The Witches

8th June, 2010

With an enormous cast comprising nearly every child in the 4s, 5s and 6s Miss Goulding has produced a spectacular drama adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches with the performances staged in the school theatre last weekend.

The play began with 30 children on stage gradually building up a crescendo of sound and creating a sinister atmosphere which perfectly set the scene for the play and its rather dark subject matter. The book tells the story of evil, bald-headed witches who scour the country on a quest to get rid of all children by turning them into mice or frogs. However they finally meet their match in Boy (played superbly by Sam Bayliss) who despite having been caught earlier by the witches and turned into a mouse, manages to use their magic against them and destroy them all.

There were some outstanding performances from many children in the huge cast - Nick Yeoward and Alex Ainslie were wonderful waltzing waiters, Frank Morris was a particularly vehement and enthusiastic witch, Jack Humphreys and Archie Waterworth were very entertaining and creative chefs (especially in the way they improvised to produce some ‘gravy’!).  Several of the performers had huge speaking parts to master and all were impressively word perfect – Isabella Wythe played Grandma brilliantly, Jessie Hunt was a fearfully menacing Grand High Witch with her creepy sidekick, Sophia Price, and Llyr Heyward-Jones was excellent as Bruno.

This was an exceptional junior play, enhanced as always by the fantastic scenery produced by Mr Dougan and Sir Anthony and by Mrs Jones’ wonderful costumes. There were many other staff and children involved backstage without whom the production wouldn’t have been possible, but most of all enormous credit is due to all of the children, to Miss Goulding and to joint director, Mrs Hann for their dedication, enthusiasm and hard work.