A complete change of mood, tempo and just about everything else in this year's dramatic offering by the Junior School - Benjamin Britten' s "Little Sweep" Barking as it does, in a kind of coy-upper-middle-classed-ness, this piece did not yield easily to the vigorous treatment it received here. For obvious reasons, and with one unavoidable exception, all the children were played as of the male gender, A prep school, small dormitory atmosphere was therefore evoked, with Rowan (Alison Atkins - invited to play, which she did ver y successfully, a musically difficult role) as the kindly Assistant Matron and Miss, aggott (Frank Catterall as a soured pantomime dame her) formidable senior.
The overall appearance of the show was crisply bright, the costumes being superbly Victorian and the cast well drilled and disciplined in the chorus set pieces. But what perhaps impressed above all was the confidence, -,clarity and sheer vivacity of the young principals' singing. It's a long time since the school has heard such assured musical performances from unbroken voices - certainly in such a demanding work - and all credit must go to Reg Adams the School's "music man". The soloists, uniformally excellent, were;
| Antony Kibble | The Little Sweep |
| Neil Pridham | Jay |
| Martin Shearsmith | Peter |
| Chris Bourne | Hugh |
| Chris Langdon | Ray |
| Kevin Callaghan | Matthew |
| Chris Morgan. | Billy |
| Mark Richards | Johnny |
| Darren Bradshaw | Juliet |
Contributing in broken voices, to no less effect, were
| Mark Wildash | Tom |
| Paul | Alfred |
The accompanying chorus was vast and (forgive me!) too many to mention here.
All in all enjoyable even if it did lack the restraint of a definitive production
C.H.