Jump to reviews on this page: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Hoodwinked

Perfect Pirates

On  Friday 7th March J2 performed a play called Perfect Pirates. Everybody in J2 took part in this and each of us said at least 1 line. We all wore a unique costume which was relevant to our part. I wore a gold waistcoat, a white shirt, black trousers and a pirate’s hat- without the skull and crossbones. Our story is set in the 18th century when piracy was at its peak. There were 7 scenes in our play and in each of them several characters said some or all of their lines.

At the start of the show Anne Bonny gets annoyed with her husband James because he has been on a voyage and returned to his wife with nothing. Then James comes with the idea that he should turn in some of his pirate friends so that they can live off the reward. Anne is shocked and totally disagrees with James, but James decided to do it anyway. Bessie, Old Tom and Young Walter who work in the tavern are horrified when they see this happen and are even more so when Captain Barnet pays James for doing this. Anne goes and sulks and her friends come to try and comfort her. After this has happened Calico Jack comes to have a drink and tells her why she should join his ship. Anne is delighted and accepts the offer immediately in hope of leaving her fiendish and devious husband behind.

After Calico Jack has taken Anne on board he tells Anne and the rest of his crew that they are heading for Isla Del Diablo- which means Devil Island in Spanish! The rest of his crew aren’t very enthusiastic about this, but when Calico Jack tells them that there is buried treasure, plenty of senoritas and that he has a map they are raring to go!

When James hears that his wife has joined Calico Jack’s crew he is furious and he reports Calico Jack to the governor in hope of getting his wife back and getting Calico Jack arrested. After he has left, Mr Hangham-Hiye [Governor’s assistant] and Lily Smythe [Governor’s Secretary] tell Governor Woodes Rodgers that between themselves they have discovered that Calico Jack and Captain Blackbeard are both heading for Isla Del Diablo in the Caribbean sea. The Governor is amazed and immediately calls Captain Barnet into his office to tell him this and to order him to set off in hot pursuit of Calico Jack and Blackbeard!

After Captain Barnet has gathered together his crew, he tells them of his plan to capture Calico Jack and Captain Blackbeard. Many of his crew know of Blackbeard’s fierce reputation and they try to back out of it, but then Captain Barnet tells them that if they capture Calico Jack and Blackbeard they will share two thousand gold coins between them and they are willing to go!
Captain Barnet and Calico Jack have set off for Isla Del Diablo. Meanwhile elsewhere in the Caribbean Sea Captain Blackbeard is also trying to locate the island. He and his crew have been at sea for many weeks and they are desperate to reach dry land. His crew start to moan about themselves having bad wives back in Blighty and that they are desperate to catch a glimpse of the peace loving native senoritas on the island!

After Captain Blackbeard has arrived at Isla Del Diablo, he is greeted by the three senoritas that live on the island. He asks them where the treasure is buried and just as he is about to be given it Calico Jack arrives to try and get the treasure for himself. They make an agreement that after the fiesta on the island they will share the treasure equally. Everything seems to be going well, but halfway through the fiesta Captain Barnet and his crew turn up at the party to spoil everything. Captain Barnet captures Calico Jack, but Captain Blackbeard manages to sneak away. Captain Barnet is infuriated when the senoritas tell him this and he is even more annoyed when they don’t tell him where the treasure is buried. He threatens to behead them and reluctantly they tell him where it is. Success at last!

The final scene shows the triumphant Captain Barnet back in the UK and Calico Jack and his crew in prison ready to face the hangman’s noose!

Thank you Miss Anderson for organizing our play. We enjoyed it very much.

Matthew Thompson 2D

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

The King's Junior School put on an exciting production of C.S. Lewis's classic adventure, ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'.

This was no easy feat as the cast was a massive seventy two eager children… and the play needed to be put on in just three and a half weeks. Tough!

However the cast managed to stay optimistic – Laura Johnson said, “Even though rehearsals started off with little progress I knew that our cast and Director had the enthusiasm to carry it off well….” This was the general feeling among the children and soon rehearsals started to kick off.

The production carried on improving but the Dress Rehearsal in front of the rest of the Junior School went much better than expected. Somehow the children adjusted to the lights and sound (something we had not previously rehearsed with) amazingly. Mrs Gibson, the Director, said, “The performance really went up a notch.”

Laura Johnston, an owl in the production, has shared a diary entry about The Dress Rehearsal with us:

Dear Diary

Dress Rehearsal
Today we had to do the dress rehearsal. It was quite an experience. We had to perform the play in front of the whole school – we had never performed in front of an audience before or used light and sound effects! However, I think it turned out to be a great success and the players enjoyed showing off their skills to a clearly entertained audience. Suddenly I thought about all of the rehearsals – they had certainly paid off! I then had a burst of pride – to think that a group of 4th years could put on a play (in just three weeks) that could make the rest of the school sit with their mouths open in awe. I came home to find my sister amazed – it had definitely exceeded my expectations. Now I can't wait until my parents see the play tomorrow, I wonder what they'll think?!

L. C. Johnston J4A

Soon the first performance dawned upon the cast and before they knew it, it was time for scene one!

The outstanding Act 1 told the audience the tale of the Pensevey children - bombs are raining down on London and Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, the Pensevey children, are evacuated to the safe countryside. The situation seems dreadful but things start to look up when they realise that they have been evacuated to a large country mansion! They search for adventure but when little Lucy has a peek in an antique wardrobe she finds adventure where she least expects it….

Act 1 ended dramatically with Edmund disappearing, leaving the audience feeling tense!

After a relaxing interval, the audience came back to watch the second half of the play. It started with a bang and Aslan, the lion, was introduced. Soon the White Witch and her followers created havoc and the atmosphere was again tense. After excruciatingly sad scenes, the battle scene began. This was accompanied by an, as ever, amazing band and lively score of music.

The play was a magnificent success and a major thank you to:

The Cast, The Band, The Light and Sound effects, Mrs Roberts the Musical Director and finally Mrs Gibson the Director.

Libby Parry-Hughes and Laura Johnston J4A

Hoodwinked

Gallery of photos

On Friday 23rd March, the whole of J2 performed a play called ‘Hoodwinked’. It was about two men, Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Robin Hood loves Maid Marian but the Sheriff doesn’t want this to happen. This is how the journey began.

2G, 2A and 2D all had half a day to have a break from all the rehearsals. After about a five hour break, we all came back to school at 6.20 pm with our make-up on (foundation, lip gloss, eye shadow and blusher). We quickly got dressed into our outfits and jewellery and then watched ‘Robin Hood’ on video. It was then time to line up and lead off into the hall. At first I didn’t think anyone was nervous but then when we saw how many people were there we were terrified. 
It was finally time to start the play. I could see lots of people in my class were shaking. Mrs Roberts played all of the pieces that were played in the play. My favourite scene was when the ladies were all in Marian’s room and when Marian stole the key to save Robin. My favourite songs were ‘We are Maid Marian’s Ladies’ and ‘I’ll Make Them Pay’. 

We were all very happy with the play and we hope that everyone who watched it enjoyed it too.

Isabel Dawson (J2G)

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