For centuries the re-telling of the Nativity has been a feature of traditional Christmases, whether it is a primary school play or a decorative manger scene.

But how often do you see the story told with the inclusion of Herod’s cull of the newborn sons? How often do you see a nativity void of both donkey and camel? And how often do they feature strobe lighting? Answer: not very often.

This year, marking the first performance by an in-house group since the Pegasus Theatre’s impressive re-design, the Pegasus Adult Drama Group offers up just that; a different kind of nativity. Edging quite swiftly away from the now typical nativity production, this time the historic tale is told in its entirety, without skirting around the darker side of the story.

Performed in rhyming verse, which admittedly does seem rather uncomfortable at times, Nativity reaches back to its folk art roots and really does capture the atmosphere of the age-old account.

Perhaps one of the most striking aspects of the production is the large-scale puppetry constructed by set designer Paul Batten. Both the Angel Gabriel and the Angel of Death take the form of fully operative puppets as they play their part in the re-telling.

The use of choreographed movement also features periodically throughout the production (yes, that’s where the strobe comes in) and although performed well, it did seem a tad unnecessary and actually appeared to break up the plot somewhat. With red ribbon blood and the replacing of the baby Jesus with a literal beam of light, the simplistic use of props worked extremely well and gave the production a very clean finish.

An adult production of the Nativity is always going to be a tall order when most people hear ‘nativity’ and think ‘children dressed as farm animals’. But in this case the Pegasus Adult Drama Group manage, overall, successfully to reclaim the tale for the older audience.