Years ago, when I was at Primary School, the Christmas performance usually involved wearing a dressing gown, putting a tea towel on my head and pretending to watch invisible sheep – but, these days, things have changed. The performance of Dear Father Christmas, by the year 1 and 2 pupils of Manor Primary School, is an all singing-all dancing, full blown festive extravaganza.
As the house lights dim and the stage lights shine bright, Poppy and Fynn, our narrators, take to the stage to introduce the proceedings. We are looking into Santa’s house on the night before Christmas as last minute preparations are being made for Santa’s imminent departure but he still has some letters to read in order to fulfil everyone’s wishes.
The remaining letters are delivered to Santa by Postman Pat (Aaron) who, together with Mrs Goggins (Tegan) and her dog Bonnie (Peter), stays for a spot of hot chocolate and some cake while Santa sees who has been writing him letters.
The first letter is from a group of pirates, led by Edgar and William, and featuring Oliver, Grace, Zoe, Ashton, Keiran, Archie and Harvey H, who make a very noisy entrance before asking for new swords, cannonballs, gunpowder and, for a very fussy pirate a Kath Kidston sleeping bag!
As the pirates didn’t make it onto the “nice” list, Santa decides that the sleeping bag and some chocolate doubloons will have to do and his, very clumsy, team of Elves (Tia, Miya, Alfie, David, Jack, Sidekick Elf Sophie and Chief Elf Wyllow) get the items ready to load on the sleigh.
Buzz (Michael) and Jessie (Amelie) from Toy Story reveal that they would like an opportunity to “realise their potential” by heading to Uckfield Community Technical College so Santa gives them the blue blazers that they will need.
Manor Primary’s headteacher, Mrs Coleman, is the sender of the next request, for a spotty tea set, although, after those clumsy elves have finished with it, her 16 piece tea set turns into a set of hundreds of smashed pieces!
To calm the clumsy elves down, Santa lets them do their party dance and, with Pharrell Williams worldwide smash hit Happy as backing, the dancing elves show us some great moves. Ethan, Flynn, James, Tia, Miya and Gary really “shake it” and Freddie does particularly well in his solo spot.
There are still more letters to get through before time runs out and next we meet Paddington Bear, played by Joey, who asks, very politely, for a huge pot of Marmalade and then Chloe C, Alisha, Elissa, Aly, Leah and Chloe W, all dressed in beautiful Princess dresses arrive to request some new Jimmy Choo shoes.
The final group to make their Christmas requests are the Superheroes. In a huge variety of easily recognisable hero costumes, Peter, Levi, Harry, Joshua, Kelvin, Samuel, Bradley and Declan make their requests and there is a very heart felt plea from Harvey E, who needs a new pair of pants because his elastic has broken!
As Father Christmas leaves to tend his reindeer before they depart, Mother Christmas makes a request of her own. She asks the Chief Elf if there is any chance of making it snow for Santa, as he just loves the snow. With the help of the Snow Queen, played by Isabella, and Sophie, Charlotte, Tegan, Lexie, Jasmine, Georgia, Cerys, Nell and Kayleigh as the Snow Dancers, Mother Christmas gets her wish and Father Christmas is delighted.
Just before he leaves Father Christmas invites his friends Elsa (Sophia) and Anna (Keira) from Frozen to lead the singing of Let it Go and, with more and more of the cast joining in with every line, and a signing choir showing off the superb skills, the song just gets bigger and bigger – until the whole cast join in to blast out the last chorus.
Father Christmas and Mother Christmas are played by Leon and Fern and both do a truly terrific job. Its amazing how two children, who are so young, can remember so many lines, and deliver them so confidently. They are on stage for almost the entire show and they keep the plot-line moving along very nicely.
Of course, the success of the show depends heavily on the teachers and teaching assistants who work with the classes to ensure that they are well rehearsed and, with Dear Father Christmas, it is very obvious that a huge amount of work has gone in to the preparation.
Having been given the chance to play Pirates, Princesses, Superheroes and the other, very popular, children’s characters, it is very obvious that the pupils absolutely love playing their roles and, as a result, they deliver a very entertaining Christmas production which makes a fantastic introduction to the festive season.
***** Five Stars
