Those of you who follow me on Facebook will know that Alex had a pretty special week last week.  He did a week long Summer workshop with Stagecoach Theatre Arts School, which culminated in his first ever stage performance on Friday evening.

Jacqui, our childminder, and I have always joked that Alex is quite a performer and that he’d thrive in a drama class – so I didn’t take much persuading when I spotted Stagecoach were running a week long series of morning classes for 4-7 year olds.  I was a bit nervous about sending him on his own and worried that maybe he wouldn’t like it – but of course, I needn’t have worried.  He went confidently off on his own and barely looked back when the class started.

It’s funny – he’s so independent and has gone to so many groups without me and attended a school nursery for a year, but something about him attending the summer school on his own made me realise he really is growing up.  I guess it’s something about him going off to a strange place, with no-one he knows and adults we’ve never met – and him being fine with that!  I know I should be thrilled he’s so brave and confident, but a little part of me is a bit sad that he doesn’t need me so much anymore!

But anyway – back to the theatre.  It turned out that this Summer, the show the children prepared was Shrek – the Musical!  And Alex was given the important role of “Guard 7”!! With typical child-like approach to conversation, we learned very little about what specifically he got up to each morning at class – but his occasional practicing of dance moves, rehearsing his two lines, and bursting into song gave us some clues!  And he admitted he’d been named “Singing Diva” one day, apparently on account of his good singing voice (how proud am I about that?!?!).  He treated me to a full rehearsal on the street outside just before he went in for the final preparations!

On Friday evening, we saw the culmination of the week and all became clear!  We were treated to a 30 minute version of Shrek, with the children divided into teams so they shared out the scenes between them.  For much of it, we couldn’t really hear what was going on – but it didn’t matter as all the children were clearly loving every minute!

Alex looked so proud in his Guard costume (check him out in the professional pic they took of him at the final rehearsal!), searching the audience for us and beaming wildly when he found us.  He performed his lines brilliantly – talking so clearly and loudly we could hear him right at the back!  And he loved the singing and dancing – he was up front like a pro!

He wasn’t at all bothered by the packed auditorium – we really were so proud of him.  And Sophie was delighted watching her big brother on stage – she clapped for ages at the end and had a huge grin on her face during the songs!

We could only snap a few pictures in the dark – but so I don’t forget him in his first show, here he is singing his heart out:

And this is him in one of his scenes – singing the funny Duloc song in Shrek:

And concentrating hard on his dance moves:

Matt got a few seconds of the grand finale on film – Alex is the guard in the centre of the screen!