Best gives children plenty of opportunities to try out their new found skills.
End of term showings
At the end of the autumn term families of First Class and Best are invited in for a Christmas showing of the term’s work in progress, or for open classes. This is followed by mince pies and coffee, and a festive, fun-filled time is had by all.
The summer term gives us the chance to try some more stretching things –techniques and styles which may prove a huge challenge. To allay their fears we promise the children they don’t have to show their work to their parents, but usually they want to, and always it is a stunning success.
But naturally our major showcases are the annual shows.
Annual shows - First Class
First Class shows are deliberately kept low key, and are based around well known tales, or stories we have especially written for them. This gives the children every chance to give it a go, and they always end with huge rounds of applause, and many a tear in a parents eye!
Annual Shows - Best
The annual Best productions, uniquely, are designed to give every child something worthwhile to do. This means that we often write shows tailor-made for our schools with loads of great songs, dynamic dances and exciting characters. And by giving every school its own show, rather than cramming hundreds of children on to a single stage in a huge theatre, each produces a show to meet its specific needs. So often different schools produce completely different versions of the same play! No other theatre school makes this kind of commitment.
2009's show 'Histeria!' told the complete history of the British Isles from neolithic times to the present day in just 90 minutes. This gave every group (and every student) plenty of time on stage with loads of characters to play, songs to sing and dances to perform.
If you'd like to see some slides or clips of shows on YouTube...
2009 Histeria! One Vision
2007 Dreamcatcher slideshow
Some pictures from past shows appear below:
