Junior school, year 6. After auditions (for those that wanted to audition), the roles were allocated earlier this week. The kids then went on their 3 day residential trip and my colleagues who accompanied them say many of the kids were complaining about the roles they have been given. Some children were even in tears, others threatening to boycott the play itself.
We have children who are great at English, but can't act. They are upset as they were not given main parts (they read the lines well, but no delivery, just monotone). I have kids who didn't audition saying they were not fussed what part they were given and are now complaining because they've got a small part with a couple of lines. I've got others complaining they are not with their friends (ie in the same scenes).
I know the kids are tired (the staff are too!) but we truly have cast roles where we think the children will do a good job and have not set out to upset anyone. I know on MN teachers are accused of favouritism, or should just give kids a chance even if they can't act/talk clearly/be heard, but we do want the play to be successful after all, our headteacher is relying on us! When you have 20 pupils going for the 5 main roles, 15 of them will be disappointed, and the children need to learn to manage their emotions on this.
Hopefully half term will help reset for many of them as it's been a hard week for for all of us in Year 6. But there are times I think, why do we do this?