Boys from Pre Prep were in fine voice at their annual Summer Play. There was singing, rapping, dancing and much more as the classic story of Robin Hood and his merry men was performed to a packed audience.
There were fantastic individual performances by PP3 boys: Henry Tear (Maid Marian) Rishin Madan, (King Richard) Jabar Bika (The Sheriff) and not forgetting Robin himself, performed by Barclay Brown. Everyone involved gave their all to the performance, especially poignant as they sang a farewell song to Mr Jones.
Review by Sam Oliver and Jacob Mawson
A Story of Robin Hood
Written and Directed by Mrs Fletcher
with the help of Pre-Prep Staff
Acted by Pre-Prep pupils
The play was to be acted out on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th of June 2008. On Thursday, 20 minutes before the play, crowds reached all the way back to the gate!!! So a huge crowd on both days which meant big expectations and the boys certainly lived up to the crowd’s hopes!
The play is all about a story of Robin Hood written by Mrs Fletcher. As in all Robin Hood stories the story starts with King Richard going off to fight in the wars. When Robin hears that Prince John is taking over the throne while Richard is away he is horrified. John gathers up his men ready to kill Robin. But Robin has different plans. He decides to go into hiding to avoid capture. However the sneaky servant, Worman, tells Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham of Robins plans. While all this is happening, Robin becomes friends with a number of outlaws and, after a funny, convincing rap, becomes friends with Little John too. Maid Marian comes looking for Robin to tell him the amazing news. King Richard the Lionheart is back from the wars. Hooray!
Among the amazing things this show possessed was the clearness of all dialogue and singing. Boys learnt their lines extremely well as a prompter did not have to be used once! Music from the bass guitar, piano and drums was fantastic. The show had 8 songs which some would say are too many. But I believe this really brightened up the show with loud clear voices, fabulous music and fantastic choreography.
Songs included ‘Robin Hood riding through the Glen’, ‘Yesterday’ (including a amazing solo from Henry Tear), ‘Pack up your troubles’ and ‘We could have been anything we wanted to be’.
Comments from the audience were really positive. Mr Hutchins said, ‘That was the best performance I’ve seen anywhere in 3 years!’ Mr Court (Head of Birkdale Senior) commented, ‘The dialogue was clear and the music was fabulous!’ Both Mrs Kavanagh and Mrs Hardy thought the show was amazing and the music and songs were fantastic!
The children and staff alike did really well especially with a fantastic audience behind them. Very well done!
