About us

We take our children to see Santa year after year. We love going. It’s become a tradition. So why not the Christmas story as well?

What if there was a professional, heart-warming piece of theatre, open to everyone, every December? Made as easy and accessible as a visit to Father Christmas. Well ‘Christmas – The Story’ aims to do just that.

We hope to bring the Nativity story to life, in town centres across the UK.

But why?

Is it all really necessary?

After all, everyone knows the story . . .

Sadly this is no longer true. The Nativity story is fading out of Christmas:

  • 36% of 18-25 year olds in Britain do not know the story at all. They don’t even know where Jesus was born.
  • Only 44% of junior school children know that Christmas is meant to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
  • Less than 2% of Christmas cards have a religious theme.
  • Nine out of ten people who count themselves as Christians do not go to church. Their children only come across the story via the infant school Nativity Play. They are unlikely ever to hear it again.

If we want to see these statistics change, then it is the churches’ job to make it happen. No-one will do it for us. And soon it will be too late to turn back the clock.

History

In 2010 Christmas – The Story ran from the 1st to the 18th of December. Every day we gave 11 performances of our 20 minute Nativity play free of charge. The public loved it!

Our return in 2011 showed that Christmas – The Story wasn’t just a one-off. We ran for more days, gave even more performances and introduced our now famous real-life donkeys. Everybody (but especially our school trips) were delighted!

In 2012 we made and distributed hundreds of models of baby Jesus for children and adults to take home with them as a reminder of the story they’d heard. Once again, thousands came through our doors. Many said that the Story was already becoming a new Christmas tradition!

2013 saw a very exciting development as Aberdare put on their very own production! In Cardiff, we had a new set, soundtrack and angel. Not only that but we added a brand new element to our school trips. St David’s RC Cathedral on Charles Street hosted the Organ Stop, which gave the children a chance to play a real pipe organ! What a blast! And our doors didn’t close at 6pm either – in the evening we staged Christmas Opera: Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Then in 2014, new productions began in Carmarthen and Port Talbot, and in 2015 Barry joined us too!
2016 started with Christmas – The Story being shortlisted for an EPIC Award and then Bridgend came on board on 2017

We’re back this December with a stronger production than ever! The story continues …