Following the success of last year’s Third Form play, Scheherezade, expectations were high when, as the Fourth Form, the children took to the stage again. The BFG posed a different kind of challenge to the year group; there were no songs or dancing, and the focus was instead on telling the story, with a lot of comedic moments peppering the performance. The cast stepped up and produced a performance which was highly amusing and entertaining for all of the audience.
The production comprised of 7 individual mini-plays stitched together to tell the tale of Sophie’s encounter with the BFG- the ‘Big Friendly Giant.’ Unfortunately, Sophie soon discovered that not all giants were as big and friendly, and so she and the BFG plotted to stop the Giants’ cruel child-eating raids, enlisting the help of the Queen of England and a few helicopters. The splitting of the story into sections gave rise to the opportunity for several actors to have a go at playing the characters of Sophie and the BFG. It also meant that more of Form Four had the chance to act with the magnificent giant masks created by Head of Design and Technology, Miss Laura Kohler. The masks were visually stunning (and of course incredibly ugly, in a good way!) and really helped to bring the characters to life.
Certainly the standard of the performance produced by the Fourth Form owes to their playfulness and creativity towards the end of the process. Once they had secured the script, dialogue and all their blocking, the cast were successful in generating off-script moments, which turned out to be amongst the most memorable of the show. With slapstick servant routines, dopey chefs, dancing head teachers and a phone call from Hillary Clinton herself, the show was full of energetic and original ideas which lifted the Roald Dahl story off the page.