Across Britain, primary schools are bracing themselves for the toughest event of the year. Teachers work late into the night; pupils fret and worry; parents are tense and concerned. It’s the build-up to the annual nativity play. And at St Bernadette’s Catholic Primary in Birmingham, tensions are at fever pitch.

St Bernadette’s is fictitious but, says Nativity! writer and director Debbie Isitt, the issues her play explores are anything but.