SCHOOL CONCERT

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXX, Issue 4874, 23 July 1936, Page 5

SCHOOL CONCERT

EMPRESS THEATRE PACKED.

FINE PLAYS AND CHORUSES.

The Empress Theatre was packed to the doors by the audience when the school concert was presented last evening. The programme, which consisted of short plays, and choruses, was very much appreciated by the audience. The work of the young children in some of the plays was particularly popular—they acted their parts with a gravity and interest that won them much applause, and even the “ tiny tots’ ” words could be heard clearly. The evening commenced with the singing of “John Peel” and “Bells of St. Michael’s Tower” by the Standard V choir. The plays of the tiny tots were heard next. These were, “The Lost Fairy,” enacted by Primer I; “Pooh Goes Visiting,” by Primer III; “The Old Woman in the Shoe,” by Primer II; and “The Surprise,” by Standard I. The work of the young children appealed greatly to the audience, and though it would be difficult to draw comparisons, one patron appeared to hit the nail on the head when he remarked, “The younger they are the better the audience like them.”

Items by the Standard IV choir, “Fair Shines the Moon To-night” and “Jennie Jones,” were, as the other choruses, a revelation in balanced singing. Just before the interval Standard II pupils presented a scene from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Topsy and Eva.” The three players in this are to be congratulated on what was, despite their youth, a very polished scene.

After the interval a further three plays were given by the higher standards. There were, “Princess So and So,” by Standard 111, and two plays by Standard V pupils, “The Pot o’ Broth” and “The Princess and the Woodcutter.” All there were very much appreciated by the audience. The first told of the princess who had to marry whoever guessed her name, and how the fairies helped the prince to do this by placing veronica before him while he slept, second was a different type—of a resourceful rogue fleeing from justice who, by artful cajolling enveigles a mean and superstitious woman to give him broth, while the third told how a woodcutter came to win the hand of a princess. Choir singing by Standard VI, ‘The Ash Grove,” and “The Shepherd’s Song,” and that of the High School choir in “Oh, Who Will O’er the Downs” and “Hail, Smiling Morn!” delighted the audience —the balance and effect in the difficult part-singing was particlarly fine. It is anticipated that as a result of the concert the funds of the school will benefit by about £2O.