Nativity variation was most welcome
All the characters of Christmas were represented in Kilgraston’s‘Portraits’show narrative of verse and humorous conjecture in this one-off Christmas‘Kilgraston Broadcasting Company’special.
The production was unexpected from the outset when the school’s pipes and drums band silently appeared on a pitch-black stage, only to give a stirring rendition of ‘Little Drummer Boy’with the aid of luminous glow sticks.
Mary and Joseph may well have been following a bright star over Bethlehem 2000 years ago, but the audience followed the dashing flashes just as closely.
Junior performers had their say in a modern way with a jaunty ‘Roman Rap’as soldiers gathered to track down the Messiah.
Dave Godfrey’s‘Sat Nav Song’ embraced the whole stage - and some of the audience too - dozy do’ing and flossing along their foot-tapping journey.
This show constantly surprised and never more so than with the quality of traditional melodies.
This was very definitely a performance soaked in Scottish inflection.
Were there fiddles appearing in the original Bethlehem stable?
They certainly did on this night, giving‘How Suddenly a Baby Cries’ a definite tartan twang.
Even Highland dancer, Bridget Stewart-Blacker, performing some intricate steps, seemed entirely in keeping with this unique interpretation.
This was an ambitious production, humorously delivered by a broad age-range of talent, making for a delightful piece of festive entertainment, where cast and audience fully engaged with the traditional take.