’t be afraid.
Joseph
: Who are you?
Gabriel
: Gabriel. God’s angel.
Joseph
: So Mary was telling the truth.
Gabriel
: Of course she was. She is to have God’s son and you are to stand by her and marry
her.
Joseph
: Of course. I wouldn’t dream of doing anything else! Well it may have crossed my
mind, you know…. a little bit, but, no, no ! Fine by me, I’ll go and see Mary and tell
the caterers its back on then!
(Gabriel exits. Joseph stays where he is.)
Mary
: Well if all that wasn’t awkward enough, just before my baby was born the Romans
decided we all had to return to our birthplaces to fill in a census. Unfortunately
Joseph was born in Bethlehem and so we had to return there. As we said before, its
a long journey especially when your baby is due at any moment.
(Mary joins Joseph. They can do a bit of a walk to ‘Little Donkey’ or some other walking to Bethlehem
Christmas song. They can go to different doors looking for a room)
Joseph
: It’s no good, Mary, there are no places to stay.
Mary
: But the baby’s coming.
Joseph
: One guy said he had a stable we could use if we’re desperate.
Mary
: Put it this way, it’s the stable or the street ! Get me there now Joseph, hurry,
please !
(Mary and Joseph returns to ‘now’ place.)
Mary
: Well, I had the baby. All that travelling was exhausting, it had been a long day and
now all we wanted was to go to sleep. Absolutely shattered, we settled down for the
night. When God’s around though, things are far from predictable.
Baart
:Oh, this is me now isn’t it, this is where I came in!
Joseph
: Yes, it is where you came in Baart (patronising)… I remember the moment well !
Mary
: So go on then Baart. Tell us what happened to you. All I can remember was you and
your friends rushing in like a whirlwind to see Jesus.
Baart
: I can’t apologise enough for that. We were rather excited though.
(Baart moves to ‘then’ spot.)
Baart
: Well there we was sat on our hillside, minding our own business and our own
sheeps. We ain’t paid to mind our neighbour’s sheeps are we? So it’d be a bit daft to
do that and anybody can see I ain’t stupid. You’d have to get up very early in the
morning to get one over on young Bart here. And as I go to bed in the morning,
you’ll never find me awake to get one over on me. So, as I say, there we was
watching our sheeps. When suddenly…
(Gabriel appears)
Baart
: The sky is filled with singing and angels appears. Well I can tell you I very nearly had
an accident in my wellies.
Gabriel
: Don’t be afraid.
Baart
: Don’t be afraid?! Don’t be afraid?! Hundreds of you suddenly pop out of nowhere,
singing your hearts out and you tell me not to be afraid?
Gabriel
: That’s what I said.
Baart
: You’ve not come to snaffle our sheeps have you?
Gabriel
: No, I’ve come to bring you good news.
Baart
: Like you’re just going to disappear quietly and not hurt us. That’d be good news.
Gabriel
: In a stable not far from here, a baby has been born. His name is Jesus and he is the
saviour of the world. Go and worship him.
(Gabriel disappears.)
Baart
: Well you could have knocked me down with a feather. Not just me all my
workmates as well. We were a bit gobsmacked but rushed down to see the baby.
(Bart returns to the now bit.)
Baart
: Which is why we rushed in in such a hurry. We wanted to see the baby.
Caspar
: That’s very interesting. God told you by sending His angels. He told me and my
fellow companions by putting a star in the sky.
Baart
: A star? There’s millions of stars.
Caspar
: But just one special one.
Mary
: Tell us what happened, Caspar.
Caspar
: Okay. Joseph and Baart, you can be two of the other wise men. Come with me.
(Caspar, Joseph and Baart go to the ‘then’ spot.)
Caspar
: There we were, Melchior, that can be you Joseph, Balthazar, that’s you Baart, and
me. All in different parts of the world.
(The three of them split up and stand in different places. Joseph and Baart play the part of the wise
men)
Caspar
: We all studied the stars and their movements. One night a new star appeared in
the sky. There was something different about it. We knew it meant something
special. So we started tracking it.
(The three of them are looking up at the sky. They all collide with each other.)
Caspar
: Excuse me, sir, look where you’re going.
Joseph
: I am looking where I’m going. It’s you and this other chap that aren’t.
Baart
: I is following a star I is. It’s a new one what has appeared in the sky.
Caspar
: I ,too, am following that star.
Joseph
: Surely this is too much of a co-incidence for I am also following the star.
Baart
: Let’s follow that star togethers shall we?
Caspar
: So we journeyed together and thinking that the star meant a king had been born
we went to the royal palace. King Herod looked very confused when we asked him
about the new king. He let us carry on with our journey but wanted us to return
after we’d found him so that he too could ‘worship’ him. We said we would but then
we all had a strange dream.
(Gabriel enters)
Gabriel
: (Sounding a bit fed up of saying this line) Do not be afraid. When you find the
Messiah, do not return to Herod for he plans to kill the baby. Instead return home
by another route.
(Gabriel exits.)
Caspar
: So we made our way to where Jesus was. We each gave our gifts to him. I bring you
gold for you are a king.
Joseph
: I bring you frankincense for you are a priest.
Baart
: And I brings you… what did I bring?
Caspar
: Myrrh.
Baart
: Myrrh? But that signifies death. That’s not a great gift is it?
Caspar
: It’s what we felt was right to give him at the time. Perhaps its not a very normal gift
to give a baby, but it was rather unusual circumstances all round.
(They return to the ‘now’ spot. They all stand round the manger.)
Joseph
:Well yea, there was nothing very normal about Jesus’ birth was there. You may not
know, Caspar, but we actually had to leave Bethlehem soon after your visit, to
escape from Herod and we had to settle in Egypt for a few years – so today’s party
was wonderful having friends and family round – and finally to be home in Nazareth!
Mary
: What an amazing start to Jesus’ life. Who knows what God has in store for him
when he grows up. Only time will tell. Perhaps he’ll be famous one day, wouldn’t it
be amazing if like us, people in years to come end up celebrating his birthday too !