One hundred young theatre lovers aged between eight and 12-years-old gathered at Shakespeare’s Globe earlier today to perform as a West End choir and celebrate the launch of this year’s Kids Week.
The annual initiative, which offers a free child’s ticket for every full price ticket purchased, as well as an additional two children’s tickets at half price, offers families a chance to see an array of hit West End shows and take part in a wide range of special activities throughout the month of August.
Led by musical theatre company Starling Arts, today’s event gave the children the opportunity to learn a medley of songs from hit musicals including We Will Rock You, The Sound Of Music, Matilda The Musical, Mamma Mia! and Les Misérables before coming together for a performance in front of family and friends.
Joining the aspiring young performers were cast members from West End shows including Les Misérables’ Carrie Hope Fletcher, Matilda The Musical’s Marc Antolin, Mamma Mia!’s Emma Crossley, Jersey Boys’ Jon Lee, Let It Be’s Iain Hornal and The Mousetrap’s Annabelle Brown, who came along to support the event and celebrate the importance of introducing children to theatre at a young age.
Talking about the launch, Fletcher, who earlier this year made her adult West End debut as Eponine following her performance as the character’s younger self more than a decade before, said: “It was brilliant! I did Kids Week when I was 11 or 12 and I remember being so inspired by the actors and actresses from the West End shows then. So to be a West End performer now and to come back and actually be the person to encourage these kids is an absolute honour.”
One of the event’s young participants, Evie Hind, said: “Today was very fun and our favourite song was [Matilda The Musical’s] Revolting Children… because we are revolting children.” When asked whether performing in today’s choir made the children want to take to the West End stage, the response was a resounding “yes”.
There are still thousands of tickets on sale for the month-long promotion, which has now been bringing the magic of live theatre to children and their families for 16 years. To book tickets, visit www.kidsweek.co.uk