Last year Manor School chose to go caroling in place of their annual Christmas play. Though last year's event was considered a success, the school again decided to host a Christmas play.
The Kindergarten to grade six classes, with a helping hand from a few students in the grade 7/8 split class put on a Christmas production titled, Jingle Bells Jury.
Set in the town of Candy Cane a young Jim Dandy (Kyle Bye) has committed a Christmas atrocity; he has called the Christmas spirit nonsense and exclaims that anyone who believes in Santa is a fool!
Dandy is then taken to court by the town to answer for his crimes. The case, presided over by Judge Pfefferneusse (Desiree Riddell), gets out of hand with crazy Christmas antics from witnesses including Roberta Eggnogg (Hannah Littlechief) a "Christmasologis;," Magic of Christmas (Madison Cuddington); Reindeer in Training (Mykel Biermann); Snow (Caydence Chapman); Toy Maker (Colby Cuddington); Angel (Shay-lynne Englot); Mrs. Cratchitt (Micheline Biermann) and Tiny Tim (Drayden Arndt) of A Christmas Carol; as well as the Wise Men (Dylan Preston, Ross Brimner, and Wyatt Brimner), Shepherd (Josh Dafoe), and the Innkeeper's Wife (Elizabeth Fall).
As Dandy continually defies the court at every turn, it is revealed that he had simply been bullied by two Bad Kids (Aiza Weir and Kara Brimner). In order to stop them from being mean to him he had to appear tough, thus he threw away his teddy bear the Toy Maker had made declaring that everyone who believes in Santa and the Christmas spirit are fools.
As Dandy admits what happened, Santa (Davien Slykhuis) arrived in Candy Cane with Dandy's teddy bear. Having held onto the stuffed animal for when Dandy admitted the err of his ways, Santa was happy to return the prized possession.
Entertaining and quite funny the performance received thunderous applause from the audience who appreciated the abilities of the young thespians.
A short drama by the grade 5/6 art class, "And the Animals Talked," focused on the meaning of Christmas in a fun and unique way. The Reader's Theatre piece focused on what the animals would have said the night Christ was born.
A lot of work had been put into this short production just as the longer play received a lot of effort by the students. In the Reader's Theatre, youth cut out their barnyard animal, coloured it, and attached it to a post. Hiding behind a fence the animals then popped up throughout the performance when it was their turn to speak.
This short play was very true to the meaning of Christmas, while comic relief came from Billy Goat (Davien Slykhuis) and the Sheep (Dominique Jurista, Faith Dupas, and Elizabeth Fall).
Following both plays came the very special guest to Manor, Santa Claus. Taking a bit of time out of his busy schedule, Santa offered treats to boys and girls while also took photos with them.
It was a very successful night overall with many talented youth showcasing their skills and having fun together onstage, undeterred by the large crowd sitting in front of them.
