Blog: Creating opportunities to perform

I’ve had the pleasure this week of seeing all three of the Pre-Prep Nativity plays.

There were so many things to admire including the singing, the acting, the dancing, the costumes and the make-up. Children waved at their parents from the stage; parents and grandparents just couldn’t stop smiling; mums and dads flicked back the tears; they were truly joyous occasions. Chatting to parents afterwards we were marvelling at seeing such young children perform with such confidence and enthusiasm. It really is an amazing thing. And it wasn’t just one or two star performers, but all the children performing and, what’s more, appearing to enjoy the limelight.

I don’t know how many takers we would get for a parents’ nativity play, and I can assure you that we have no plans to have one! But it is sad that at some point, maybe in the middle of teenage inhibitions, this universal enjoyment of performing can disappear, sometimes never re-emerging. I watched my daughter, aged 13, this weekend in a production of Bugsy Malone. As she is about to leave Prep School I have to wonder if it will be her final play. In later years performing seems to become the preserve of the professionals, the ‘am-drams’ or the karaoke crooners.

This isn’t going to change, but it is one of the reasons why we need to create and celebrate as many opportunities as possible for children to act and perform.  It is too easy to give this up too soon and childhood should be about creating positive memories and experiences. I performed in three nativity plays and still remember my parts (for the record, I was Joseph, a shepherd, and a currant-bun). I love the fact that I can still remember that and I hope that the children in this term’s productions will remember their parts when they’re my age.

Of course, some might become professional actors or singers in the future, but that doesn’t really matter. What really matters is the memories to come and the pure enjoyment of the moment.

Colin MacIntosh
Headmaster