When I am not working on West End in Schools, I spend around a day a week working as agent for some talented theatre designers, who between them design sets, lights, costumes and sound for large scale productions in London and up and down the country.  The contrast between the scale and sophistication of their work, and the simplicity and clarity of our West End in Schools productions excites me, as both are right for their audiences.

In case you have not yet received one of our musicals in to your school we use very little set at all and just a small number of clear costumes to help the children understand the characters and tell them apart.  We seat the children in two groups on the floor of the hall facing each other with the front rows about eight feet apart from each other, and we perform the show in between the two groups.

The most common response to this from schools is that they are slightly surprised when we arrive with just two suitcases, and delighted when the simplicity encourages - almost forces - the children to use their imaginations and our actors can work with that commitment from them and give everyone a memorable and valuable experience.

When we started work just under two years ago I remember a teacher at an early performance saying "the last company brought a van full of scenery and the children did not engage, but you have none and have used acting and singing to inspire the children's imaginations."

The photo above was kindly provided by Palmers Green High School.

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