Year 3 Take to the Stage with The Egg Theatre

Year 3 were spoiled rotten last Thursday with an incredible day of drama. During the morning, the children welcomed specialist drama practitioner, Sam, from the egg theatre, into school to work with each Year 3 class. The theme of the day was Five Children and It by E. Nesbit, the egg theatre’s Christmas Show (which was sponsored by KES).  

During the workshop, Sam taught the pupils five top tips for acting such as ‘land your lines’ and ‘come downstage’. He did this by demonstrating how not to act and then fantastic volunteers from Year 3 showed the rest of the children how to do a better job! Once Year 3 had learned the top tips, they were introduced to the characters from the story. The children had to move around the hall in different ways for the different characters (thinking about speed, lightness of tread and direct versus indirect travel). There were some direct and gentle Cyrils, some indirect and aloof Janes, and some mischievous and fast Roberts in the hall that day! The children even managed some multi-roling as they had to morph from one character into another. Finally, the workshop ended with a funny game which had the pupils in stitches and which the Year 3 teachers have been sneaking into other lessons ever since!

In the play, my favourite characters were It and Robert. I enjoyed acting these parts in the morning and then watching other actors play the same parts in the afternoon. (Helena)

In the afternoon, Year 3 then set off to The Egg to watch a fantastic performance of Five Children and It. The children were mesmerised from the start as they were introduced to the eccentric and captivating Psammead who could grant wishes. The play told the story of how five children, all with their individual characters which the children had learned about that morning, discovered the Psammead and then wished for wonderful things like golden coins and wings. As the story unfurled, the Year 3s in the audience were sprayed with golden confetti and colourful feathers. Songs and music engaged the pupils further and the Year 3s really felt for the characters when the wishes didn’t end well. 

I really enjoyed watching the play and my favourite character was the Psammead. I found him really funny; I was laughing all the way through! (Harry)

During the interval, the children were discussing their favourite characters and were explaining to their teachers how they had noticed the actors demonstrating the five top tips from the workshop. Throughout the second act, the children laughed, smiled and empathised until the story came to its ending. Overall, it was a fantastic day, the pupils learned a huge amount and there was a babble of discussion all the way back to school about what they would have wished for from the Psammead. Invisibility powers, talking with animals and world-class sporting prowess were mentioned by Year 3 but what would you wish for?

Thank you to the egg theatre for a wonderful show and workshop beforehand!

Miss Atkinson, Year 3 Teacher.