Theatrical look backstage

The Nearly Instant Theatre Session performed Nits Looks Backstage at the Grove School’s Lilley and Stone site when 27 children joined the workshop and devised scenes about working in the theatre.

Drama leader Rebecca Ladds worked with her group on a scene very loosely based on As You Like It.

A ferocious director began the scene by saying that no one was to argue with her and everyone was to do exactly as directed. The acting was dreadful and the stage crew seemed to know very little about working backstage.

The crew were, however, very dramatic and the actors knew a lot about technical theatre. It transpired that the team were so frightened of the director that they hadn’t liked to tell her that the crew were really actors and the actors were the stage crew.

Oscar Morrey led the second group who devised a scene about a touring pantomime. The scene began at the curtain call of Snow White. It was a low budget tour so there was only one dwarf.

A mysterious theatre owner arrived offering them the use of his theatre for free. When they arrived they found the theatre appeared to be haunted and there were all kinds of strange happenings.

The third group were led by Adam Stone. Their sketch told of a very devious stage manager who so disliked the actors in his theatre because they treated him badly that he set out to make them all leave.

The company were to perform Romeo And Juliet only to be told by the stage manager that they had to do High School Musical instead.

Once the new show was in rehearsal he changed the show again to Teletubbies: The Musical causing the angry actors to leave the theatre.

The stage crew then performed a hilarious, two-minute version of Romeo And Juliet — FVS.