School play....why do auditions???

[Schoolmum2468]

It's school play season AGAIN...and again the same old story happening again. (3x DC...always the same story)

I told DH weeks ago when we found out the play who would be given which parts. And low and behold....I was correct.

And my DC has come home in tears because they weren't given any of the parts they auditioned for. Even the extra part the teacher asked them to audition for

The child who told mine not to bother going for part A because it was their part...yup got the part

The pushy parents child got the main part (AGAIN!!!)

"Shy" children who have now come out of their shells now they're the eldest in the school.... literally background scenery.

My DC's friend is also upset because they wanted a speaking part and got 1 short line "no way" type of thing

My DC wanted an acting part and got narrator (again). They've been told in the past that it's because they're a good reader....but now in yr6 after years of being narrator (both in end of year plays and Xmas nativities) they thought for the last play in primary they would try really hard to get an acting part.

So what is the point of asking children which part they want and going through auditions if teachers are going to ignore all that and just chose who they want.

And why not give other children a little bit of a chance in the spotlight if they want it. Chances are the shyer ones are going to be even more lost in secondary and this may be their last chance. It's a school play....why not add lines for children who want them. It's primary school not a theatre production!!!

If any teachers can explain why they do this year upon year....please enlighten me.

Enrol them in Lambda

Is that the theatre school for sheep?

If it’s an interschool drama competition then absolutely, go right ahead and pick the ones you think will win and save yourself an ‘audition’.

If you’re putting on an end of term play for all the parents to come and watch - the same parents who really don’t care whether it’s worthy of the West End but who just want to see their child on stage saying a few lines (providing the child wants to be there of course) - then stop picking the same overly confident children every year, because it’s as boring AF to watch the same ones for 7 years. We’re just there for the photo opportunity, a chance to clap our DC and the social chitchat, nothing more.

@FancyFanny "Yeah, right! And you'd be happy for a bunch of talentless footballers to be picked for the school team and be thrashed to bits by other schools?"
Nope. Because football is a competition. A school play isn't. Happy to clarify the distinction if you need me to.

I'm happy to clarify for you as you clearly need me to! A school play is a competition in that the kids are competing for the best role- the best performers get the best parts! Otherwise it would be a shit play if the shy and talentless took centre stage while the natural actors and singers etc were sidelined!

It's probably your own attitude that has rubbed off on your kids and the reason they don't get picked or have the confidence.

It's funny how confident children are always classed as 'over-confident' by other parents complaining that their kids don't get picked- not just confident. The teachers obviously think the children they choose are just confident otherwise they wouldn't want them as centre stage because when they spend all day every day with them, if they were 'over-confident' the teachers would definitely feel like giving some others a chance.

@FancyFanny My son runs a youth drama group. They have two shows a year. One is a play, carefully selected so that everyone gets a go. One is a showcase where those who want to can show their abilities, talents and skills. They also enter competitions, for which they are auditioned.( they are very successful) The whole group work together to make all these different things happen. Incidentally, the reason he does this is that he and his sister were for years the ones who got the main parts. I'm glad that he learned how divisive and dispiriting this was, rather than adopting a "devil take the hindmost" approach.

What a shame (but no surprise, given your posts so far) you didn’t read the whole thread, otherwise you’d have seen that my DD was in a singing group and regularly appeared on a theatre stage where she was a confident performer.

My DS’s weren’t at all interested in performing but loved being part of the stage crew doing the lighting and sound.

Nice try though.

@SirChenjins Oh yes, the shy introverted child who doesn't put herself forward for auditions...

Why bother? The parts were already allocated - foregone conclusion.

She was much happier in a production run by a capable teacher who knew how to get the best out of all of the children.

Oh, and it’s ‘didn’t’ - she’s an adult now. Keep up now.

You mean the couple of kids that got the lead roles will miss out.

I used to be quite involved with youth theatre groups - there was always a cohort of kids who had been 'stars' in their primaries who were hopelessly ill-equipped to take smaller parts or (horror of horrors) chorus roles.

Some of them were quite talented and grew to sometimes get lead roles, and sometimes background. Others were the product of schools and parents who conflated 'confident and clear speaking' with acting ability; it was a harsh adjustment.

I think one of the main differences between sport, maths, art etc and the school plays is that the children who are not chosen for the football team or the maths competition do not have to spend many hours sitting in the hall while those who are chosen practise.

I know that the teachers do not have enough time, resources or staff members for the children who have big parts to go off with a teacher and rehearse while the other 25 pupils get to do something more useful. I know the teachers are just doing their best. However, those who are not chosen for big parts get to spend, many afternoons being reminded just how little they matter.

School plays usually involve lots of songs to learn and not that may lines for individual children anyway so it's never really a case of everyone sitting around while 2 children practise. In my experience, the plays schools use are specially written for Primary schools with lots of speaking roles- at least enough for most of the class to have to have a few lines, 3 or 4 larger roles for a few more confident children and lots of chorus songs and actions that everyone joins in with.

I think for primary school pupils doing a play and the sort of things school generally produce, confident and clear speaking and the ability to remember their lines and when to say them are more important than acting ability. That can come later- or not!

