Mrs Barton by April Gough, Emily Johnson and Ruth O Hanlon

SCHOOL TEACHER STARS ON STAGE

In BBC Journalism Club, we decided to focus our topic on one of our teachers called Mrs Barton. She is head of the drama department and teaches dance and drama to pupils from years 7 –13. She also organises the school productions that are held every year at our school, such as: Wizard of Oz (2007), Annie (2008), Sound of Music (2009) etc. She has been at our school for three years and loves performing in the Arts department. Not only is she a teacher, in her spare time, she performs in many musicals and productions such as…

-  Kiss Me Kate;

-  Chess;

-  Oliver;

-  Fiddler on the Roof;

-  And many more.

In the following piece of writing she describes a normal production day:

“When I’m doing a show, I like to get there a couple of hours early. I get ready, have a shower, then go to my dressing room and have hair and make-up done. If I’m wearing a wig, I fix my microphone into the wig so it doesn’t show. If I’m using props in a show, I set them backstage so I can get to them quickly. I then go back to my dressing room and wait for my thirty-minute call. Then my fifteen-minute call, and finally my five-minute call. This is my favourite part because it’s very exciting. Just before curtain up, they call Act 1 beginners, which is my call to wait in the wings for the show to begin.”

She told us how she prepares for an audition:

“If I know what material I have to perform, I make sure I’ve learnt it and think about the part I have to play to put emotion into my audition.”

She told us her stage name, which is Sarah Meadows because she wanted something more glamorous than her mother’s maiden name which is ‘Field’, and how she has been interested in performing from a young age of three.

She also told us that being an actress is very hard work and although she loves teaching, performing is what she prefers. It’s clear Mrs Barton has a talent as she won the award for Best Actress in Brentwood and she was nominated for a few others as well.

Her next performance will hopefully be in Beauty and the Beast, which she will be auditioning for soon. Everyone enjoys being taught by Mrs Barton because she is very helpful and committed to bringing the best out of her students.

By Emily Johnson, Ruth O’ Hanlon and April Gough