Festival of Plays
At the end of the summer term, 2010, parents and pupils were treated to two fantastic productions put on by Junior Prep and Senior Prep.
Peter Pan
Watching the Year 5 to 8 performance of Peter Pan was a real treat as the show was exciting, adventurous and funny. One of our favourite scenes in the play was the mermaid scene because we thought it was very realistic when they were swimming in the sea, the blue fabric ‘sea’ was very effective. We also found the pirate scene very funny when the pirates all agreed and put their hands into the middle. When Captain Hook put his hook into the middle, the pirates all jumped! The part where Captain Hook was eaten by the crocodile was also very funny. We had many favourite characters. We liked the way Peter Pan, played by William Lemans, had lots of expression in his voice and really believed in his part. Tinkerbell was very well played by Hannah Gibb because, although she did not speak, we enjoyed the sound effects and we loved her sparkly costume with its gold leotard and yellow and purple puffy skirt. She was a naughty, cheeky fairy! We also thought Alex Lees, who played Captain Hook, was a very good actor. The scenery was well designed because it changed according to the surroundings needed for each scene and it felt like you were really there. Many of us liked the nursery scene with the children’s beds because it looked very realistic. We enjoyed the songs and the music, especially ‘We are the champions’ and ‘Rich, rare cake’. We were very impressed with the show and thought it was great because the whole group must have worked really hard at it.
Year 4 (collaborative effort)
Wilbur and the Web
This is a play based on the children’s book Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White. It is set on an American farm. A pig has a litter of piglets. One of them is a runt and is smaller than the rest. The farmer, Mr Arable, is going to kill it but his daughter, Fern, persuades him not to. The runt, Wilbur, is kept at her uncle’s farm. He is looking for someone to play with but everyone is too busy. Then he hears a voice from high up telling him she would be his friend and that she would see him in the morning. Wilbur finds out that his new friend is a spider called Charlotte. Wilbur is well fed but when he finds out that he is going to be eaten he gets very frightened. Charlotte spins the words “Some pig” into her web. Mr Arable thinks it’s a miracle and does not eat him, so Charlotte writes other words such as “terrific” in her web, and Templeton, the rat, finds the words for her. Wilbur gets taken to the county fair and Charlotte goes along, with Templeton. She wants to spin a different word into her web so Templeton finds the word “humble”. Another pig, Uncle, wins first prize but Wilbur gets his own special prize and is safe for the rest of his life. Charlotte dies and Wilbur has to take home her eggs. When the eggs hatch Wilbur is happy again.
Richard Molyneux 7B
It was a very good performance. I found the acting was very good, especially Tom Lemans as Templeton, but everyone spoke clearly and loudly. The ribbon dance by Isobel Evans was exceptionally good and Templeton’s saxophone part was played effectively by Max Glowacki while Tom Lemans mimed. The most amusing dance was the gosling dance and my favourite character was the goose played by Millie Atkins as she was very funny and played her part really well. The props, particularly the hay bales, gave a barn-like feeling to the stage and I thought the spider’s costume was particularly well made. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and hoped the cast enjoyed acting it as much as I enjoyed watching it.
Anna Bussell 7B
Charlotte’s rap was cool! The singing was very strong and you could hear every word. Charlotte’s costume was very interesting. I liked the way the legs were attached to Daria Dehghani’s real arms which allowed her to move all eight legs realistically.
Toby George & Matthew Larter 7B
Well done to all the Years 3 and 4 for putting on a great show and to Mrs Quinton and Mrs Dishington for putting the play together.
Lauren Lyddiatt 7B
Caterpillar Boogie
In the week before half term, Nursery, Transition and Reception put on a play called Caterpillar Boogie. The play was about how caterpillars turn into a butterfly and the science of the cocoon. This was shown by beautiful dances and music throughout the show. There was a particularly good scene showing the butterfly coming out of the pupa. Haddy Billen, Sienna and Naomi Müller were butterflies. Claudia Harvey was a bird. I thought they all did extremely well to remember all their lines and songs. Some children even had to sing solos. They all spoke very clearly and sang beautifully. The music was extremely catchy. The costumes were well designed with lots of detail and also gave you an indication of what parts they were playing, for example the birds’ costumes gave you a good idea of the feathers. There were some good sound effects too. Overall I think it was a very good performance considering they are only aged from three to five years old. I enjoyed it very much and they all looked very cute!
Olly Dyball 7P & Lauren Lyddiatt 7B
Red Riding Hood in Fairyland
On 24th May we watched Year
s 1 and 2 perform their play Red Riding Hood in Fairyland which was about Red Riding Hood, played by Charlotte Gibbons, wandering through a forest observing the fairytale characters as she went to visit her Gran to give her some treats. It was set out like a pantomime so the audience got evolved in the slapstick scenes and the cheering and booing. The costumes were spectacular with different materials used such as silk and fur for the wolf and bears.
The music was surprisingly advanced for their age as there were violins, flutes and trumpets and xylophones being played. The songs were well sung and included lots of popular nursery rhymes such as Little Boo Peep, Jack and Jill, Little Boy Blue, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary and Little Miss Muffet. The children acted confidently for six and seven-year-olds and fortunately no lines were forgotten. The children acted the roles of their characters amazingly, especially Tom Chappell, playing the wolf, who stood out for me. The props, such as the flowers, the batons of the policemen and a tree which had green, leaf-shaped lights attached, were simple yet effective. The scenery was also very well designed, drawn and painted creating a pretty village setting with a decorative 3D dragonfly hung from the roof. In my opinion ‘Red Riding Hood in Fairyland’ was a sensational production full of good costumes scenery and songs with easily identifiable characters and a creative and imaginative plot. I would like to thank Mrs Newlin, Mrs Dishington and the children for this most enjoyable production.
Danielle Dopson 7P
I liked the play, Red Riding Hood in Fairyland, because it managed to combine lots of different fairy tales into the story of Red Riding Hood walking down a path in the woods, visiting her grandmother. I liked how they played their own music and their level of playing was great for their age. When they were doing the three little pigs story, the actors making the brick house were funny because during the song when they said the house was strong the actors held up their arms and flexed their muscles as if to say ‘look how strong I am’.
Max Dooley 7P