Lower School Production - Review

Having never read Michael Murporgo's work before watching Private Peaceful on the 14^th of July, I can honestly say it definitely fulfilled the high expectations of a Chew Valley school production and opened my eyes to the beauty of such a story.

The acting space was known as ‘Theatre in the round’ on the same level as us – the awaiting audience.  The lights were dimmed and I instantly felt at one with the characters before I had even seen a single teenager waiting for their moment to shine. Although, this is not the only thing which made me have great hope and admiration toward the young actors: absorbing my surroundings I saw the families and friends coming to show their support to their children hard work, the odd teacher flicking through the tasteful and professional ‘home brewed’ programmes to see which pupils they teach and the odd raised eyebrow as if they were thinking “They act? They don’t seem like the type.”

At that moment I realised the great sense of pride the teachers and pupils had taken in making this play. This wasn’t the typical school play, with the tacky curtain call and the cheap props and scenery. No, this was a well endowed beautifully set play, which made me feel that I was most definitely in the First World War, waiting for the sting of gas and volley of bullets. The camp-bed, sand bags and three wooden chairs were not crammed in together to create a room, they were a hint to represent Tommo's room, the trenches and the simple family home the Peaceful boys leave behind. It was well thought out. Basic. Simple. And honest to the feel of the play.

The school hall clock struck 7.30 and a spotlight illuminated the stage and Private Peaceful began his story.

The opening scene set the standard for the rest of the play. It was high end, with one boy, playing the part of ‘Old Tommo’ reading out a journal entry. It was a simple yet classic moment which enticed the audience with the beautiful wording; the audience fell silent, shocked at the high level of acting which had already taken to the stage and eagerly anticipating more.

One of the highlights for me was the way that the scenes all flowed seamlessly together, with not one single awkward silence. Scene one and two were poles apart in that the personalities changed. It ended with Old Tommo reading out his journal and then two brothers: Tommo as a young boisterous boy being pulled across the stage by Charlie, the older, feistier brother as they were heading for Tommo’s first day of school. The calibre of acting was incredible, yet the entire style and personality of the play was boosted by the high energy levels coming from the brothers.

The play grew and grew in front of the audience's eyes, and the amount of emotions I was pulled through was astonishing: laughter, tears, shock and respect. The final emotion was sadness and an intensity I had never experienced ran throughout my fellow peers. The ending to the play had the whole cast quietly singing ‘Oranges and Lemons’ after the death of Charlie. This moment was heart breaking and gut wrenching all at once and I cannot elaborate enough the amount of sheer amazement running through the audience – it fell completely silent.

To add to the high emotions and experience for the lower school pupils, the writer himself Michael Murporgo watched the show on Thursday evening.

This play would have been nothing without its Directors Elizabeth Bainbridge and Steve Conway who put in an enormous amount of time and effort to produce such a fluid, emotional piece of drama! It was a fantastic show – well done Lower School

Lauren Holland