Show brings history to life

Takapau School pupils perform Fast Forward to the Past

Takapau School’s stage production took an appreciative audience Fast Forward to the Past, in a packed Takapau Town Hall. The production was written by the school’s staff, as a way to share scenes from national and local history.

In Fast Forward to the Past, Ernest (Cormac Galloway) and Freda (Florence Ormond), are a time-travelling historian couple who have random flashbacks through time. They land unexpectedly at the Takapau bus stop, where they are met by school kids Perfect Petunia (Gayara Gamage), Kool Kelvan (Mac Ward), and Random Roxy (Laura Ellwood).

First Ernest and Freda are greeted with a dinosaur dance by the new entrants, followed by Room 3 performing a song about technology, which was completely foreign to Ernest and Freda.

Next came a discussion of the Otago gold rush with a dance by Room 5. Auckland got a mention when Room 4 performed a skit about the Auckland mayor in 1865, who used new-fangled gas lamps to light up the streets.

Room 2 reenacted the 2011 Rugby World Cup final between the All Blacks and the French, complete with the winning All Blacks pretending to drink champagne from the trophy as the French team collapsed in despair.

Room 6 spent 10 weeks earlier in the year as a class entirely of girls, which was celebrated with a dance to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. The next flashback was to the Napier earthquake, with a performance by Room 3 to Dynamite.

Fast forward to the Golden Shears competition, and a sheep shearing scene from Room 5, which turned into a dance to Old Town Road.

Room 4 had a skit about the differences between 1990’s and today’s technology to How Bizarre. Then came a visit from Bob Marley and the Wailers (courtesy of Room 2) performing

The final performance was a reenactment by Year 8 of a local legend about the feud between two tohunga named Whata and Tangowhiti, and the mischief they created as the people tried to gather eels at Lake Whatumā. The production ended with waiata and haka performed by the whole school.

Left: High vis and high energy from Takapau School’s young actors. Far left: Takapau students danced up a storm in their stage production Fast Forward to the Past.

Left: Legend has it that two tohunga, Whata and Tangowhiti, created mischief as people tried to gather eels at Lake Whatumā .

Bob Marley and the Wailers paid a visit. Or was it Room 2?