Dundee nativity video spreads Christmas cheer
Published on 23 December 2020
A special Christmas DVD has been delivered to vulnerable people across Tayside to provide joy and comfort.
Dundee Nativity – Celebrating a Covid Christmas – has been given to care homes, Ninewells Hospital, the Carseview Centre, prisons and people unable to access the internet.
The 60-minute play provides an entertaining and relevant slant on the events of the first Christmas, and aims to bring a message of hope, encouragement and reassurance to all who are struggling with the COVID-19 lockdown.
Using drama, music and dance, it promotes the celebration in a way that is funny, thought-provoking and for all ages.
Performances of the Dundee Nativity have been part of the programme for the traditional Christmas Lights event in the city centre for the last 10 years.
But COVID-19 restrictions meant that it was not possible this year so a film, funded by a Dundee City Council grant, was made instead.
Producer, Rev Allan Webster, who is associated with The Steeple Church, said: "The response to 'Celebrating a Covid Christmas' has been wonderful.
"Churches all over Scotland, from Forres to Girvan, are using it in place of their traditional live nativity play.
"People are watching the online version in the United States, mainland Europe and New Zealand.
"Copies of the DVD have been requested in bulk by hospitals in Tayside and Perth and Kinross, care homes, foodbanks and prisons.
"DVDs are still available on request, to give to people with no access to the internet."
The full background to the video, which was filmed under socially-distanced conditions at Platform Arts, is told on the website of The Steeple Church.
Three Wise Persons from the East – Chris Forrester, Mae McDougall and Elizabeth Averill - delivered copies of the DVD to Ninewells Hospital earlier this month.