Grade four, five and six students from Warragul North Primary School showcased their performance and teamwork skills recently in their school production of "Porridge".
A mystery musical full of fairytale stories, "Porridge" followed the story of Detective Jack Spratt and his search for truth in Happy Valley. With Ma Hubbard's recipe book stolen, the kidnapping of Marigold the cow, and secrets of Papa Bear's porridge empire spilling, it's up to Jack to discover what's really going on.
Prep teacher and organiser of the production Sarah Hunkin said the students worked hard all term to put on an entertaining performance.
"After doing auditions at the end of term two, we started rehearsals in July at the beginning of term three," she said. "We rehearsed every Thursday night up until the performance, and the students also did extra rehearsals at lunchtime. It was quite a big commitment and they all did a wonderful job."
"Porridge" allowed every character the opportunity to have their moment on stage.
"One of the reasons we picked this show is because it's such a great story about all the different characters," Sarah said. "It really allowed each child to shine, even if they didn't have a 50-word speaking part, there were lots of dialogues with parts for everybody to shine."
Over the course of rehearsals, students honed their performance skills and developed their teamwork.
"We did lots of background work so even if someone wasn't the main part of a scene they still knew how to act in the background," Sarah said.
"The students had to work as a team so we worked on collaboration and organisational skills, and they also learnt all their lines and their blocking."
As show day got closer, the students became a close knit, supportive team.
"We're very proud of the kids ability to help each other," Sarah said. "If someone forgot their lines, the kids would help each other we didn't even have to prompt them. The shows were amazing and the students did such a good job, we couldn't be any prouder of them."