The Corstorphine Road Nativity

The guffaws of recognition from the parents and teachers in the audience affirm the accuracy of The Corstorphine Road Nativity’s reproduction of all the muddled, mean, poignant, perceptive and downright hilarious things that children say on a daily basis.

The source of the humour here is the familiarity of it all – the types are instantly recognisable, from the teacher’s pet to the creepy loner who smells a bit odd. Gail Watson in particular gives a standout performance as the serious little farmer’s daughter who looks upon her peers with a world weariness that comes from knowing where babies come from.

The light touch of Tim Firth’s original television version (the excellent Flint Street Nativity) has been lost with the addition of songs sung to the tune of carols, where the children soliloquise about their home lives, families and cares. Luckily this doesn’t detract too much from the steady stream of well-received one-liners and irresistibly daft physical humour in this production – so reconnect with your inner child and don’t be surprised to find yourself giggling helplessly at a man in a cardboard donkey’s head braying ‘fart’ and ‘willy’ to the tune of ‘Ding Dong Merrily On High’.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre, until Sat 19 Dec