Chapter Five: The Show Must Go On. The theatre comes to school

For some people the circus comes to town, however the second Arts Week of the year saw the theatre come to Riversides School and with it came smiles, laughter, melodramatics and applause (along with and a few dabs of well-placed glitter and some neon feathers).

The welcoming music faded out, the lights dimmed, Mr Kloda finally stopped rustling his bag of Haribo Fangtastics and the students (and staff!) stepped out of the wings and into the limelight.

Characters become unrecognisable as the mask-making began and rumour has it there were bears, wolves and goats on the loose in the primary corridor.

Like true thespians the students turned their hands to many roles throughout the week and immersed themselves in making masks, sock puppets and ‘theatres in a box’. Some light-hearted students spotted the similarities of their classroom to a theatre and produced a mini set based upon it complete with characters and quotations. Students made props, promotional posters and tickets and some tried their hand at being centre stage by acting, narrating and stepping into role of sound technician.

As the students and staff took a bow, an uproar of applause could be heard in the playground for the production of The Princess Who Was Not Impressed (A Very Opinionated Pea Story). Mr Fenner wiped a tear from his eye as he sang the last words of praise whilst Mrs Hill was still unable to speak from the shock at seeing Mrs Blythe’s bossier side make an appearance.

The week gave everyone at Riversides School an opportunity to develop their creative, communication and collaborative skills and will certainly be a performance that will be talked about for years to come – who knows – maybe Theatre Week will become a resident production in the Riversides School calendar.