Year 3 and 4 production of The Jungle Book
Posted on: May 24th 2023School News
Every Junior School pupil in years 3 and 4 at The Manchester Grammar School performed The Jungle Book across two evenings in mid-May in front of a live audience of parents and family members, staff and pupils.
The Jungle Book tells the story of Mowgli, a child raised in the jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him to leave the jungle before the tiger Shere Khan arrives.
Year 4 pupil Henry had a leading part in the production and spoke about his experiences of performing: “I really enjoyed the years 3 and 4 performance of The Jungle Book. From the songs to the props and costumes, it was an incredible show. When I first auditioned for the role, I was not sure what all the parts were. I had seen the Jungle Book film and cartoon, so I knew some of the main characters like Baloo and Mowgli. The version we did at school was a little different to the film and there seemed to be more characters in the play. This was brilliant as lots of us had the chance to sing, dance and say lines on the stage. I didn’t know much about my character Shanti when I first was given the role but it was a really enjoyable part with singing, narration and some interesting lines of dialogue. I loved that Shanti was involved throughout the whole show and I interacted with many different characters which was great fun.
“At times I was concerned about my singing role but Miss Shercliff was encouraging and very kind to me. She took time to help me rehearse and I am very grateful. Having a microphone made singing the solos easier, as I could focus on the pitch and notes and not just singing loud enough for everyone to hear. The rehearsals with Miss Aspinall were very important to allow us to prepare for performing on stage in front of so many people and also when to enter and exit the stage from different sides. Miss Aspinall put on extra sessions after school which was really helpful and much appreciated. This made sure everyone knew what to do, when to do it and helped make the show as good as it could possibly be”.
Henry concluded by saying the following words: “Over the two nights I was really proud of our performances and lots of parents and relatives have been really positive about how well we all did. What a wonderful show it was!”
Year 3 pupil Guanzhen had his first appearance performing on the MGS drama stage and said: “I loved performing in front of a gigantic audience; there was an exciting atmosphere. Once we started, I felt very nervous indeed, as I was worried about making a mistake. Although that did happen, it did not affect the show. I really liked the moments when the audience had a little giggle because that meant the show was going well. Thank you to Miss Aspinall, Miss Shercliff, Miss Dunham, year 6 pupil Ethan who played on the drums, the tech & lighting team, our form tutors and all the teaching assistants. I really enjoyed performing to an audience, especially as my dad was there to watch me. I think a lot of my friends feel the same way. By the middle of the performance, I remembered that Miss Shercliff was there to help and assist us. I forgot about feeling nervous and began to feel more involved in the show, so much so that it felt like it was really happening. I thoroughly enjoyed my first time performing at MGS as part of a show”.
Year 3 pupil Jai also made his first debut on the stage and commented: “The show was a great success; it was filled with extraordinarily detailed sets and lighting, colourful costumes and fantastic actors. Everybody sang extremely well and really brought the story to life on stage. Each of the main characters spoke and sang with great confidence: I thought that the snake (Kaa) had a great speech and the extra ‘sss’ sound was a stroke of genius. From my perspective, all of the characters were performed to a very high standard but particularly the following. King Louis, the vultures, and Baloo were all hilarious and Bagheera was played to perfection. Mowgli was outstanding from start to finish. Shanti’s solos were out of this world. The songs included: ‘The Jungle Prologue’, ‘Bare-necessities’, ‘Monkey business’, ‘Night into day’, ‘Colonel Hathi’s march’, ‘Baloo the bear’, ‘I wanna be like you’ and ‘Bare-necessities (finale)’ and my favourite song was ‘I wanna be like you’ because it was so lively! The playful monkeys really made the song come to life…”
Jai added: “The audience was very engaging and appreciative. They applauded after every scene and song and even clapped along to the ‘Bare-necessities finale’ and beyond…The directors, backstage staff and accompanying musicians worked hard at orchestrating such a well-rehearsed performance. The year 6 drummer Ethan was particularly impressive! The Jungle Book play was very fun to be part of. I played the part of an elephant, who was in Colonel Hathi’s army. I enjoyed putting on my costume and stomping whilst dancing on the stage. To sum up, everybody was absolutely marvellous”.
Thank you to Henry, Guanzhen and Jai for their write-ups about the performances and well done to all of the Junior School pupils who performed!
