|
Nativity! (film)
''Nativity!'' is a 2009 British Christmas musical comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt and released on 27 November 2009 and the first instalment in the ''Nativity'' film series. The film stars Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen. In the film, teacher Paul Maddens (Freeman) lies to his rival that Hollywood are coming to watch his school's Christmas nativity, but after the lie gets out of hand, he must resolve the issue fast. The film was written by its director, Debbie Isitt, but was also partially improvised. The film premiered on 23 November 2009 in the SkyDome Arena, Coventry, England. It was released in cinemas on 27 November 2009. The film was followed by '' Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger'' (2012), '' Nativity 3: Dude, Where's My Donkey?'' (2014), and ''Nativity Rocks!'' (2018). In 2017 a stage musical adaptation premiered and has since toured the UK over the subsequent Christmas seasons. Plot Paul Maddens is a miserable, jaded teacher at St. Bernadette's, a local sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debbie Isitt
Debbie Isitt (born ) is an English comic writer, film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist and performer. Early life and education Isitt was born in Birmingham. She went to Our Lady of Fatima Primary School and Lordswood Girls Secondary School. Later, she studied a two-year course at Coventry University, graduating in 1985. Career Isitt is best known for her Christmas comedy films, the '' Nativity!'' series, of which she has written and directed four to date. Prior to that, she wrote BAFTA award-winning television adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's book, ''The Illustrated Mum'', the stage play '' The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband'', and the feature films ''Nasty Neighbours'' and ''Confetti''. Earlier in her career, just after her graduation, she joined the Cambridge Experimental Theatre company and toured Europe for a year performing Shakespeare. She then founded the Snarling Beasties company and spent the next 15 years writing, directing and performing in plays they took ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centuries. Founded in the early Middle Ages, its city status was formally recognised in a charter of 1345. The city is governed by Coventry City Council, and the West Midlands Combined Authority. Historic counties of England, Formerly part of Warwickshire until 1451, and again from 1842 to 1974, Coventry had a population of 345,324 at the 2021 census, making it the tenth largest city in England and the 13th largest in the United Kingdom. It is the second largest city in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, after Birmingham, from which it is separated by an area of Green belt (United Kingdom), green belt known as the Meriden Gap; it is the third largest in the wider Midlands after Birmingham and Leicester. The city is part of a larger ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nepotism
Nepotism is the act of granting an In-group favoritism, advantage, privilege, or position to Kinship, relatives in an occupation or field. These fields can include business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, religion or health care. In concept it is similar to cronyism. The term originated with the assignment of nephews, sons, or other relatives to important positions by Catholic popes and bishops. It has often been witnessed in Autocracy, autocracies, whereby Aristocracy, traditional aristocracies usually contested amongst themselves in order to obtain leverage, status, etc. Nepotism has been criticized since ancient history by philosophers including Aristotle, Thiruvalluvar, Valluvar, and Confucius, condemning it as both evil and unwise. Origins The term comes from Italian word ''nepotismo'',"Nepotism." Dictionary.com. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Classroom Assistant
A teaching assistant (TA) or education assistant (EA) is an individual who assists a professor or teacher with instructional responsibilities. TAs include ''graduate teaching assistants'' (GTAs), who are graduate students; ''undergraduate teaching assistants'' (UTAs), who are undergraduate students; ''secondary school TAs'', who are either high school students or adults; and ''elementary school TAs'', who are adults (also known as ''paraprofessional educators'' or ''teacher's aides''). By definition, TAs assist with classes, but many graduate students serve as the sole instructor for one or more classes each semester as a teaching fellow or graduate student instructor, although in some American states, such as Florida, they are called "teaching assistants". Graduate and adult TAs generally have a fixed salary determined by each contract period (usually a semester or an academic year); however, undergraduates and high school students are sometimes unpaid and in the US and other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nativity Play
A Nativity play or Christmas pageant is a play which recounts the story of the Nativity of Jesus. It is usually performed at Christmas, the feast of the Nativity. For the Christian celebration of Christmas, the viewing of the Nativity play is one of the oldest Christmastime traditions, with the first reenactment of the Nativity of Jesus taking place in A.D. 1223 in the Italian town of Greccio. Liturgical The term "Nativity Drama" is used by Wellesz in his discussion of the '' troparion'' hymns in the Christmas liturgy of Byzantine Rite Churches, from Sophronius in the seventh century. Goldstein argues that the label "drama" is misleading, that the ''troparia'' are more akin to an oratorio than a play, and that the form is not a precursor of later more decidedly dramatic forms. Saint Francis of Assisi performed Midnight Mass in the Italian town of Greccio on Christmas Eve 1223 in front of a life-size nativity scene (crib or creche) built by Giovanni Velita, with live anima ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private School
