The Coventry Nativity Play

Summary

1949 BBC production of The Coventry Nativity Play.

Theatre play

The Coventry Nativity Play by Anon. [more information]

Play synopsis

The Shearmen and Tailors’ Pageant is a nativity play portraying events from the Annunciation to the Massacre of the Innocents.

Production history

Performances of the Coventry Plays are first recorded in a document of 1392-3, and continued for nearly two centuries; they were finally suppressed in 1579.

Date of transmission

Saturday 24 December 1949

Time

9.55-10.40pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Producer

Douglas Allen

Adapted for Television by

Douglas Allen

Sets / Settings

Richard R. Greenough

Movement

Lydia Sokolova

Cast

Felicity Barrington	Second Woman
John Boxer	Joseph
Robert Brown	First Soldier
Oliver Burt	Balthasar
Petra Davies	First Woman
Peter Doughty	Angel
Rosamund Greenwood	Third Woman
Thea Holme	Mary
George Howe	Jaspar
Noel Howlett	Melchior
Andrew Leigh	Third Shepherd
Kenneth Osbourne	A Monk
Joseph O’Conor	Gabriel
Robert Rietty	Herod’s Herald
Richard Sherren	Angel
Julian Somers	Second Shepherd
David Stoll	Angel
Anthony Viccars	Second Soldier
James Viccars	First Shepherd
Robert Weedon	Angel
Alan Wheatley	Herod

Additional details

Origination

Live from studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Presented again at 3.00pm on Thursday 29 December 1949.

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

14th-century setting; biblical stories; Christmas; Medieval drama; mystery play

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 16 December 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

brief mention, p. 44; article by Lionel Hale on p. 45; listing, p. 47

Title

Radio Times, 23 December 1949 (Magazine)

Linking notes

photograph, p. 45