January 02, 2014
Back in November, we were thrilled to announce our brand new One Day Panto ‘The Christmas that was Nearly Missed‘. Following the success of many of these workshops which were delivered in the usual One Day Drama style, we finished off the year in Laindon Park Primary School, a fantastic and very welcoming school in Essex.
One Day’s Christmas spirit came bounding into the school for a wonderful week of Pantomime frolics! Our fabulously festive Director Karl quite literally took the reigns, working creatively with the pupils, directing and improvising scenes, and choreographing dances with every child in the school.
Laindon Park is a school with approximately 140 pupils and the idea was that we would work with the school over a number of days, in order to create a magical performance for all parents to round off the school year with a bang. We had the pleasure of working with each year group throughout the week to create our extremely popular ONE DAY CHRISTMAS PANTO! “The Christmas that was nearly missed”, and what an exciting performance it was.
Having worked with class 3, 4 & 5 over the first three days on the drama side of the big performance, we then worked with class 1 & 2 during the morning on day 4, putting together some wonderful Christmassy routines for them to perform in the final play. All parents worked really hard in getting together the fabulous festive outfits for the young performers, which complemented the props and costume which were given our to all lead characters in the Panto.
Stephanie our Artistic Director drove the journey from the One Day office to in Leeds down to Essex to join Karl to take part in pulling the whole show together for parents to come and watch. Steph commented: “What struck me when entering the school was the warmth not only from the staff but the children of Laindon park. It was wonderful to see children share, laugh and care for one another throughout all key stages. The smiles and positive ethos the school exuded, was evidently reflected in the reversals throughout the day and most certainly in the performance itself! Every child worked so hard, they confidently stood on stage and showcased their part with pride. It was such a proud day to be part of all round, for the staff, parents and most importantly for the children. Oh… and not forgetting One Day of course!”
Karl also added “‘My time at Laidon Park Primary has made my Christmas. The pupils were attentive and brilliantly creative, always offering their own ideas as well as improvising some amazing lines. They were supportive of each other, helping one another with the material and exploring ideas on their own, and they loved every second of their performances. The teachers were so helpful, making sure all their students were ready for the performances and supporting them the whole way through. Each student pushed themselves above and beyond my, the schools, the teachers and their own expectations. The show itself went extremely well, and I was impressed at how it improved for their second run. Parents were shocked that the pupils had spent only a few hours with me, that their children had remembered all the blocking, lines, and dances in such a short space of time, and produced a 45 minute play in under a week. This One Week Panto has been one of the most rewarding pieces of work I have ever undertaken and would return to work with this school in a heartbeat.”
What an incredible way to celebrate Christmas in School and we are so pleased to have been a part of Laindon Park’s Christmas celebrations! Check out the fantastic photos of the experience, and also see our Facebook page for a snippet of the action!