The “Christmas Tale” stars a pair of robbers, named Bob and Bill, who raid a jewellery store in broad daylight to steal a manger full of rubies and emeralds. But some parents believe the story is inappropriate for the school’s seven to 11-year-old intake. The decision by teachers to stage the controversial production came after the local area suffered a spate of armed robberies: Canvey Island residents have seen seven violent armed raids in the past six weeks. One parent has already removed their child from the Christmas production in protest over its violent undertones.
Another parent said: "I think it is a little tasteless to stage the play with all the recent reports of armed robberies on the island. I don't understand why the politically correct brigade has had to get rid of the traditional story anyway? I can't see that this gangster story is going to be better than something from the Bible. What are they going to have our children saying? 'Sorry Mary and Joseph, but there is no room in the cells?'" The school’s new version of Away In A Manger begins: “Away with the manger, Two robbers stole it, They were called Bob and Bill, And they were both big twits.”
Screenshot from here.
Janet Vaughan, the school’s head teacher, defended the new production, saying it was merely a light-hearted twist on the traditional Christmas tale. She said: "It is very, very funny and nothing more than a light-hearted version of events. The outcome is the robbers are caught and banged to rights and the true meaning of Christmas comes across very strongly with a nativity at the end. It is nice to have a fun element to any sort of Christmas production and we always have a religious basis to it as well. It's nonsense to say the words are anything other than tongue-in-cheek and the children understand that."