THE school nativity play - as much a part of Christmas as turkey and festive carols. For writer and director Debbie Isitt it was something which had so much comedy potential that it led her to create three highly successful movies on the subject.

And now Debbie has turned her attention to the stage and created Nativity the Musical which is at Manchester's Palace Theatre next week.

"It's in its natural habitat," she said. "That's why I thought about doing it. It's a classic story of a bunch of underdogs trying to put on a show, so why not have it in its natural space in the theatre?"

The storyline will be familiar to anyone who has seen the original movie Nativity! - an enthusiastic male primary school teacher getting carried away with the school's annual nativity play as the pupils cause chaos.

"It is basically the story of the first film," said Debbie. "But because it's live, it does change. It's much more theatrical and it's a full blown musical so there are more songs."

The show opened in Birmingham before heading on tour around the country.

"The response we have had has been brilliant," said Debbie. "It seems to be that if you like the film, you love the musical, certainly that's what audiences have been telling us."

Although the grown-ups in the cast are played by highly-experienced stage actors - the cast includes Simon Lipkin and Daniel Boys who have both appeared in the West End - the real stars are the youngsters who play the school pupils.

"They are not experienced stage school kids," said Debbie, "they can just be themselves on stage which is great. They have grown in confidence in performing every night but we have had to teach them all these technical things. They are still very innocent."

And just like school nativities the land over, anything is possible on the night.

"The children are hilarious," said Debbie. "Something different happens every night, things go wrong in a way they do in any nativity play.

"Even though this is lavish professional production things happen. A baby doll went flying into the pit the other night and hit a musician on the head. You can't script that but it brought the house down."

There are certain directors you feel who would not cope well facing the unknown every night but Debbie is clearly in her element.

"It is a bit like fighting fires," she said. "No sooner have you tackled one thing something else crops up. It's addictive for me as I can't wait to see what happens next. I love the spontaneity of it.

"If it was a serious drama it would be different but because it's comedy, it keeps it live."

Debbie was inspired to write Nativity by her own experiences.

"When I was little, I was brought up Catholic so the nativity at our school was definitely the most important event of the year. Then we went to watch my daughter in school shows over the years and the idea just grew

"She did have a male primary school teacher and there was something funny about that; him trying to pull off this thing where parents are so competitive and the kids could not be controlled. I thought it would be great to blow it up into something and that was it."

Nativity the Musical, Palace Theatre, Manchester, Wednesday, November 29 to Sunday, November 3. Details from 0844 871 3019 or www.atgtickets.com/manchester