COMPLETE with gangsters, splurge-guns and soda siphons, the Hayward Theatre was the liveliest joint in town this week as students from King’s Ely Junior took to the stage for their latest production – Bugsy Malone.

A total of 64 young actors and 23 pupils-turned-stage technicians, make-up artists and cream pie fillers took part in the musical, which follows the rivalries and mishaps of two gangsters in a fictional New York-style city during the Prohibition era, where everybody who was anybody would make their way to Fat Sam’s Grand Slam to slurp banana boozles and dance the night away.

The Year 7 and 8 students received rousing ovations for their performances, which they have been perfecting since November last year, when head of drama, Mrs Van Wright-Jordan, first gave them their scripts.

Head of King’s Ely Junior, Richard Whymark, said: “All of the performances were wonderful events and super platforms for our students to display their emerging talents on. They offered parents and staff a chance to see the young people performing with ever-increasing confidence on a very large stage.”