Top Tips from Niki Davies on Staging a Nativity Musical

Niki Davies’ collection of nativity musicals are loved by schools up and down the country. With her latest musicals, Snuggle Up Stable and Beep Beep Bethlehem now available, Niki provides some handy tips for staging a successful primary school nativity!

 

Niki Davies’ 12 Tips for A Successful Primary School Nativity

 

1.      Choose Your Nativity Musical Wisely

For children under 7, it is better to choose a shorter nativity like Follow the Star, and do it well, than a longer one and find it too difficult. Something around 20 to 30 minutes is perfect, with simple songs that can be learned quickly and easily, and a script where the lines are generally only a sentence or two in length.

If you are looking for a whole primary school nativity, not just for the younger ones, then have a look at The Amazing Advent Calendar with a gripping script, flexible roles and fun songs, or one of our newest editions, Bethlehem Ballroom, with seven hip-swinging songs to entertain the whole school.

2.      Divide The Narration to Fit Your Cast

The narration can be split down into small sections or one-liners to bring in parts for more children. This will also give each child less lines to learn. A great option for this is Boogie Woogie Nativity, which allows for six narrators, but can be adapted to suit the needs of the children performing.

With fewer children, a competent reader could read the narration to the audience.

With every nativity production from The School Musicals’ company, you have the option of purchasing an editable script, making it even easier for you to break up the lines and add in more narrators to tailor it your students.

3.      Avoid Auditions

With nativities for Early Years’ and younger KS1 students, I would avoid the auditioning process. If you would like to have one or two singer soloists, listen out in singing time for children who are good, clear singers. Maybe invite children to sing a verse of a song on their own, but only as part of a fun lesson. This will give you a good idea of who is confident enough to do a solo. Most of the children are able to remember and speak one or two simple lines of script and we are not expecting them to be professional West End performers.

4.      Cast By Class

When selecting the cast, if several classes of children are involved, you could divide the roles between classes so rehearsals can take place in smaller groups to start with. Save the bigger rehearsals involving the entire cast for later when the parts have been learned.

If you are working with a large number of children, a popular choice is Higgledy Piggledy Nativity as it is ideal for cast sizes from 20 to 80 children. Not only does it feature a nativity play’s classic characters, but it can also be rehearsed in two parts, with the stable characters in one, and the imminent arrivals including Mary, Joseph, and the three kings in another.

5.      Get Home Involved

It’s a good idea to give the children their lines to take home and learn with the help of their parents. Parents will also expect to help with costumes and some may even have time to come in to help with scenery or props. Just give them plenty of notice.

Even if the festive feeling hasn’t yet kicked in, it's not too early to choose your school's nativity. Check out our 15 Brilliant School Nativity Ideas on our blog. The sooner you get going on this, the less stressful it will be for all involved!

6.      Talk It Through

Talk to the children about the play so they have a good understanding of the story and what is going to happen. Then they can make sense of it all when they begin rehearsals and have a sense of the whole story rather than just their bit. After all, teaching the nativity story through a nativity musical is a wonderful learning opportunity.

7.      Everyone Makes Mistakes

Don’t expect perfection from the children, or from yourself for that matter. It really isn’t an issue if on the night they make some mistakes. The most important thing about performing and staging a nativity musical is that the children and the audience enjoy themselves and have a great time. The Nativity is often a family occasion where parents, grandparents, and guardians come to support the children. If your play can create a magical Christmas atmosphere you will have done well.

8.      Use The CD

I would recommend using the CD/Digital Downloads for the performance as well as when learning the songs. This means you can have your hands free and you can move about and direct the children. The various instruments used on the backing tracks will also help to create the atmosphere of the Nativity. If you decide to use the piano parts instead, then perhaps involve some of the children with percussion. 

9.      Get Help

Don’t try to do it all on your own. It really is far more fun with others and the sooner you get them involved, the more invested they will be. Enlist help from the other teachers, parents, and maybe even from younger pupils.

10.  Creating A Backdrop

Whilst some schools may be lucky enough to have talented artists among the teachers or parents who are willing to spend time producing more involved scenery, it’s also fine to keep the scenery very simple. Just an ink blue backdrop covered in shiny stars that the children could have made themselves can look very effective. Using only one backdrop throughout will also mean that no stage hands will be needed for scenery shifting.

11.  Staging and Setting

There are lots of ways of staging a school musical and it will depend on the numbers of children you have, the type of stage area etc. I always used to keep things very simple with a main choir towards the back of the stage, the action happening in front of the choir and the narrators positioned at the very front of the stage to each side. Everyone can be involved in singing the songs.

Read more about Niki’s work with children and her writing process.

12.   Last But Definitely Not Least

Before a performance begins, don’t forget to ask the audience to switch off their mobile phones! There’s always one who forgets and it is bound to be theirs which goes off at just the wrong moment.

And if the audience are planning to film the nativity or take photos, politely ask that the flash is turned off as to not cause further distraction.

 

We hope that now you’re equipped with Niki Davies’ top tips on school nativities, you can focus on making your next school nativity a truly memorable one for all.

Explore our collection of exciting school nativities for KS1, to KS2 and primary school nativities to get the whole school involved. Or, check out our most brilliant school nativity ideas for more inspiration!

 

About Niki Davies:

Niki Davies has been a professional songwriter for 20 years, and has 20 years of practical classroom experience. She has written an impressive number of magical nativity productions for schools, helping children of all ages to learn about the meaning of Christmas in a fun, engaging and memorable way. The School Musicals’ Company is proud to partner with Niki, and we are thrilled to offer you her latest nativity musicals and expertise to help you stage an incredible performance.