Academy Students Give Scrooge Some Christmas Spirit

They sang and danced their way through an enthusiastic performance of ‘Scrooge’, a musical version of ‘A Christmas Carol’, to a packed out assembly hall.

The drama and music departments collaborated on the extra-curricular musical, to give students the chance to be involved in a dramatic performance and develop their singing and dancing skills.

Academy-wide auditions were held in the autumn, with parts going to students from across the year groups. The cast met for after-school rehearsals and during lunch and break-times, where they practiced the song and dance routines in front of scenery specially made by the technology department.

Drama teacher Helen Ashcroft said: “For many students it was their first chance to get involved in a performance like this. Most of our productions up until now have involved mainly GCSE students.

“We did a small scale 'Joseph' last year involving some younger ones and thought we would try to build on that. We found a short musical version of the traditional Christmas tale which we thought would be manageable for students of all ages and they took to it really well, responding with lots of enthusiasm and a definite sense of fun.”

“Some of our Year 10 GCSE Drama students have been involved in the production too, and hopefully it will have helped them gain some really valuable performance skills that they can carry through to their practical exams.

Principal Julie Winterman said: “I am very proud of the students for all the hard work and effort they have put in to making this a really excellent show. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and thought Sam Edwards who played Scrooge did a great job. He came across really well and made the audience laugh on several occasions.

“Although this was primarily an extra-curricular activity, I am extremely impressed with the professionalism with which the performance was delivered and would like to congratulate every student involved for what they have achieved.”

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