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.

It's the same in adult am dram. I've been to a few auditions locally and they are already closely cliquey and know exactly who's getting what. It's shit from childhood to adulthood!

it’s a good life lesson, u don’t get everything u want and often there is someone more suited to the job than u.

My daughter (loud voice, great reader etc) was always picked to be a narrator and absolutely hated it. All she wanted was to be able to dress up sing, dance, act etc like her friends. So just before the school play was scheduled I spoke to her teacher and explained how upset she was about being the narrator time after time and hey presto she got a proper part which she was overjoyed about.

@Skybluepinky the primary school dc who are being repeatedly given the lead roles year after year, regardless of talent, miss out on this life lesson.

"My main point is if teachers know who they are going to offer the parts to....yes main part may go to the child who goes to drama clubs out of school, singing part offered to someone in the choir.... etc then why ask children which parts they want, and get them to audition for those parts, even ask them to audition for other parts with acting....if they have no intention of those parts being offered to them."

As an adult, they will see jobs they want to do, write applications and go for interviews, and often will not get the job because only one successful candidate can be chosen. Perhaps someone else has more experience, or is an internal candidate, or perhaps the interviewer has a bias. But sometimes they will succeed, so they should always try.
Your job at this primary school age is to help them prepare for something they want and try their best to achieve it, but if they don't succeed, to manage the disappointment and bounce back quickly. You complaining to the teacher is not constructive.

As an adult, they will see jobs they want to do, write applications and go for interviews, and often will not get the job because only one successful candidate can be chosen. Perhaps someone else has more experience, or is an internal candidate, or perhaps the interviewer has a bias. But sometimes they will succeed, so they should always try

That's completely irrelevant here - unless you see everything at primary school, even the fun stuff, as a competition. It's a school play put on for kids, for their parents - it's not meant to be a life lesson.

But if there is an audition, competition for the part is right there in the definition! Same as a “try out” for athletics or whatever.

Reminds me of how it was at my DCs independent school primary. It was the tip of the iceberg and a minor mismanagement compared to a lot what went on and we were - eventually / very glad to move on to a better school. The state primary was much better and more inclusive.

It was a pleasant surprise when my quiet dd got a somewhat large role last Christmas. Her voice somehow caught her drama teacher's attention. On the other hand, a girl who is really vocal and pretty talented in drama got a small part which she was very disappointed about.
The two cases above make it sound like school is trying to give children a chance, but then there is a girl who does the same narrator role, a big one, every single year! Honestly I don't know how it works and I am also torn between 'less talented being given a chance' and 'more talented deserving bigger roles because that's life'

I used to write and direct pantomimes for juniors in my secondary school. The important thing was being able to hold a tune, so the musical director would get them to sing happy birthday to you. That was simple and sorted out those who were too shy or just couldn't sing. I had a rough draft written of the panto but would add parts in if we spotted potential actors/singers/dancers. If someone couldn't dance or sing, they still could get a good speaking part

@SirChenjins
"That's completely irrelevant here - unless you see everything at primary school, even the fun stuff, as a competition. It's a school play put on for kids, for their parents - it's not meant to be a life lesson."

No, not everything in primary school is a competition. But auditioning for a school play is a competition, of course it is. Several people try out for one part, only one person is going to get it. That is a life lesson, whether or not you agree with the process.

Yes, but don’t worry their parents will b moaning when they miss out getting into their preferred uni or theatre school, at the min they r big fish in a small pond.

I think it's all gone a bit off topic..... (I know probably my fault)

I just think that it's unfair for DC of this age to be asked which parts they want, audition for those parts and not be given anything similar. Yes they need to know they cannot get everything they want....to do it in this way is just mean. They don't need to learn in this way at 10/11.

As it's the same children who get certain parts....then why do the teachers hold auditions? Surely they could just doll out the parts to who they see fit? Without the auditions.

Or ask a general "do you want a speaking/singing part?" "Do you want a big/medium/small/background part?" To gauge the type of parts children want.

And surely if the teacher thinks "well Johnny wants a main singing part but forgot all their lines last year" they could have a word with the child and explain that they would be given this other part as they feel it better suits their talents.

I have NOT "complained" to the teacher. I asked for them to telephone me to discuss my DC being upset, when asked why I explained it was regarding the part given. There was no mention of them having to recast the whole play, yes I think it's unfair that DC who misbehave/bully being given main parts....but that is out of my control.

All I want is to speak to them about how DC feels and if they can explain to them why they were chosen for that part.

It's not a competition if the same child (or couple of children) get the main parts year after year - that's what's known as a forgone conclusion and it gets mighty boring for parents watching the same children for 7 years.

If the teachers know who they want just give the part to their child and stop faffing about with auditions. Or, approach things differently - there have been numerous excellent suggestions on here on how schools could do that.

• the child

Your job at this primary school age is to help them prepare for something they want and try their best to achieve it, but if they don't succeed, to manage the disappointment and bounce back quickly.

