PAST SHOWS & REVIEWS

RECENT PERFORMANCES.

‘The Trouble With Mum.’

‘Preparing a Play for Mother’

Mums across Belper will be treated to a special performance from their little angels when children from Long row school present a special Mother’s day treat on Tuesday April 4. The performance, based on Babette Cole’s children’s book ‘The Trouble with Mum’, will be at the school and sees a group of 25 junior pupils get creative with ideas surrounding acceptance and differences. Drama teacher Hettie Robinson said: “The story is all about a little boy talking about his mum who is a witch. None of the other parents will be friends with her until the end of the story when she saves the day by putting out a fire. We have put together a play based on the ideas in the book, a lot of it is about the children imagining what they would say and do if they were the other parents.” The children created invitations, which were slipped into Mother’s Day cards at the weekend.

Belper News

‘Flat Stanley.’

‘Welcome home is not Flat’

There was an unusual reunion at Splitz when globe-trotting paper children returned home. A group of drama students created their own flat children, on paper, and sent them off on a mission to explore the world and to bring back a wide range of information on their travels.
Drama teacher Hettie Robinson said: “We had been reading the children’s book Flat Stanley about all the exciting things that Stanley gets up to when he is flat, such as travelling to California.
“A few weeks after Christmas all the children made their own flat children and posted them off to all sorts of places outside Derbyshire. Some went far afield to places such as Australia and Corsica, others to London.”
The group then staged a flat-child reunion and performance of a play based on Flat Stanley before undoing their children and finding out where they had been.
Hettie said: “I am always amazed at the effort that people put into these. One flat child came back from Australia with a cork hat, one was taken on the London Underground and another came back from Corsica with a baguette and a beret.
“The children then did a little presentation about where their children had been and what they got up to on their travels. They learn all about citizenship and geography as they do this.”

Belper News

The Legend of the Candy Cane

"Drama group tell the story of Christmas."

‘Splitz' dance and performing arts studio was packed full of sweet stories, spiders and highly excited children last week when two drama groups performed a variety of plays and poems. The groups from Long Row Primary School and ‘Splitz' have been working with teacher Helen Robinson to produce ‘The Legend of the Candy Cane' and three Christmas themed poems.

Helen said “The children were buzzing, they really managed to pull it together and were fantastic. For one of the poems, ‘The Noisy Stable' I asked them to put together animal costumes and there were some really great ones including a spider. ‘The Legend of the Candy Cane' tells the Christmas story, with the white stripes representing purity and holiness and the red stripes as the blood that Jesus shed on the cross.”

Belper News

RECENT FUNDRAISERS

Stars in their Eyes

"Look-a-like stars are a big hit!"

Disco divas, comics and crooners took part in a ‘Stars in their Eyes' show to raise money toward the renovation of a local theatre. The talented group of youngsters paid tribute to a selection of well-known bands and performers including ABBA, Frank Sinatra, The Monty Python team and The Corrs. The audience and a panel of judges cast votes and awarded cinema vouchers to the best acts. Director Helen Robinson said ‘It's very much their own show. They have been planning and rehearsing it all by themselves.'

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

BESPOKE DRAMA DAYS

World War II

"Youngsters pack up their troubles in class."

Youngsters at a Blackburn school took a step back in time. Year three pupils dressed in World War Two clothes and staged a play, ‘The Rocking Chair', about life in the 1940s. The play looked at all areas of life in wartime, including rationing, school and air raids. The children also sang wartime songs including ‘We'll meet again' and ‘Pack up your Troubles'. The historical fun was part of a presentation afternoon, which finished off their studies into World War Two.

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

DRAMA WORKSHOP WEEK.

Gifted & Talented

"Stage stars of tomorrow"

School may be out for summer – but budding superstars have been working hard writing and producing their own stage production. Based around the theme ‘Freedom' the fifteen pupils aged from 12 to 15, had just five days to write scripts, learn dance routines and songs and master the technology for lighting and sound effects.

Their work culminated in a performance for a 120 strong audience. Director Helen Robinson said, ‘We invited schools to ask their most talented drama students to get involved. The children have been fantastic and devised their own drama around their experiences and feelings about freedom.'

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

AFTER SCHOOL ACADEMIES

Fleet Arts Centre

"Children Learning with Drama"

A mixture of education and drama will be on offer with new ‘Learning Through Drama' sessions. The sessions are the brainchild of Hettie Robinson, a qualified primary school teacher who had a dream to set up her own theatre company. She is putting her educational background to good use, combining dramatic techniques with learning through fun.

She said ‘The aims and objectives of the sessions are to build confidence and promote self esteem, to encourage cooperation and respect between the children and listening to each other. When you are taking part in drama you can be an actor and a member of the audience.'

Chloe and Sophie Parkin took part in an environmental day that Hettie held in the summer. They said, ‘We played games and did a performance. We had to be a tiger and a turtle and recite some lines. Everyone clapped."

Belper News