It's SHOWTIME in SHANKILL with Old Mother Hubbard!

It's been a mad flurry of activity here in Shankill, as Parents, Teachers, friends of St Anne's and children alike all join together in preparation for this year's Panto Production:

Old Mother Hubbard.

It's been all hands on deck since last October.

To paraphrase that ole Kiss me Kate show-tune, if I may:

"for 3 months, we rehearse and rehearse

and 2 days (to go!) and it couldn't be wor.."

Well ...... actually, we ain't doing too bad at all ..... come to think of it.

Now don't get me wrong , it's been one helluva 3 months! It's been frantic, trying to rehearse the multitude of children and then merge them with the adult cast, and all the while trying to keep the home fires burning. However, we've come a long way since I wrote my first post about getting that Choreographers hat back on my head this year!

It was all rather exciting when I wrote that post, as we had just started and everyone was so eager to get going, me included. But the children's interest usually wanes after the first 3 or 4 weeks, when they realise just how much work they have to put in! They just want to get up on that stage. However, a lot of work goes into getting them ready for that. Once they learn their song and dance routine we have to work on their performance! Therefore, the most repeated words at rehearsal are .....





There's usually only so much we can do on that score, so we'll keep going and hope that the audience will give them that badly needed adrenalin shot, that plonks that stage-smile firmly on their angelic (??!!) little faces!!

My own interest didn't wane, but my confidence did a little bit as they weren't giving me what I wanted. The dance routines looked so much better in my head! We worked hard though and overcame some difficulties on the way. The freezing weather conditions we experienced in early January meant postponing rehearsals and re-scheduling our opening night. The very same weather conditions were also responsible for this choreographer slipping on the ice and giving herself a fractured coccyx to contend with! It is, I've discovered, a little difficult giving dance instruction with a fractured tailbone.....Jazzy here won't be shakin her tailfeather for quite some time!

But as the saying goes .... the show must go on! So, we continued to work hard, all of us. The amount of time and effort that all the Teams put in, including Wardrobe and Staging, is phenomenal.

We've also had some dodgy dress rehearsals in the last two weeks. These dodgy rehearsals are necessary to keep us on our toes though. In fact, I'd be more worried if things were going without a hitch because, as they also say : "a bad dress rehearsal ....... good show"

In response to the dodgy rehearsals the required pep talks were promptly served, and more hard work ensued. I won't know if the extra work has been successful or not until tomorrow when I blitz each group during the day, and then we do a full run through of the show at 6pm! Of course, we won't really know how successful all this work will be until Friday night......... a mere two days away! Oh, my ..... knees quaking and tummy flipping!

Of course, we also had to prepare the children for our national TV station , RTE, who came to visit and filmed the children in action! Wow...that was a much needed energy boost and great free publicity. Oh, if you look closely, you will see a rather dashing WiiBoy place his cowboy hat on his head!

This is the 14th year that St Anne's Primary School will host their annual Panto. Each year we strive to make it more professional even though it is "just" a local school production. In reality though it is a huge, and much loved school and community event.

There are queues outside the school office every morning to buy tickets.

It is the talk of the school ....... and the village.

The excitement in the school is building up. I can't wait to walk through the school on Friday, when I drop off and collect WiiBoy, as the excitement will be palpable!

I just hope that our two rehearsals go well tomorrow and that when we open on Friday night , we rise to the occasion and the audience go away feeling that, yet again, they've been entertained.

Now, what were the real lyrics of that Kiss Me Kate showtune, "Another Openin' Another Show "?? Oh yeah.... now I remember:

Four weeks, you rehearse and rehearse,

Three weeks and it couldn't be worse,

One week, will it ever be right?

Then out o' t
he hat, it's that big first night!

Oh, I hope and pray that we really do pull it out of the hat on Friday night!

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

xx *Jazzy* (denotes jazz hands!!)


  1. I missed this, wishing you all the best with the show tomorrow night Jazzy I am sure it will be a great success, even with a fractured tailfeather ( couldn't remember how to spell the medical word lol) I am sure you shook your little tushy at rehearsals. As the saying goes break a leg although in your case maybe it would be safer to sit down!!! All the best Andra xxx

  2. Best of luck Jazzy, sure you'll have a fantastic show.

  3. Break a leg.I an a big believer in bad dress rehearsal good show never had a good dress rehearsal yet but always had a good show so well done Jazzy.

  4. Hope all the hard work pays off and the panto is a huge success :) xx

  5. How exciting!!!! Can't wait to hear how it goes XXX

  6. oh hun, sounds so exciting, i cant wait to hear all about it, if i was still in dublin id so be there

    best of luck to everyone

  7. bad dress rehearsal = great show!!!
    Merde! You have my absolute sympathy and best wishes for your poor tail bone..that is excrutiating! Yes, the show must go on and all that-but OUCH!!!!!

  8. I hate that you were injured, that must be so terribly painful. I hope that everything went well without a hitch. With your determination I am sure that things went great. It is good news that you got the free publicity on TV, that is so cool!

  9. The very best of luck - hope all goes well!


  11. A big, huge THANK YOU to you all for your good wishes!! And thanks Andra....sitting down is a better option in my case....if only I could!!!

    This weekends shows were fantastic and we had 3 full houses!! So delighted....will share all soon;)) xx Jazzy


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