SCHOOLBOYS transformed into a multitude of beautiful animals to put on an ambitious community opera with help from local musicians.

Pupils at The Grange performed as lions, tigers and bears among 47 other creatures when they retold the story of Noah’s Ark through Benjamin Britten’s multifaceted show, Noye’s Fludde.

Having taken place at The Blake Theatre on 17th and 18th March, the immersive extravaganza, which has been described as ‘Britten meets Blue Peter’, was a huge hit with two packed audiences.

Alongside every boy at The Grange, 50 extra musicians including senior pupils from Monmouth School, recorder players from the town, and a professional string quartet were part of the cast.

Professional opera singers played the parts of Mr and Mrs Noah.

Joe Walton, music coordinator at The Grange, said: “This was very different to a musical. It’s an opera written for a local community to perform. It’s written to be a piece that everyone can take part in, particularly children. There are around 130 boys at The Grange and 100 were animals forming the chorus. The rest of the boys played strings, brass and percussion instruments, including one created from sandpaper. One student, Theo, created the sound of rain with suspended mugs. The mugs work in a similar manner to a xylophone. Thankfully Theo is a pianist as well, because it’s quite hard to do. A true community element to the performance was the handbells which were played by Grange staff. The beautiful instruments were generously loaned to the School by Raglan based handbell group, Millenium Chimes.”

Luckily for the pupils, who range in age from seven to 11, trainee art teachers from UWE in Bristol volunteered their time to help create the impressive range of animal masks.