Pupils get Footloose in school production

It’s a story about not being allowed to sing and dance, but this year’s combined Boys’ High and Girls’ High show is full to the brim with those two things.

Joining forces for their annual production, Palmerston North Boys’ High and Palmerston North Girls’ High are coming to the end of their rehearsals for Footloose.

Head of Drama at PNBH and directing the show is Chris Burton. He said this was his 20th school production, ‘‘I think’’.

‘‘It’s a challenging one for them as there is a lot of singing and dancing and we needed a lead who was a triple threat. We found that with Josiah Nevell.’’

Nevell takes on the role of Ren Mccormack, a newbie to the town of Bomont where dancing is illegal. Nevell’s character loves to dance which meant a lot of moves to learn.

‘‘There’s a lot of dancing and singing at the same time which is hard because it’s easy to run out of breath, so fitness has been one of the big things.’’

Nevell said he was glad for the dance training in jazz he did when he was younger with Dean Mckerras.

‘‘It has made it easier to learn everything because I hold a base knowledge of dance.’’

The female lead of Ariel is Anja Darby. She said she hasn’t had any dance training but surprised herself with how much she enjoyed it.

‘‘It’s really full on and a challenge but it has been a lot of fun. The whole atmosphere of this show is really exciting.’’

Kyle Dahl plays the stern character of Reverand Shaw and said the whole theme of the show was really relevant.

‘‘I can’t even imagine a world where we couldn’t listen to loud music and rock and roll and all that. How terrible would that be?’’

A combined school band is playing live music in the show.

Footloose opens on March 16 and runs to March 25 at the Speirs Centre.