The merits of two plays inspired by Scripture in the run-up to Christmas

The Wind of Heaven
Finborough Theatre, London

An Act of God
The Vaults, London

In a culture where Christmas entertainment is defined as pantomimes or children’s fantasy, biblical stories are restricted to school nativity plays, except for an occasional professional comedy or musical about an educational Joseph-and-Mary drama going wrong.

This year, though, London unusually offers two scripturally inspired plays, if of starkly contrasting kinds – respectively old and new, British and American, sombre and comic.

The serious piece is The Wind of Heaven, which premiered in the West End 74 years ago but has not been performed since. It was written by Emlyn Williams (1905-87), an actor-dramatist best known for the thriller Night Must Fall and the autobiographical family saga, The Corn Is Green, both made into movies.

As part of a project to revive neglected twentieth-century dramas, the imaginative Finborough Theatre in west London started the decade with a fascinating Williams rediscovery – Accolade (1950), about a famous writer buffeted by sexual scandal – and now ends the 2010s with another.