The Play's the Thing - what do we think of school plays

[crapteacher]

This week, I've decided to lay into school plays in a big way. I write as a teacher and as a parent - one who personally looks forward to never having anything to do with these wretched things again.

Are you one of those uber-supportive parents, running your kids back and forth to endless rehearsals? Is it all really worth it??

More here:

crapteacher.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/the-plays-the-thing/

Enjoy ;) @crapteacher

Don't get me started. Hate them.
Over ambitious and precious. They always do a well known musical which showpieces the undoubted talent of a handful of kids. Over rehearsed for months weeks. Last winter the rehearsals took precedence over revision classes for mocks. Cue tears and stress from many girls who are diligent and didn't want to let down the teacher "producing" the play. Copyright means the ticket prices have to be high.
Disclaimer - neither of my DSs are interested this is my observation of their friends and peers.

For some kids, it's the highlight of their year. For some, it's their only opportunity to do something well and have it recognised. For some, it does wonders for their confidence. Being in a school play is something kids remember with fondness for years.

I think your OP is vile.

OP, of course school plays are not very good, or 'crap' as you so kindly put it. In much the same way that essays written by 13 year olds are not very good and fiction written by 8 year olds is not equivalent to Jane Austen. If you don't want to be exposed to the work of children, then teaching is probably the wrong career for you.

Now I've read your blog. Vile. I guess you think it's funny, but you miss the point if school productions entirely. If you want professional quality, then fork out for the west end.

Vile, elitist shit. I generally detest MN posters who say this, but fuck me- I hope my kids never get a teacher like you. And I hope I never have to work with someone as bitchy and vitriolic.

Agree with Eviltwins and Clothesofsand, the blog was vile.

Ha ha. You don't have secondary kids then or aren't teachers. I LOVE CRAPTEA HER

I'm a performing arts teacher so obviously I completely disagree with your stance!

I think the plays we put on at school are so valuable for the children. Our current production has 6 large female parts, 5 large male parts and includes 72 children altogether, all of whom are in at least 2 scenes. There is no prima donna and, of those 11 principal parts, 3 are being played by children on the SEN register, 2 have aspergers/ADHD and 5 of the children are unlikely ever to gain any recognition for anything else - mainly lower sets, not first team sports etc but awesome singers and surprisingly mature actors. Okay, the other 6 are children who seem to do well in everything but I think we've managed a good balance!

The school where I work only takes children up to 13 but (in as unbiased a way as possible ) we put on bloody good shows! Certainly better than anything I was in at secondary school. It isn't because we're awesome teachers and it certainly isn't because the children aren't busy with other things, it's because they are genuinely passionate about it and love what they are doing.

Yes, some other teachers get snotty about rehearsal commitments and children who need extensions for homework etc - but in terms of the children's development and enjyment I think the plays are well worth it.

It's not like other (or the same!) children don't have constant demands on them from sports staff!

Having said that, I've now read your blog and I'm not entirely devoid of a sense of humour - it's pretty funny.

And this:

Drama teachers are not the most thick-skinned of colleagues, and such announcements are made in a Prozac-induced drawl that fails to mask extreme anxiety and panic. Remember, dear reader: this means everything and is a measure of their impact and success as a teacher. It is, furthermore, a chance for them to live out their failed acting / directing ambitions through their young charges. Every aspect of their lives will revolve around The Production for months leading up to and around the First Night. Cross their path with any dissention at your peril.

is not entirely untrue!

Well, dd is only in primary school so I can't comment about current shows, but I have very happy memories of being an extra (IIRC a 'miscellaneous peasant' and a 'marching suffragette') in school shows way back when and of watching school plays. They weren't well known musicals though.

DD is currently in an out-of-school production of a musical and based on that she is enjoying it equally well. Though it will probably be 'crap' to some people's tastes as they've taken all comers including my enthusiastic but tone deaf dd :)

Well you see the problem I have with this is that the plays/musicals at my DCs secondary are actually amazing. I'm generally a cynical misery and DH is worse but we've been really impressed by what the kids have done. All three of mine have taken part in the school productions and I've genuinely enjoyed watching them (even the bits my kids weren't in) . It won't be a hardship at all to watch DS in Romeo and Juliet this summer but that wouldn't fit in a sneery blog would it

Let's face it. A blog extolling a school play would be er .. gripping

Yes but its just a lazy target isn't it.

I do have secondary school children. A yr 11 who has been backstage in all the productions since he has been there and a yr9 who has had small parts on stage and helped out backstage as well.
I have even sat through a production of Grease when DS was yr7:)

The Head of Drama is a really tough old boot who stands no nonsense and nothing like described in the blog.
I just read the blog and hoped that wasn't a teacher at my dcs school, it was meanspirited and deeply unpleasant.

I don't have secondary school aged children, but I am a secondary school drama teacher. I am nothing like the drama teacher in the blog. Mine is a small school, and I recognise that students are likely to want to be in the school play and the netball team and go to after-school Science revision class, and so we work together to make sure that it's possible. I don't think the power of being involved in something like a school production should be underestimated. We did our most recent one in November, and had a facebook group so that the kids could communicate with each other and I could post about rehearsals. The comments the cast and crew left for each other, particularly after the final performance, were very touching.

So what if it's not West End quality. I know that the kids who were involved had a great time, and whilst it was a hell of a lot of work for me (and the other staff involved) we all enjoyed ourselves, and no one did it unwillingingly.

OP, if you don't want to be involved with school plays, then you know what, don't. I daresay you won't be missed.

I still think you're vile.

I enjoyed some excellent performances at the Shakespeare Schools Festival last year and the year before, really very good and very obvious that the children who were involved had a great time. Four performances/night from different schools and very few dull moments.

Your blog was nowhere near as funny as the Twelfth Night put on by a local school (not dcs') at the previous festival nor as polished as the Lady Macbeth enacted by a 14yo at the last one.

If you are too lazy to look up the words of Shakespeare in an annotated edition, it doesn't follow that every drama teacher in the country is going to have the same sloppy attitude.

I am convinced you are not a teacher at my dcs' school: they just don't seem to have that miserable take on their work.

well i enjoyed the blog myself

seems you're not allowed to find anything funny on mumsnet these days! everyone takes everything so effing seriously

Well indeed. If you're prone to taking everything literally and see it as some sort of serious diatribe on the state of education, then you will, no doubt, find things you don't like. Personally, I think there are a lot more important things out there to get hot under the collar about. For those of you that enjoy the blog, I say thanks for the comments and keep them coming. In fact keep all the comments coming! Next week I will be writing about graffiti penises.

Lol at penises

I thought this was great.

Yes, sometimes stuff done at school productions is amazing, but frankly more often than not it's not.

And an amazing lack of SOH from some posters on this thread!

This sort of thing only works if told with a sense of affection, I only see a sneering tone. It's not a lack of soh. There have been some lovely parodies etc of the school play over the years, but this is not one of them.

I have a sense of humour. I just think it's mean to be so vitriolic about the efforts of children, and the blog was pretty aggressive, and very one sided. Had it includes comic references to plays-gone-wrong, that would have been a different matter, but it didn't. It just said (again and again) that school productions are, without exception, shit. No balance, just nastiness. Crapteacher is clearly not unintelligent, but this was a cheap shot, and I found it unpleasant. Doesn't mean I have no sense of humour.

Lol

Maybe think about things from the perspective of a teacher, once in a while ...

... and just be honest about what the productions are really like!

Yes, we're all proud parents and we wish them all well, but that doesn't mean to say that every show or play is stuffed full of stars!