The POD, Iris Theatre – until 11 December 2021
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Travelling back to their family home for Christmas, Blake, Laura and Mia find out that their Nanna Sue will be there. This could well be her last Christmas, so they want to give her something special, so their standby novelty lip balm won’t do. Mia suggests they perform one of the Nativity plays they performed as children.
There are lots of laughs in Eden Tredwell’s bittersweet comedy as the trio perform their Nativity with bedsheets and Leprechaun hats as costumes. But as Blake (Charlie Archer) works his way through the script with a bottle of wine to get rid of his nerves, he changes from sarcastic but charmingly nervous into a more belligerent and intolerant character, opening old wounds and grudges that halt the show. Laura Pigott has a ball with Mia’s theatrical affectations and egocentricity –she feels that Mary would have expressed her emotions through song on the long journey to Bethlehem, so performs a hilarious power ballad. Laura (Sarah Whitehouse) has obviously played peacemaker between her brother and sister all their lives, but she can’t fix this rift, not even with the annual family Secret Santa.
The cast have wonderful chemistry and are thoroughly believable as siblings. Eden Tredwell excels in differentiating the childish Nativity script with their adult bickering and silly family traditions. Director Jack Bence keeps the action authentically shambolic until things break down into stillness and silence as truths hit home. The siblings’ quiet acceptance that they have drifted apart and don’t really know or understand each other anymore is nicely understated. The contrast between the festive shenanigans and the arguments darkens the mood until a quiet but uplifting Christmas song brings everybody together – capturing the emotional highs and lows that a day trapped with family members you see only once a year can cause.
The Last Nativity is full of ridiculous moments – a very funny dysfunctional family Christmas.