I agree with this sentiment, but how do you explain to a dc why it's always the exact same kids being chosen for everything, term after term, year after year? That's not a healthy lesson unless you want to teach them that nepotism and favouritism rule.
It's not a fair competition as it is not based on talent. In the school plays of one of my dc, the child who got chosen for lead roles several years in a row was wooden and lacked passion and spark in their delivery. On the other hand, I have seen a couple of girls in plays over the years who are fantastically talented actors from a young age, no-one would mind if they got the lead roles as their acting is fun and inspirational for everyone and was less boring for parents to watch. Towards the end of primary, I felt almost sorry for the child who was the chosen one for everything, not just drama, as they must have developed unrealistic and unhealthy expectations about their potential, which would have put a lot of unnecessary pressure on them.

It really depends on the school. Some primary schools have parents that write and ask for parts or more lines and if you the teacher getting these emails every other day and headteacher saying why not increase lines etc you get the nepo-kid and favourites. So join external school clubs to over come this and maybe look at a different school?

I guess the bright side of all of this, OP, is that kids become aware of how systems work in general. It's a shit life lesson to have to learn but they all have to learn it at some point.

Both mine have commented that it's the kids who make a big fuss who are more likely to get the limelight - the kid who cried about not winning a prize getting it the next year (DS1 was pretty disgusted), DS2 figuring out how to get one of the coveted Jobs With A Badge if you weren't one of the group who got all the Jobs With Badges every term, etc.

Basically they seem to have absorbed that it's not enough to simply be good at something, you also need to be good at your own PR. It's been fascinating to watch them both reach the same conclusion and then reacting to it in totally different ways - DS1 has decided that he'd rather be overlooked than be pushy and make a fuss; DS2 is going in for targeted lobbying. Sort of depressing but I also kind of admire it.

It's lovely to hear about all the meritocracies and all the schools where teachers get kids with no prejudices about what those kids are like. I hope we hit one of those in secondary. Meanwhile I'll keep mentioning to the Y6 teacher occasionally the theatre DS1 has been doing out of school and seeing the exact same surprised reaction because she has pigeonholed him as Not A Drama Kid and she seems honestly unable to change that assessment or retain the information.

There's not even a play in the offing now. I'm just dropping it into conversation to amuse myself.

@JassyRadlett I had almost forgotten about the coveted Jobs With A Badge if you weren't one of the group who got all the Jobs With Badges.

Every year, the same handful of kids were rotated round these jobs, no-one else got a look in.

Meanwhile I'll keep mentioning to the Y6 teacher occasionally the theatre DS1 has been doing out of school and seeing the exact same surprised reaction because she has pigeonholed him as Not A Drama Kid and she seems honestly unable to change that assessment or retain the information.

Well at my school it would make no difference, even if the teacher does know that your child goes to Stagecoach or whatever every weekend, we just judge on the auditions. In fact sometimes a child we've been led to believe is a performer is really disappointing, while some children we had no idea about really impress us.

My DS would have loved to have been chosen to be striker for the school football team. His whole family would have been there to support our superstar scoring the winning goal for his team 🎖️

Unfortunately DS couldn’t kick a ball 🥴 so had no chance of being on the school soccer team.

He wasn’t a great actor, singer, dancer or reader either so wasn’t chosen for a star part in his school concerts - much to his relief 😅

My DS can be counted on to be a valued member of his mathematics team and to support his classmates to victory during inter school maths competitions.

Everyone is good at something. Nobody is good at everything. Let everyone get on with whatever they are good at. Jealousy gets us nowhere.

Obviously someone who attends drama club/singing lessons/dance class/ actors club, every week, is going to have an advantage over those who don’t, for auditions for school concerts. In exactly the same way as pupils who attend swimming club will get chosen for school swimming galas and pupils who attend after school football/rugby practise will get chosen for the school rugby /football team. It’s a no brainier really 😵‍💫

Thank God I'm retired from teaching. Seriously.

This happened at my children's school. Also the weekly certificate type thing. Other children would get it multiple times before my child got it. Very demoralising for them.

I agree that primary school should be a bit more fair and give kids a chance. But there are generally favourites who are picked for everything and the rest are overlooked. It isn’t always talent driven, I’ve seen kids absolutely shine once they got into secondary school and were given an opportunity. And the showy kid whose mum ran the parents association in primary suddenly isn’t winning every prize or starring in every play.

My DD bombed her audition (secondary school) thanks to a sore throat and didn’t get a main part. She was bitterly disappointed as it’s her final school musical but she sucked it up and is in the ensemble. The music teacher has now made her understudy for the role she auditioned for because the girl who got it isn’t turning up for rehearsals as she’s annoyed she didn’t get the main part that she had in the last play. No doubt DD will do all this extra work and the other student will turn up on the night and play the part. But I’d rather DD had the life lesson of dealing with disappointment and also pitching in to help the team rather than being a 15yo diva who thinks she’s too good to rehearse.