Holy Night

play by Ruth Salles

Christmas play based on a short story by Selma Lagerlöf (1858 – 1940). Saint Joseph goes looking for embers to make a fire and warm Mary and the Child Jesus in the cave, but he only finds a rude and unwilling shepherd. The Shepherd's Transformation.

CHARACTERS:
Choir of Pastors who sing; Joseph, Shepherd, Mary; Angels, Sheep (think about whether the doors can be represented by students)

The Shepherd, with the sheep, is on the left side of the scene; the choir of shepherds can be in the centre, at the back, hiding the crib, where Mary and the manger are; José comes out from behind the choir and goes to the right side knocking on the doors asking for fire; the angels must also be hidden behind the choir of shepherds.

JOSEPH (knocking at the first door, exclaims):
– Good souls, help me! Give me a handful of coals to make a fire! The night is so cold, and I have nothing… (Waits a while and knocks on the second door):
– In the name of God, help me! I only ask for a little fire to warm my family!

SHEPHERDS CHORUS (sings, while José knocks on one or two more doors, then turns, dejectedly, to the opposite side):
“A man walked from door to door,
asking for fire, to say
what a bonfire in the cold night
should light up.
A bonfire in the cold night
for the family to warm up,
asked the man, asked,
nobody wanted to answer.”

JOSÉ (looks into the distance, with his hand on his forehead, and sees the Shepherd at the opposite end, with the sheep sleeping curled up in front of him):
“I see a fire out there in the field. It is a
shepherd watching over his sheep. (screams):
- Her! The pastor!

SHEPHERD (rises, angrily):
– Who comes to annoy me at this hour?
(picks up a stone from the ground):
'Why, a good stone will ward off whoever it is!'
(raises his arm and tries to throw the stone, but fails; the arm drops and the stone falls to the ground)
- But how? What's that? What's happening?
(looks surprised at José, who is arriving, and asks):
– What do you want, man?

JOSÉ:
– Shepherd, in the name of God, help me! give me
some of that fire. the night is so
cold, and I have nothing...

SHEPHERD (laughing, lightly):
“Well, if you can get through the middle of the
sheep without scaring or waking any of them…
I give you a bunch of coals.
(The Shepherd sits down again, but spies on Joseph. Joseph passes among the sheep, and they don't even move.)

SHEPHERD (to himself, astonished):
- But how? How did he get it?
(to José): – After all, who are you, man, and what do you want this fire for?

JOSÉ:
– Pastor, my wife has just had a child,
and the two are frozen…

SHEPHERD (still grumpy):
- It's ok. It's ok. But I do not have
no spade to catch the coals.
(shrugs his shoulders, dismissively)
If you want, pick up the coals with your hands.
(Joseph bends down and picks up a handful of coals in his hands, without getting burned.)

SHEPHERD (admired):
- But how? What a strange thing… He didn't get burned!

JOSÉ:
– Thank you, good man. (Walks away.)

SHEPHERD (following him):
- Hey! Sir! Sir! What night is this, in
that the stone does not hurt, the sheep do not
frighten, the fire does not burn, and even the
own things seem to feel love?

JOSÉ:
– Come with me, and you will see.
(The two walk around the scene, the flute can be heard in the background; they finish their tour in front of the crib, which is now in view. José points to the crib, showing it to the pastor.)

SHEPHERD:
– Hmm… All I see here is a woman with a child.

JOSÉ:
– Pastor, you really have your eyes closed.

SHEPHERD (looks at the sky and rubs his arms, cold):
- What night! (looks at the crib and starts to get emotional):
– What a cold cave… What a calm mother… What a small boy…
(Joseph bends down, puts the coals on the ground, and starts fanning them to make a fire.)

SHEPHERD:
'But, sir, this ember alone won't warm anyone!'
(Suddenly resolved, the shepherd bends down, takes off his great cloak, and covers the mother and child with it. When he rises, the angels are already in sight.)

SHEPHERD (raising his arms and addressing Joseph):
- Oh Lord! My eyes opened!
What is it I'm seeing? How many angels!
(kneel before the manger)

ALL (sing, including the sheep, who get up):
“- Go, go, O shepherds!
Daylight is coming.
I went to see the boy
born there in Bethlehem.
Pass, pass, O shepherds,
through this sacred portal.
I came to see the boy
in the manger lying down.
He comes, for our sake,
born so poor in Bethlehem.
He comes, for our sake,
born so poor in Bethlehem.”

End