The festive mood continues here with the excitement of the year 2 Christmas performance. It was called “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, but due to a far more complex plot than last year, and some particularly tricky choreography, I have to admit to not really following what was supposed to be going on.
And I wasn’t alone. Baffled Mummies and Daddies congregated in the playground afterwards and asked in hushed tones, what part their child had played, whilst simultaneously congratulating their offspring for their “outstanding” performance.
My son and his class were dressed in their white PE shorts, a pink tie-dyed t-shirt with sequins, and fur-covered polystyrene cups on their ears. Be honest, it’s not exactly a give away is it? Apparently they were travellers, and were off to visit Father Christmas. There was something to do with a performing troupe, a group of baddies, and a delayed sleigh, but that aside, I really didn’t grasp much else.
The songs were many and lengthy. There was no chance of any of them managing to remember all the words, so each number ended up as a bit of a muffled hum. The only recognisable song was the traditional “Twelve Days of Christmas”, which would have been fabulous were it not for the fact that two of the five classes of children, started 20 seconds before the rest of their peers. We ended up with Lords a Leaping at the same time as Drummers Drumming and two lots of Gold Rings. My son had previously said it was a shame there were no Lady Gaga songs incorporated, so I suppose it could have been worse!
And the choreography was something else! There were handstands and cartwheels, juggling and hula hooping, marching and skipping. My poor son looked absolutely bewildered but thankfully, had a strong partner who literally dragged him around the stage and nudged him at frequent intervals.
All in all, it was pure comedy. Terrible timing, dreadful singing, out of time dancing and a few hiccoughs with the microphones just to really get into the spirit of the performance. Dogs in the street lay down and winced as the recorder playing began.
The children were beside themselves with pride at their performance, and the adults, desperately trying to compose themselves having sniggered throughout most of the proceedings.
It doesn’t quite beat my son’s first nativity play, when he fell out with one of his fellow kings over the seating arrangements on stage and burst into tears. This was swiftly followed by a slight tussle between Mary and Joseph who promptly fell off the stage and into the audience.
However, as school plays go, this was up there with the best of them!