And primary school teachers are general all-rounders, not trained drama teachers- they are usually dreading the play more than the pupils. They really can't afford the time out of other lessons for the amount of rehearsal it takes to get kids to a decent standard, most are not musically trained, they know that whoever they give the roles to there will be bitching on the parent's whatsapp and some disappointed children, and they know the headteacher wants the play to be good because no matter how many on here claim they don't mind sitting through a rubbish performance as long as their kid gets to be centre stage- in reality they will be slagged off if the play really is rubbish.

I'm not sure that it's true that the children with the big parts get loads of time to rehearse while the other kids sit around and watch. I think often the kids who get the main roles are chosen precisely because they will be able to deliver without loads of dedicated rehearsal time. Because a lot of the teacher's time is actually spent on rehearsing the whole group numbers because those are the bits that need the most practice.

I think one of the main differences between sport, maths, art etc and the school plays is that the children who are not chosen for the football team or the maths competition do not have to spend many hours sitting in the hall while those who are chosen practise.
Another difference is maths and in some sport there are clear ways that someone can be shown to be better. Auditions are more subjective, which means both there can be thought to be favouritism when there isn't and there can be deliberate favouritism.
I suspect most of the time it's more on the thought to be favouritism, or unconscious bias than deliberate favouritism. However because it's down to opinion it's very hard to say whether it is fair or not.

One of my dc (5 form entry) in their year 6 show was in the situation where someone commented (at the final performance as they were getting ready) that a lot of the speaking parts that were longer than a line (about 80%) came from one form, and the teacher cheerfully said "I was doing the auditions and rehearsals so decided it would be easier. Anyway I knew them better and like my form".
Said across the room so lots heard. My dc (who didn't want a part and was there under sufferance) was totally unbothered, but there were a lot of children who were upset. I can understand her thought process in doing it; I cannot understand why she would think it was acceptable enough to announce it. Especially in front of the children (and some parent helpers).

I'm not sure that it's true that the children with the big parts get loads of time to rehearse while the other kids sit around and watch.
In my dc's school they didn't get to sit around and watch-they got to continue in normal lessons while rehearsals were going on. I think sitting round and watching might be thought as preferable to many of the children.

Yes, exactly, I’ve seen it all before, even when I was a child!
At my DD’s school, it’s not the teacher who chooses kids for the school play, it’s a woman who is in charge of after-school clubs. She organises events, clubs, school orchestra etc and keeps on choosing the same child every year.
The child is not talented at all, but over-confident, almost a bully.
The same child is also chosen to represent the school in sports, on TV, chosen for the school orchestra, Xmas performances, School assembly etc.

How can she choose the same child for everything? There can't be just be one child in these things- there must be multiple children other in all those things...

@FancyFanny 🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️ The child has a great eye contact and is very confident (even bullying other children, telling them she is the best at everything and they are not as talented or smart) but when running for the school, she finished at the 90th place (out of 100), when representing the school at a TV show- she was cut out of the TV program 😂
I really believe it has to do with her confidence and she is always muscling in.
Her mum is always at the school (and forever at the school playground), very pushy, maybe that helps also?

My daughter gets the good parts in shows. She loves it. It’s her thing. She is very dramatic and confident as well as dancer . She is not the brightest kid in the class. She won’t get picked for chess club or the quiz challenges or the athletics team. Why is it OK for kids to be picked for these things on merit but not anything to do with drama?

Why is it OK for kids to be picked for these things on merit but not anything to do with drama?

Because school is meant to be inclusive and not make others feel shit. It’s a bit like all the awards at the end of the school year are for sport.

My child is in Year 6. She was chosen for a big part in the Reception and Year 2 Christmas performances. Her class haven't done any performances since then. She has not ever been chosen for any of the multiple sporting competitions and events (at least four or five every year in KS2) that involve days or afternoons out of school to participate. The same few children are repeatedly chosen for those events. She's hoping she will get a chance for a good part in the Year 6 play.

The amount of people on here who think that the school play is the only opportunity to do drama at school is ridiculous. Drama is a fantastic teaching tool which is used in a range of subjects, but primarily English - and everyone gets to do it.

Sadly, it is getting pushed out of the primary curriculum more and more due to the pressures of covering all the content (drama is seen as a useful teaching tool in the 2014 curriculum rather than having its own section). That is entirely the fault of the government for forcing us to teach a curriculum which comprises of a list of things Michael Gove thinks kids should know rather than anything to do with child development...

but if you are going to be inclusive with drama you need to be inclusive with everything.

I will never forget my high school pe teacher refusing to even contemplate joining the school swim team despite never having seen me swim because I wasn’t much good at any of the other sports ( the fact that I had live a abroad in my primary school years and swam every day and was a pretty good swimmer, was to difficult for her to contemplate). After that I saw pe as a clique for just the few.

but if you are going to be inclusive with drama you need to be inclusive with everything

If a play is a class production then it should be inclusive and give all children a part at some point, so it's not the same ones up on the stage every year. The sports equivalent would be the schools sports day where everyone participates -the class doesn't have to watch the same few children doing the egg and spoon race, for example (although I know a pp's school does have heats to decide which children participate in the sports day - which is bonkers imo).

If it's an interschool competition - whether that's drama, spelling bee, music, sports or whatever - then it's a different matter and it should be less inclusive.