Henry and Eliza perform at Edinburgh Festival
Two Terrington Hall pupils performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer, wowing crowds with daily shows seen by hundreds of festival-goers
Henry Barker, Year 6, and his sister Eliza, Year 3, were among the cast of Wolfsong: Journey to Valhalla, a play centred around the Norse Gods of the Icelandic sagas. The cast also included their dad, Charlie.
The dramatic, fast-moving production by the Livewire Theatre Company, ran for several days at the annual arts Festival, which is world-famous and attracts audiences from around the world.
Henry, 10, who played a central role as Baldur Silverskin, said: “I felt nervous because of the audience numbers and the fact they were paying to see me perform. But I was excited to be there.
“I started learning my lines in May, straight after our school production of Alice in Wonderland [in which Henry played the Narrator]. I did it in phases and learnt them speech by speech – I did have quite a few long speeches!”
Eliza, 7, who played Hel the Fish-girl on alternate nights, said: “It was exciting to be performing at the festival. I was happy as I was performing alongside Daddy and Henry. The Festival was great fun and we saw some fun shows – I really enjoyed it.”
Henry [pictured, left] followed the Festival performers’ tradition of joining his cast on The Royal Mile through the centre of Edinburgh to persuade people to come and see his show.
He said: “I really enjoyed persuading would-be audience members to join us and it was great to see many people that I knew. I was even more thrilled when strangers I had talked to on the Royal Mile about our show actually came to the performance!”
Terrington Hall Headmaster Simon Kibler said: “I’m hugely impressed by Henry and Eliza’s confidence and courage in getting up on stage at the Edinburgh Festival. I’m told by one of our staff members who watched them that they were superb.
“We aim to expand the horizons of all our children and Henry and Eliza’s Edinburgh adventure is a great example of the Terrington spirit we cultivate inside and outside the classroom.”
Livewire is a North Yorkshire theatre company which has been producing plays performed both in Yorkshire and nationally for over 25 years.
