Crowd were asking for ‘more’ as Cork school's show had that special 'oom-pah-pah'

EXCITEMENT levels around the halls of Togher Boys’ National School were said to be “palpable” ahead of the school's four performances of Oliver Twist recently.

The stage adaptation of the literary classic was a whole school initiative, with every class from junior infants to sixth class taking part.

Drama teacher, Chloe O’Leary, went to the school every Monday to hold classes.

“We came up with the idea of [staging] Oliver.

“All the kids watched the film and we read the book and they were all very excited about it,” deputy principal at the school, Sinéad Moynihan said.

“We had auditions then for the main parts. There are boys obviously who got a main part, but then every child in the school is actually performing on stage. Every class has a song to do."

“It was the first time on stage for a lot of the boys."

Ms Moynihan said the idea of staging the play was in the pipeline for quite some time, but was scuppered by the covid pandemic.

Commitment

She said everyone in the school community had shown great commitment in ensuring the play became a reality this year, and paid particular thanks to the parents.

“The school bought the outfits for the main characters and then the parents were asked to dress the kids up as orphans and they went to great effort.

“We want to really thank the parents for the great effort that they have made in dressing the boys as well.” 

She also paid tribute to Cork artist Kevin O’Brien who assisted with the set.

“It’s amazing. He made a great job of it,” she said.

“A lot of our teachers helped out as well. It’s really been a joint effort – everyone in the school has contributed in some way.” 

Ms Moynihan said, while there was the expected pre-show jitters during the dress rehearsal, the overriding mood in the school was one of great anticipation.

“They’re really excited now and they’re really looking forward to their parents coming to see it as well.

“There’s a great feeling around the school, it’s very positive. The excitement is palpable.”