The second annual Year 4 / Year 5 Christmas production announced the festive season with style and panache, taking Charles Dickens’ classic novella “A Christmas Carol” as the starting point for their take on the musical “Bah Humbug!”. Having learnt how wealthy Victorians often paid an actor to come to their house at the end of a dinner party to read aloud to the full-bellied guests, the pupils wanted to use this as their concept for their production, and so the idea of  Erin, our fabulous actor playing Scrooge, reading aloud to the cast in their pyjamas as an opening scene was established. We thought of the whole play as “A Midwinter’s Night Dream”!

Rehearsals were great fun, with lots of enthusiastic singing right from the start. Confidence was built as we worked on vocal and physical expression together, and learnt about the importance of being in the right spot on stage so that the audience would always get the best possible view. Characterisations grew more exaggerated and sure as the weeks went by, and the absolute joy from the cast when a scene went really well for the first time was such a buzz!

There was an added element of fun and challenge this year; a group of four Year 5 pupils who worked on designing and operating all elements of lighting and stage management. They learnt the technical aspects quickly and were able to discuss their ideas using the correct terminology; impressive stuff!

To view all of the photos taken of the play please click on the link below.

Performance night quickly rolled round and, with a few (very) small hiccups in the daytime performance in front of the school earlier that day, the whole cast were absolutely desperate to make sure they were all focused and full of energy to wow the audience. Happily, they delivered an absolutely fantastic show! Their final performance could not have gone any better: voices were clear; songs were hearty; scene changes were smooth; whole cast numbers were slick; the lighting was spot-on and the audience loved it! The whole cast left the stage with whoops and shrieks of pride, and the “hip hip hoorays” could have gone on all night. A number of pupils asked if we could please, please, please perform it just one more time – the end of a good show is always tinged with sadness that it’s all over – but in terms of pupil confidence and enjoyment, what more could you ask for?