Thursday 28th June 2007
The End of Year Show (I'd love to include photos here, but I only took a video, so can't, sorry)
Today is the last full day of the school term. School finishes tomorrow at midday and continues for two whole months!
Tim's still in Singapore so will miss the Reception year's end-of-term performance. Therefore, I promised I will record the entire thing so he can see Rhiannon in action. I have very high expectations after seeing the Christmas concert shortly after we arrived.
The children have obviously been sworn to secrecy about everything to do with the show. We mothers have been trying, subtly to find out what our 'babies' are doing, but to her credit, Rhiannon has told me very little - and she is not known for keeping her mouth shut!
However, a couple of titbits have popped out over the past week or so. She had been a bit sulky about having to wear "boring black" when "everyone else is wearing really pretty costumes". But as far as sulks go, this was pretty minor, so I guessed she was fairly happy with whatever part she'd been given. She also let slip that she "wanted to be a mermaid", but since this was a common refrain at the time I didn't connect it to the show at all. Another peculiar clue was her singing "We Will Rock You" from time to time, which to my knowledge she hadn't heard before.
At the allotted time all the parents traipsed to a hall near the school and took our seats. In the distance, I spotted my lanky daughter crossing the road with her class and sure enough, she was dressed in some sort of tight black jumpsuit. She didn't see me. I made sure I got a front row, but as it happened it was on the wrong side of the stage - I was on audience left and Rhiannon ended up stage left.
Eagerly I scanned the programme to see what part she was playing… an "Illuminous Fish". WHAT???? That is NOT my spelling mistake - that was written on the programme. Doubts start to creep in about the school… anyway, time for that later.
The lights dimmed. Yay!
I hoisted our ancient, enormous camcorder up and pressed go. I didn't expect the show to be so long though, and about halfway through my arm was aching like crazy. I should have bought one of those funky weeny video cameras everyone else was sporting.
The show was entitled "Under the Sea" and I immediately understood why Rhiannon was upset about the coloured costumes. A row of sparkly, shiny mermaids sat along the front of the stage. Rhiannon is obsessed by mermaids (and still is now - 2010!), so I did feel for her. Apparently a single teacher made ALL the costumes for the show; an extremely talented and dedicated lady indeed.
Several small groups of five year olds played skits that all tied together into a loose story. They must have practised hard for ages! And not to tell the parents what they were doing was quite incredible. The music was surprisingly modern (I can't work out why I found this surprising, by the way) - Queen (We Will Rock You - ah!), Massive Attack, Scissor Sisters and many more. There were sharks, oysters (more shiny costumes), lobsters, an octopus narrator and various other sets. Some had speaking parts, but most didn't.
But I still hadn't seen Rhiannon.
Then the narrating octopus announced they were "going deeper"… aha! Perhaps now was the time to see an "Illuminous" fish.
And I was right! The lights went out completely and the first few bars of the Scissor Sisters version of "Comfortably Numb" thrummed out through the speaker system. A spotlight gleamed onto a row of children clad in black, including tight black (sadly unflattering) hoods. The outfits had luminous paint on them and the kids held glowsticks. The audience gasped. How proud was I?!
The first few bars continued to sound… again and again… oh no! The CD had stuck.
True professionals, those kids, they just stayed in their pose until the CD had been sorted out and their display re-started. At one point they all lined up in a single row and one by one fell to alternate sides. Again, the audience gasped in appreciated and a ripple of applause echoed round the hall acknowledging the little ones' skills. And they also got the biggest round of applause of the whole show. And I'm not just saying that - I have it on tape to prove it!
At lunch afterwards, it was roundly acknowledged that the "Illuminous Fish" were the best performance of the bunch.
And the mermaids, although very colourful and pretty, just sat and swung their tails.
Sadly, this was to be the last ever end-of-term show at the school. For some reason future ones were cancelled in favour of music based performances, showcasing the school's extensive spending on the music department. Minor performances moved to very short displays during termly assemblies. Such a shame.
