Rosendale School's : SSF SHOW

Congratulations to all the children who performed "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Shakespeare Schools Festival on Monday November 11th at the Secombe Theatre, Sutton alongside three other South London schools. It was the first time Rosendale has taken part in the largest drama festival in the UK and we did our school proud. The children gave a fantastic performance and looked amazing! They seemed unphased by the 300 audience members. Congratulations messages have been coming in all week to the theatre club email from parents and teachers. The children were all brilliant.

The only primary school performing on the night, the SSF team were particularly impressed by the quality of our performance and understanding of the text. As one of the schools in the festival with not only the largest and youngest cast but the shortest rehearsal time, the standard was incredible. The SSF were especially stunned by our knowledge of Shakespeare - apparently thanks to our theatre trips, Rosendale primary school children also know Henry V!

Thank you to all the children, parents and teachers who worked so hard and gave up so much time to participate - the show was fabulous! Thank you too to all the teachers and parents who came along on the night to support us. And good news - we will perform the show again in the next few weeks so everyone can get a chance to see it. More details to follow shortly!

And now for the Oscar ceremony bit. Special thank yous (in largely chronological order) go to:

Claire Hitchcock (secondary school teacher and Mum in the PTA) - who came up with the whole inspired idea of theatre club. Claire introduced me to Amanda Caswell Robinson, Mum and professional drama teacher, who agreed to give up lots of her time to direct the show.

The PTA - who have been encouraging throughout

Kate Atkins (headmistress) and Olga Droogleever (head of creative arts) - who have been incredibly supportive of us taking part in the SSF and theatre club generally

Amanda Caswell Robinson - amazing drama teacher and director who has guided our large cast and short rehearsal time through the whole process with experienced ease

Agni Handy (mum and professional actress), Sophie Lavender and Rosie Unwin (teachers at Rosendale) - who have all given up lots of their time to give invaluable support, assistance and professional expertise during the rehearsal and performance process

Flora Patten (Mum and art teacher) and Helen Firminger (Mum) - who together created the amazing costumes/props (the very first thing the SSF praised on the night!) and ensured everything went smoothly on the night

Linda Ara (Mum and professional window dresser) - who created Oberon and Titania's striking crowns

Lyn Robinson - of the Secombe Theatre - who calmly dealt with our complicated seating requirements

And last but not least - Melanie Grossenbacher and all the SSF team - they really did help and guide us every step of the way!

And now for some photos. Unfortunately we were not allowed to video or take photos during the performance so these were all taken in foyer/back stage but hopefully it shows not only how amazing the costumes were but also an insight into the level of excitement!

Getting into costume. Shadow, Theseus and Philostrate....