The birth of Jesus has been depicted since early
Christianity, and continues to be interpreted in modern artistic forms. Some of the artforms that have described
Jesus' nativity include drama (including television and films) and music (including opera). Featured characters usually include
Jesus,
Mary, and
Joseph.
Rutland Boughton, English composer and founder of the original Glastonbury Festival, wrote a very popular Nativity opera in 1915 called Bethlehem. In 1926, in sympathy with the
General Strike and the miners' lockout, he restaged it in London, in modern dress, with Jesus born in a miner's cottage and Herod as the top-hatted capitalist, flanked by soldiers and police.[3]
Two From Galilee - A musical of Mary and Joseph leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ
Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Monetti
Film
Ben-Hur (1959) recounts the Nativity in its prologue, and
Balthasar (a major character) also recounts it in the third person later in the film.
^Quinn, Bernard J. (Spring 1972). "The Politics of Despair versus the Politics of Hope: A Look at Bariona, Sartre's First pièce engagée". The French Review (Special Issue, No. 4, Studies on the French Theater): 95–105.