Men in White

Men in White
(A Drama for Christmas:-inspired by a short story from a music book, Faith, Folk and Nativity).

Narr;- And it came to pass, the day before Jesus was born, that the angels all came to Bethlehem; and the people were all called forth before them at the blast of a mighty trumpet.*
The villagers were dazzled by the brilliance of the heavenly host, and they were sore afraid!

Angel 1; All right gather round ye people . I'm here to inform you that the biggest event in the whole of the history of humankind is about to happen, right here in this town, tomorrow! And we've come to clean up the place.

Angel 2; Just think, of all the centuries God could have chosen from for his son to come to earth, and He chose this one! He should have chosen the 20th-now that would have made more sense- look at all the midwives, doctors, anaesth....anaesth...aneest aneeststhetists( anyway the ones who hold the masks over your face.. and all those lovely nurses he could have had at His beck and call. Far more hygienic- the 20th- than this one!

Angel 3: And of all the exotic places He could have chosen, and He chose this dump, Bethlehem. It's filthy, look at all the litter.

Angel 4 : Right let's get the mops and brooms out. Hey Peggy- where's the hoover kept? And what about some aerosol spray? This stable is putting forth quite an aroma!

Peggy: Here you are. Is that all you need?

Angel 5: It's a start anyway! Ooooaagh! This stable is too much! They're surely not going to be expected to bring him forth in here are they?

Angel 1: Just get on with it , we haven't much time left. Now listen here you lot and pay attention! We want you to put on your best clothes and be on your best behaviour tomorrow! This baby is very important! So there'll be no drinking, no swearing and no smoking ,as from now, AND.... there'll be a curfew after 8 o' clock tomorrow.

Angel 2: These aerosols are having no effect whatsoever!

Angel 3: Well after he's been born, we'll whip him out of here and transfer him to the nearest vicarage, it'll be cleaner in there till we can move him to the hospital..

Angel 4 : You can't do that, they've got 2 dogs in there. They'll eat him up for breakfast.

Angel 5 : Well we'll solve that problem when we come to it.

Angel 1: When do we get to sing the Gloria? We've been practising that for months now?

Angel 2 : It won't be long now- I hope we get to sing it for the baby, it'll just be our luck to have to fly off to some lonely hillside and there'll be not be many there to hear it.

Angel 3 : You know it breaks my heart -to think that this will be the best musical performance humankind will ever hear, and there 'll be no conoisseurs to appreciate it.

Angel 4: I don't know why we couldn't have sung it in Jerusalem (all sigh) There would 've been thousands to hear it there!

Angel 5 : We'll probably end up singing it to some scrawny shepherds sitting, abiding in their fields with their sheep.

Angel 1 : (on mobile phone)Hang on! Hold everything- orders have just come through....... God wants everything as it was. Peggy, you can have your hoover back, and you can stop squirting those aerosols. Hand everything back, brooms,mops, dusters, pledge. And as for you folk out there.....as you were. When you see this flash of light you won't remember we've even been here.(Flash)Let's go!

Narr ; And so the people of Bethlehem recalled not a thing, they went about their business. And the angels looked back and saw that everything was as it had been before.

(The Characters in this drama are entirely fictional, and bear no resemblance to persons past or present).

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