A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowment. Unless privately owned they typically have a board of governors and have a system of governance that ensures their independent operation. Private schools retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students for Tuition payments, tuition, rather than relying on taxation through public (government) funding; at some private schools students may be eligible for a scholarship, lowering this tuition fee, dependent on a student's talents or abilities (e.g., sports scholarship, art scholarship, academic scholarship), need for financial aid, or Scholarship Tax Credit, tax credit scholarships that might be available. Roughly one in 10 U.S. families have chosen to enroll their childr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divine grace, the priesthood of all believers, and the Bible as the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. The five solae, five ''solae'' summarize the basic theological beliefs of mainstream Protestantism. Protestants follow the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began in the 16th century with the goal of reforming the Catholic Church from perceived Criticism of the Catholic Church, errors, abuses, and discrepancies. The Reformation began in the Holy Roman Empire in 1517, when Martin Luther published his ''Ninety-five Theses'' as a reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church, which purported to offer the remission of the Purgatory, temporal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. Although music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western musical theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the light opera works of Jacques Offenbach in France, Gilbert and Sullivan in Britain and the works of Edward Harrigan, Harrigan and Tony Hart (theater), Hart in America. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Primary School
A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary education of children who are 4 to 10 years of age (and in many cases, 11 years of age). Primary schooling follows preschool and precedes secondary schooling. The International Standard Classification of Education considers primary education as a single phase where programmes are typically designed to provide fundamental skills in reading, writing, and mathematics and to establish a solid foundation for learning. This is International Standard Classification of Education#Level 1, ISCED Level 1: Primary education or first stage of basic education.Annex III in the I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization.Gerald O'Collins, O'Collins, p. v (preface). The church consists of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites#Churches, ''sui iuris'' (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and Eparchy, eparchies List of Catholic dioceses (structured view), around the world, each overseen by one or more Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the Papal supremacy, chief pastor of the church. The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
State-funded Schools (England)
English state-funded schools, commonly known as state schools, provide Education in England, education to pupils between the ages of 3 and 18 without charge. Approximately 93% of English schoolchildren attend 24,000 such schools. Since 2008 about 75% have attained "academy status", which essentially gives them a higher budget per pupil from the Department for Education. There are a number of categories of English state-funded schools including academy (English school), academy schools, community school (England and Wales), community schools, faith schools, foundation schools, Grammar school, grammar schools, Free schools in England, free schools (including studio schools, maths schools and university technical colleges), and a small number of List of state boarding schools in England, state boarding schools and City Technology Colleges. About one third of English state-funded schools are faith schools; [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nativity! The Musical
''Nativity! The Musical'' is a stage musical written and directed by Debbie Isitt (co-composed by Nicky Ager), based on Isitt's 2009 film of the same name (part of the ''Nativity'' film series). The musical follows a Coventry based primary school, St Bernadette's, where teacher Mr Maddens and his assistant, Mr Poppy mount a musical version of the nativity with the students, promising it will be adapted into a Hollywood movie. The musical features songs from the film including "Sparkle and Shine", "Nazareth", "One Night One Moment" and "She's The Brightest Star". Production history Birmingham, UK tour and London (2017) The musical made its world premiere at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre from 20 October to 12 November 2017, before touring to Southend Cliffs Pavilion (15 to 19 November), Sheffield Lyceum Theatre (22 to 26 November), Manchester Palace Theatre (29 November to 3 December), Plymouth Theatre Royal (6 to 10 December), London's Eventim Apollo (13 to 17 Decem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
