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It is 1499 and a group of tradesmen and workers have met to rehearse the Nativity Play which is due to be performed, as it has been for 100 years, at midnight on Christmas Eve. But will the Show go on? Their production is beset by an array of problems the like of which beset many amateur and some professional productions today. Members of the cast fall prey to illness, accidents and differences of opinion (artistic and otherwise!). Despite, or perhaps because of, being members of a close knit community, friendships are at risk, offence is taken and it seems that the town may be without its nativity play and a century long tradition may die. The play's director, the blacksmith, who many years previously played the part of the Ox, is in despair. This is heightened by fears and superstition over the possible effects of the imminent half millennium and the gloomy forecast of the doom-mongers. The play is set in the Cornmarket a large and shadowy hall lit by fire and candlelight where the players gather to rehearse, to argue and to struggle to resolve their personal and their thespian problems. Frost At Midnight was written in 1959.

Creatives/Company

Author: Andre Obey