Review: Kid Carpet Noisy Nativity Tobacco Factory Theatres Bristol
Kid Carpet Noisy Nativity
Spielman Theatre
Thursday 05 December 2019 at 13.30pm
To be clear, this is a family show aimed at young children aged three years upwards – the ones who would wriggle and heckle their way through more traditional family Christmas theatre. What you actually get with Kid Carpet’s Noisy Nativity, is 55 minutes of joy in this re-jig of the Christmas story.
It’s told through a cast of toys, the type which might be found down the side of the sofa. The Nativity story is translated in the style of a 90’s post clubbing 2am repeat of the Adam and Joe Show.
There’s plenty of audience interaction – such as taking part in Penguin Race, identifying animals, as well as join-in songs interspersed throughout.
We get a squeezy chicken orchestra, an inspired David Bowie moment and Little Donkey performed on the recorder with the skill of a Year 2 child who has been playing the instrument three days.
Although Kid Carpet likes quirky music production – performed with the kind of loud toys irritating in-law might buy your children – his musicianship is outstanding. We get styles ranging from the banging Jungle Bums to the beautiful Tears at Christmas – performed with the wistful look of a sad-eyed St Bernard puppy stuck in the snow and experiencing a Jona Lewie Kitchen moment.
The show had barely started before a five-year-old at the front shouted out what everyone else was thinking – “Jesus is a Hedgehog”. It’s a song that’s becoming ingrained in the unique and alternative cultural identity of Bristol. An indie anthem for primary school children, with shifts from verse to chorus reminiscent of music in the early nineties alternative scene.
This show is brilliant. It engages with its audience. It relies on visual storytelling, sound, video and puppetry you would use to get toddlers to eat peas. It’s perfectly pitched at the three to seven-year-old age group it’s aiming at – as well as their accompanying adult.
The word ‘genius’ is too often bandied about these days, but watching Mary and Joseph wing their way to Bethlehem on the back of a golden eagle, these are the moments that title is well deserved.
Kid Carpet Noisy Nativity is playing at the Spielman Theatre at Tobacco Factory Theatres until 05 January 2020.
There’s a Relaxed Performance on Wednesday 11 December at 11am, for audiences with additional needs.
For more information or to book, visit: https://www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/noisy-nativity/
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