In the Spotlight

Beauty and the Beast

Our secondary production of Beauty and the Beast has been hailed as a great success. Audiences loved it, the orchestra was superlative, the sets, costumes and lighting added such magic to the look of the show and there were many comments regarding how amazing it was that students can deliver such mature and impressive performances. We were so incredibly proud of the way the students delivered to audiences.

However, for us as a production team, the success of the show is not measured by the performance - incredible as they were. From the start of the process we pray as a team for God’s goodness to be shown through the production, and that we will do things, not only well, but with character that reflects God’s. And we to see so much more in the cast and crew - things that audiences never get to witness. So we thought it valuable to give the whole school community a little glimpse into what we as the team get to see.

Over the seven months that this production is being prepared the students do more than learn the songs, dances and dialogue. They develop stamina and resilience as they face yet another rehearsal when they are feeling tired at the end of a big week. They have to manage their time and other responsibilities like work and social things. They take responsibility for their own costumes and props and respect them knowing the work that goes into making or sourcing them. We have seen unnumbered acts of kindness and compassion as they have supported each other through nerves and sickness. The audiences at some of the shows would have noticed students stepping up to fill roles when others were sick. But they did not get to witness cast members caring for the sick members, sourcing cold packs, finding places for them to rest and reassuring them. Many pushed through despite tiredness and some symptoms because they did want to let the cast and team down. Students prayed with and for each other, encouraged and praised each other generously. Many cast members were required to think on their feet to rescue a scene that had gone awry and the audience would never have known. The flexible thinking and creative problem solving was constant!

When a production is double cast, that is, when two students play the same character in different shows, you would imagine that some competitiveness would arise. This was never the case. These students showed generosity of heart and maturity and supported each others, learned with and from each other and praised each other at every turn. Many of our leads took substantial initiative to do extra rehearsals to ensure that each scene was smooth.

Everything I have described above could be categorised as life skills or soft skills. And many of them are part of the character formation that we long and pray for here at NCS. We are proud of the performances that our students delivered. But we are prouder still of the character that they displayed throughout.