He That Should Come

by Dorothy L. Sayers, Ann Loades (Introduction)

In this first of her plays for religious broadcasting, a nativity play, Dorothy L. Sayers wanted to convince listeners of the truth that Christ was born into our deeply problematic world, in his case, in territory overrun by an army of occupation. Although framed as it were by the voices of the three 'wise men' asking whether the birth of a particular child could possibly fulfil their desires, the focus of the play is on the conflict of opinion (about roads, taxes, and so forth) expressed by those in the courtyard of the inn at Bethlehem. Joseph is given a most significant role, and it is the shepherds whose gifts are presented when the Holy Family is revealed.

Genres: Christmas, Plays, Christianity, Drama, Christian

102 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 2011

About the author

The detective stories of well-known British writer Dorothy Leigh Sayers mostly feature the amateur investigator Lord Peter Wimsey; she also translated the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri.

This renowned author and Christian humanist studied classical and modern languages.

Her best known mysteries, a series of short novels, set between World War I and World War II, feature an English aristocrat and amateur sleuth. She is also known for her plays and essays.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy...

Reviews

[Christaaay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful Christmas play about the birth of Christ and how many people on the earth will never pay it any attention. I just reread it for our 2023 Advent readalong.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable Christmas play with some profound words from the wise men in the opening scene. The prologue was also really interesting, as Sayers provided instructions for staging the play to a variety of different groups (theaters, churches, etc.)

A few favorite lines from the Prologue:

"The whole idea in writing it was to show the miracle that was to change the whole course of human life enacted in a world casual, inattentive, contemptuous, absorbed in its own affairs, and completely unaware of what was happening: to illustrate, in fact, the tremendous irony of history."

"I feel sure that it is in the interests of true reverence towards the Incarnate Godhead to show that His Manhood was a real manhood, subject to the common realities of daily life; that the men and women surrounding Him were living human beings, not just characters in a story; that, in short, He was born, not into "the Bible," but into the world."

I did enjoy Sayers's other Christmas play, The Man Born to be King, a bit more.

[Kendalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful premise and what a brilliant execution:

"The whole idea in writing it was to show the miracle that was to change the whole course of human life enacted in a world casual, inattentive, contemptuous, absorbed in its own affairs and completely unaware of what was happening: to illustrate, in fact, the tremendous irony of history."

- Dorothy Sayers in the Note to Producers

[Mariangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Sayers's first radio play, and a clear antecedent to "The Man Born to be King". As good and lively as the rest, it focuses on the inn which was full, to give us a sense of the bustle of life at the time, through all the people from different places and social extraction who gathered there on the night Christ was born.

[Lizzy Tonkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Always fun reading Sayers together, not as deep as The Man Born to be King

[Chrystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inexpressibly beautiful. This touched my heart so very deeply. Sayers has brought the Nativity story to life. I can only imagine what people thought when they heard this play on the radio.

"The whole idea in writing it was to show the miracle that was to change the whole course of human life enacted in a world casual, inattentive, contemptuous, absorbed in its own affairs and completely unaware of what was happening: to illustrate, in fact, the tremendous irony of history."

---Dorothy L. Sayers

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fittingly, read this while the kids did their final rehearsal for the church nativity play (also with a hefty amount of prayer that my son wouldn’t smack anyone with his shepherd’s crook in front of the whole congregation 😉 He did not, and his delivery of his lines marveling about how the Messiah was revealed to a common person like him were delivered with such earnestness and awe, it was absolutely beautiful to see ).

Perhaps this is a little sacrilegious, but this play reminded me of the episode of Community where there is a second storyline of Abed helping a pregnant woman give birth unfolding through glimpses in unrelated background scenes, overshadowed by the typical Greendale drama. Which story are you going to focus on? What gets missed while life is happening?

From Sayers’ introduction to the play: The whole idea in writing it was to show the miracle that was to change the whole course of human life enacted in a world casual, inattentive, contemptuous, absorbed in its own affairs and completely unaware of what was happening: to illustrate, in fact, the tremendous irony of history. It may be found advisable to make this point clear to the actors before they start, lest some preconceptions as to what is or is not “reverent" in a Nativity Play should hamper the freedom of their performance. I feel sure that it is in the interests of a true reverence towards the Incarnate Godhead to show that His Manhood was a real manhood, subject to the common realities of daily life; that the men and women surrounding Him were living human beings, not just characters in a story; that, in short, He was born, not into "the Bible," but into the world. That an audience will take the play in this spirit is proved to me by the various letters I received after the first broadcast. As one man in a country village put it,
"It's nice to think that people in the Bible were folks like us." And another correspondent: "None of us realised before how much we had just accepted the story without properly visualising it. It ... brought home to us as never before the real humanity of Jesus." There will always be a few voices raised to protest against the introduction of
"reality" into religion; but I feel that the great obstacle in the path of Christianity to-day is that to so many it has become unreal, shadowy, "a tale that is told," so that it is of the utmost importance to remind people by every means in our power that the thing actually happened-that it is, and was from the beginning, closely in contact with real life.

I very much enjoyed the interactions between the various inn patrons: a Hellenized Jew, a Pharisee, a centurian, an intellectual Greek scholar, and the merchant who incessantly complains about taxes, and the innkeeper and his wife just trying to keep up with all the chaos. Overall, a different angle on the nativity play, but enlightening and worthwhile. I would love to own a copy, but as it is I had to interlibrary request it from the college of St Thomas’s library in St Paul.

Update: So ha ha, I was telling my husband about this book and its resemblance to the Community episode. He joked, "so, was it like 'What was that??' 'Oh, don't mind that, just some cattle lowing.'" Which is almost exactly a line from the play.

[Chesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play is a treat. Delightful, British-flavored rendition of the nativity story. Witty, profound, surprising.

Excerpt:

All I ask is the assurance that I am not alone,
Some courage, some comfort against this burden of fear and pain.

Fear in the east, fear in the west; armies
And banners marching and garments rolled in blood.
Yet this is nothing, if only God will not be indifferent,
If He is beside me, bearing the weight of His own creation;
If I may hear His voice among the voices of the vanquished,
If I may feel His hand touch mine in the darkness,
If I may look upon the hidden face of God
And read in the eyes of God
That He is acquainted with grief.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Read from Four Sacred Plays

Chiefly concerned with relating the historical and human connection and reality of Christ's nativity at a concrete moment in time peopled with men and women like ourselves concerned with taxes and business and accommodation. A few interesting notes and parallels. Worth the read, especially during Advent.

[Kathryn Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read The Man Born to be King this past Lent season and now He That Should Come during Advent. I really like Dorothy L Sayers' writing and reading her plays around the life of Jesus. All of her notes about her writing process are fascinating and how important it is to engage with the story of Jesus and use our humanity to consider Him as fully God and fully man.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first Dorothy L. Sayers and I’m so glad I finally tried something from her. This play was truly beautiful and I enjoyed every moment of it. I would love to try to read it again because it is a very lovely telling of the birth of Christ. I loved how she set the scenes and all the complexity she added. It had so many different layers to the story and I definitely need to read it again.

[Augusta · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️