Is Goldilocks guilty or innocent? You decide, as RHS stages Once Upon a Crime
By Ally Harris
Times and Transcript
April 2, 2014
We all know the famous tale of Goldilocks and the three bears, but never before has Goldilocks been tried for her actions.
Riverview High School will stage three performances of Once Upon a Crime this Friday and Saturday. The play follows the adventures of Goldilocks as she goes on trial for the crimes she has committed throughout the forest.
The performance features 16 members of RHS’s drama club playing various fairytale characters.
And the jury will be played by the audience.
Audience members will follow the trial and decide for themselves if Goldilocks is guilty or not in this interactive performance.
Co-director Melanie Mealey said the students were keen to do a performance that would get the audience involved.
“It’s really rewarding as a performer to see audience reaction and to get that energy from a crowd,” she says. “So to have a group of kids all responding at once and giving their support to one side of the cast or the other, it will be a lot of fun for them.”
Melanie is working with fellow teachers Lorissa Johnson and Kaitlin O’Driscoll to bring the play to life.
Lorissa said the group was looking for a comedic show the whole family would enjoy.
There will be three opportunities to catch the show this weekend, with a performance Friday at 7 p.m. and two on Saturday, at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
Grade 9 student Jata MacCabe, who plays Goldilocks, has been doing drama for as long as she can remember and said it is a great way to spend time.
“A lot of times you make really good friends.”
She said the interactive aspect of the show makes it even more fun for the performers.
“You can really tell that the audience – especially the kids – are gonna get really into it.”
Melanie said there is a lot of humour in the show, helped by the dedication of the students to their roles.
“The way that some of the students have developed their characters to have really distinctive quirks, they just do fun things,” she says.
Grade 10 student Danielle Toner said the combination of all the fairytale characters adds to the fun. Danielle, for example, plays Thumbelina, who serves as the prosecutor in this story.
“It’s a really different variety of different characters and they’re all out of context with their actual story so it’s really fun to see them all interact together,” she said.
The play has been in rehearsal for only a short time, but Grade 11 student Brett Lewis believes this will actually benefit the show.
“There’s a lot of energy with this show because we had a short amount of time to put it on, so there’s a lot of focus and a lot of energy.”
Brett plays Papa Bear and says it is a great show to bring kids to.
“This (show) is really cute because it’s a kids’ play and it’s a lot of fun and sweet,” he says. “It’s not really long, and the audience participation at the end, that’s really cute.”
“It’s really entertaining, really funny, and (the audience) gets to be a part of it. That’s really cool,” said Lorissa.
WHEN: Friday, April 4, at 7 p.m.;
Saturday, April 5, at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.
WHERE: Riverview Arts Centre
TICKETS: $6 each or $20 for a family of four, available at the door.
