The Rats

The rats are very cruel and greedy. Their ambition is to take over the town of Hamelin; they constantly scare the townspeople. Their names are King Rat, Cheesy, Sharptooth, Scruffy, Thinker, Telltale, Chewer, and Sniffer. The chorus of their song reflects their menacing characters: ‘We’re the roughest, toughest rats around, we’re known from here to London Town. Our teeth are sharp and our tails are long and we bet you’re frightened by our song!’ 





Other main characters in the play are the townspeople and their children, the councillors, Cedric the strongman, Marvo the magician, Celia the soprano, the cooks, the bandsmen, three ladies, baby Brian and his mother, Charles and Florence, the Taletellers and the Watchers , 

The play was performed in front of Key Stage 1 and to families and friends over two days.

Some of the cast and audience were interviewed about the play and below is a selection of their responses.

Q to King Rat, how did you make your character so mean and what was your favourite part of the play?
A I changed my voice so that I sounded bossy and I moved around the stage confidently showing that I wasn’t afraid of anyone.

Q to the councillors, how did you find singing a solo?
A Councillor Clueless – it was frightening at first but once I started singing I was fine.
A Councillor Tinlid – I felt fine, I wasn’t at all nervous.
A Councillor Ribtickle – I found it exciting and nerve racking at the same time!
A Councillor Earplug – I’m not sure, I felt a bit embarrassed singing on my own.
A Councillor Snooze – It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I really enjoyed my part in the play; my character was quite comical and I got some laughs.

Q to Thinker, what was the best thing about playing your character?
A It was fun acting stupid! The audience liked the character because he had such daft lines.

Q to the Pied Piper, how long did it take you to learn your lines?
A About seven weeks and I got them all right on the night! All that rehearsing was worthwhile.

Q to Jenny Bean, is it hard singing a duet?
A No, I love singing and after the first performance, I couldn’t wait to do the next one.

Q to Class 2, which bit of the play did you like the best?
A I liked the part when baby Brian shouted ‘call for a nappy pin this very moment!’
A I liked the rat song, especially the way they all marched around the stage during the chorus.
A I really enjoyed the finale when everyone was singing on stage.
A I thought it was funny when the rats chewed the lady’s wellies.
A I loved all of it
Introduction

In Key Stage 2 we do a play every year, this year we
performed ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’. The people
of Hamelin never stop throwing rubbish on the
ground and the town becomes infested with menacing
rats. The useless Mayor and his clueless councillors
are no help at all. So the task of finding someone to
help is left to one of the children, Jenny Bean. She
fetches the Pied Piper, who uses his magical, musical
powers to lead the evil rats into the river.
The Mayor of Hamelin

The Mayor of Hamelin is a very selfish character. He likes the finer things in life and is not bothered if others suffer just as long as he gets what he wants. His ambition is to get a pink Rolls Royce car; he feels he is too important to be riding around on a scooter! Later on in the play he realises that there is more to life and he starts to think of other people instead of himself. At the end of the play, when he inadvertently drops his hankie on the floor, everyone shouts ‘pick that rubbish up and put it in a bin!’

The costume used in the play is very convincing; the chains were made from chocolate coins wrapped in foil! They did well to remain intact until the last performance!
Key Stage 2 production of ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’