15th October 2020
In one of the School’s most spectacular Covid-19 pivots, the Girton Grammar Junior School will perform a radio play of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, to replace the onstage musical theatre production of Madagascar, which was scheduled to take place at The Capital theatre this Term. 
Junior School Drama teacher, Mrs Catherine Stagg, said that there was a real determination to ensure that Year 6 students, in particular, be given an opportunity to spread their creative wings in their final year of Primary School.
“Radio plays are an underrated medium of performance. They are traditionally a dramatised, purely acoustic performance, dependent on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story.
“Thanks to the modern medium of video streaming, we will be embellishing the traditional radio play format to include photos of the characters when the radio play is live-streamed.
“We have taken beautiful photos of the students in full costume and makeup and will produce promotional posters and a printed souvenir programme, just like we usually would for the annual Junior School Production.
“We have photos for forty-two of the narrated scenes from the play, and the students’ vocal articulation of their characters has come along in leaps and bounds through intense online rehearsals.
“This experience for our Year 6 students will be of enormous benefit to them when they are again allowed to take to the stage, with voice being such an essential component of live theatre. I am sure that many of them will audition for our Senior School production next year. 
“Drama in the Junior School at Girton has adapted to the challenge of keeping our student’s active learners during what could have become a very passive learning period.
“Maintaining the motivation of students has been key to keeping them engaged, and the radio play has given them something exciting to work towards.
“Creativity and innovation are the cornerstone of embracing change and its challenges, and we need creative thinkers and resilient designers and artists to analyse and adapt.
“We are so pleased that this year, we have been able to give our Year 6 students the opportunity through the production of an old-style radio play to develop those skills and become the thinkers, designers, and artists of the future,” Mrs Stagg said.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Year 6 radio play will be live-streamed to Junior School classes and cast members parents from 2nd – 5th November from 1.00 pm until 1.30 pm.
