The show must go on.
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22 / 01 / 2010 | Author: dnorris
The show must go on
This school play deserves to be on Broadway.
That was the opinion of Miss Brunt. She was a veteran of ten end of year school plays and was feeling particularly pleased because for once everyone had worked together to produce a memorable dress rehearsal.
All of the children in the school were involved. This was not difficult because it was in tiny rural school in Kenya where there were only 10 infant children and 8 juniors. But for once there had been no jealousy or squabbling over the casting of the main characters in ‘The Emperor and the nightingale.
The eldest boy had extrovert qualities and also liked to sing. He was given the lead roll, unopposed.
The part of the nightingale had few spoken words and suited the boy with reading difficulties but everone realised that it was a pivotal part, so it helped to bolster his self esteem.
All the children loved singing and as we had the BBC tape and song sheets there was a choral line atmosphere about the impending show.
There were costume parts that seemed to match the dressing up basket to perfection, and three parents had taken dedication and improvisation to new limits for the bird outfits. We even mustered a large piece of canvas to pin up on one wall and painted a copy of the willow pattern plate on it. That was the scenery.
The infant classroom had all the windows blocked out with pieces of cardboard. We had one spot light and some curtains to hide the actors, and just enough chairs to match the number of parents and friends who were expected.
This school play was going to be special.
It was, but not as we expected.
Half an hour before the start time the class room next door was a hubbub of excitement. Most of the children and teachers and mothers and friends were in there getting the children into their costumes.
A little before curtain up time there was an inquisitive plea. “Where’s Ben?”
This after all was Africa so punctuality was not a real issue, but the reply was a little disarming.
“He has run away!”
“Stage fright?”
“No. Ben’s best friend showed his cousin what Ben’s handwriting was like from a book in hiss desk. He ran home then.”
Ben’s home was just across the farm track so he wasn’t difficult to locate. But he was adamant that he wasn’t acting in the play.
His mother couldn’t change his mind. His teacher made less headway as he retreated into his bedroom and refused to budge, so it was left to the head teacher. She showed the negotiating skills of a diplomat and struck a bargain. He could wear his Manchester United shirt in the play if he wanted to.
By now it was an hour after the appointed starting time, but this was Africa where time has a different significance. So the show did go on.
Ben changed his mind again half way through the play and decided that he liked his bird costume after all. It caused a little confusion at first but the mother who had spent hours making it was overjoyed.
As is the way with school plays everyone enjoyed the performance no matter what the quality of acting is like. In this case the acting and singing was exemplary, but the talking point over cups of tea and orange juice was the way the footballer changed into a bird in the middle of the play.
As they say. That’s show business!
