Acting competition: Preschoolers wow with colour and confidence

Impressive set design and stage props enhance performances.

ISLAMABAD:

Imagine a stage performance of a fairytale, and then add a whole lot of cuteness to it. What you get are around 120 preschoolers from eight Beaconhouse kindergartens participating in an “Intra Branch Role Play Competition” in Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Dressed in elaborate costumes, the 3- to 5-year-olds impressed the audience with brief but confident performances inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ fairytales and favourite children’s stories such as The Happy Prince.

The students’ performances were enhanced by impressive set design and clever stage props. For some of the performances, the participating schools had prepared life size 2-D models of castles and palaces.



Perfectly timed sound effects and interesting choices for background music, such as the maniacal laughter of the Mad Hatter in Beaconhouse Kindergarten Rawalpindi’s “Alice in Wonderland” performance and the Mission Impossible intro which played when students dressed as elves made an appearance in “The Elves and the Shoemakers” made the adorable performances even more fun.

“It’s a huge way forward for these children,” Ayesha Sohail said.

“This is their first time performing outside their own schools and the confidence they have gained is tremendous,” she added.

Sohail heads a group of 17 Beaconhouse schools, eight of which participated in the event. Apart from the twin cities, schools from Wah, Mirpur and Gujrat also took part in the competition.

The props and costumes were mostly designed and developed by the teachers but with contribution from parents.

“The teachers get the students’ mothers to help with the costumes,” Sohail said. “It’s a collaborative effort.”

At the end of the stage performances, chief guest Nasir Kasuri, executive director of the Beaconhouse northern region, distributed prizes among the winning schools. The host branch stood first, followed by Beaconhouse Kindergarten F-7/4 and Beaconhouse Kindergarten Westridge in second and third place respectively.



Zunair and Mahrosh, two preschoolers from the winning team of the Civil Lines kindergarten, were as shy off-stage as they were confident on-stage. They said their teachers helped them prepare for their performance and they went through several rehearsals for the show.

The competition was hosted by the Beaconhouse Civil Lines Rawalpindi kindergarten.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2013.