Cinderella – The Truth! unearthed at Packwood

The long weeks of learning lines, practising songs and rehearsing scenes and dance sequences culminated in another excellent drama production at Packwood Haugh School to end the spring term on a high. The school theatre resounded to appreciative laughter, pantomime responses and loud applause throughout the performances of Cinderella – The Truth!

The production was a re-working of the traditional fairy tale that gave plenty of scope for song, dance and laugh-out-loud humour. Not least because, in her rush to leave the ball before midnight, Cinderella lost not a glass slipper, but her shiny new set of false teeth.

There were plenty of familiar original elements too, including the outrageously awful Ugly Sisters who treat poor Cinderella so badly. Year 8 pupils Flora Raichura and Lucy Clarke were magnificent and played the sisters with scene-stealing confidence. The part of Cinderella was shared between Eve Leslie and Liberty Clarke, giving a delightful opportunity for a knowing aside to the audience: “I feel strangely different…” The handsome prince features of course, although in this version of the story he is a classic ‘upper class twit’ – a fun-loving dilettante with ambitions to be a poet. Kutenda Creusailor was very convincing in the role – as was Genevieve Bright in her part as his domineering royal mother.

The wider cast of characters is more or less familiar, with the notable addition of a narrator called Italics. Year 8 pupil Tom Bright owned the show in this role and demonstrated why he has recently been awarded a Drama Scholarship to Shrewsbury School. His deadpan delivery and superb comic timing brilliantly conveyed the ironic flavour of the whole production.

The story was enhanced by the deft interspersing of numerous Abba songs, which gave the opportunity to showcase some wonderful solo singing as well as ensemble performances. The closing number Dancing Queen was an amazing climax to the show with the whole cast of more than 50 children on stage, singing and dancing.

Packwood’s Head of Drama, Richard Cowley, directed the play adding much of the humour that has become the hallmark of his productions. As ever, it was hugely entertaining – and showed just why Drama lessons and clubs are so popular among Packwood pupils.