On Saturday 28th March, the Haddenham Youth Theatre presented two original plays to packed audiences at the Thame Players Theatre.
"Jurassic Parp" was a fun play on a certain Dinosaur franchise. The Junior group took confidently to the stage, taking the audience on a trip to a nature reserve, finding some mad scientists and some unusual friends on the way. The cast of 12 children from school years 4, 5 and 6, performed brilliantly and with a great sense of humour. They all spoke and sang with confidence, delivering two songs, showing us how "Nature is neat!" and teaching us "How to build a dinosaur".
Cooper and Piper, who played Ranger Fun Guy and Twig Let, led the children, Lex (Brooke), Eli (Jacob), Aly (Jessie) and Jackson (Cameron)through the park to the lair of the hilarious evil scientists, Dr Bunsen and Dr Burna, played by Albie and Aldous. Docent Doris (Antoinette) provided facts and information along their way and Ken (Leon) was hilarious as the security guard who preferred snoozing on a bench to keeping watch. Petra the Parrot (Freya) swooped in at strategic moments, squawking relevant lines of parrot talk.
Amber as Bluey the dinosaur truly delighted the audience as the big reveal at the end, where Docent Doris and Security Guard Ken, saved the day.
A delightfully silly play, further enhanced by the colourful backdrops which visually explained each scene. It was a wonderful performance by an enthusiastic and talented group of children who were clearly having great fun as well as entertaining their audience. Well done to all those involved.
The second play was performed by the senior group, a reimagining of Ovid's Metamorphoses, titled "She Who Was Changed".
The play was led by the three Fates, Clotho (Ceci), Atropos (Bella) and Lachesis (Anna), who strongly narrated stories about five girls from Greek and Roman Mythology. The cast of 13 local young people showed the extent of their performance talents, delivering a range of emotions and tackling some mature themes in the retelling of these myths.
Echo (Maisie), Eurydice (Molly), Medusa (Sophie B), Arachne (Sadie) all sung beautifully as they showed us how these girls were treated in mythology. Pandora (Sophie M) questioned the three Fates and encouraged a re-writing of the endings.
Goddesses Hera, Athena and Aphrodite were played powerfully by Lucie, Flo and Evie. Finley and Alice worked hard as Zeus and Orpheus, and as Hades and Narcissus, changing characters confidently.
I was struck by the maturity of all the performers and their ability to learn and remember so many complex lines. Their dramatic timing was excellent. The play was further enhanced by excellent costumes, makeup and clever stage backdrops.
The committee of Haddenham Youth Theatre is made up of a group of committed volunteers who work hard backstage to run the group. Their work, and the work of the Thame Theatre team, was very much appreciated by the young people on stage. The success and high standards achieved by Haddenham Youth Players would not be possible without the strong leadership of Hannah Austin who supports, nurtures and encourages all the young performers at rehearsals throughout the year. Hannah was presented with a well-deserved bouquet of flowers by one of the young people at the end of the show.
Haddenham Youth Theatre has been supported by a number of other local organisations, including the Rectory Foundation, the Unity Theatre Trust, the Haddenham Beer Festival Trust and the Haddenham masonic lodge.
Francesca Flaxton
A selection of photographs can be viewed in the Galleries section of this website
A much larger portfolio has also been uploaded to the Haddenham Flickr page, principally for the interests of the cast, their families and friends as well as the director and her technical support team. We hope they enjoy them.
Pictures from Jurassic Parp can be viewed here
Images from She Who Was Changed can be viewed here
