The curtain is about to rise on a very special performance as The Swanage School in Dorset, celebrates 10 years of remarkable stage shows with an imaginative production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Roald Dahl’s deliciously dark morality tale, which opens at The Mowlem Theatre on Wednesday 25th February 2026, is directed by Harry Peake, director of performing arts at the school, who has overseen every school production since the very beginning.
The entrance to Willy Wonka’s chocolate river
A lot of Oompa Loompas
For the tenth anniversary show, a fifth performance is being added due to demand, and the cast and crew are hopeful that all days will sell out, with tickets disappearing quickly.
More than 100 students of The Swanage School are in the cast – which includes ‘a lot of Oompa Loompas’ – backed by a large professional orchestra led by musical director Nick Stewart, of Swanage Musical Company.
And a professional set has been hired from stage company Little Shop of Hires which is just as well, as a play which includes rivers of chocolate, bubblegum which can turn children into blueberries, and dancing squirrels, presented a few unique problems…
The Swanage School put on its first stage show, Rock of Ages, at The Mowlem in 2017, followed by Grease, Hairspray, Fame, Little Shop of Horrors, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, The Addams Family, Matilda and Footloose.
Director of music, drama and creative arts, Harry Peake, has been a teacher at The Swanage School for 10 years
“It felt like a full circle moment”
Harry Peake, who studied musical theatre at the Italia Conti Academy in London and worked professionally across the UK and abroad before retraining as a teacher, said:
“Students always ask me what my favourite has been, but I can’t pick between them, they’ve all been favourites for a different reason and they all hold some sort of special memory.
“But the very first thing I did when I arrived at the school in 2016 was to take students to London to see a show, which was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, so it just felt like a full circle moment to stage it as our 10th production.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is definitely the hardest production I have ever done, but it’s a great show! Productions like Fame and Footloose exist in our real life world, but Charlie is a fantasy which is always a little bit tricky when it comes to staging it.
“In the first show I asked a parent who was a scaffolder to build us a set, but we have evolved a lot since then – we hired a plant for Little Shop of Horrors, and now we have hired the whole set from a professional company, which is a huge weight off my mind!”
What dark secrets lie behind the doors of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory?
“I have tapped into the dark side”
Harry added:
“I joined the school in September 2016 on maternity cover as a newly qualified drama teacher and was only meant to be here a year – ten years later, here I am, in this wonderful school.
“When I got the job, the school had only just opened and had never put on a show before, so I approached The Mowlem, as I always wanted our shows to be staged in a professional working theatre. We could do it here in school, but it wouldn’t feel the same.
“There’s a huge amount of imagination in our anniversary show. I have tapped into the dark side of the story, I don’t want people to come away and think that it was a really nice show, I want them to come out and say they never imagined to see it quite like that.
“There are a couple of songs like Pure Imagination and I’ve Got a Golden Ticket from the original film that you would expect to hear, and a little reference to the Oompa Loompa tune, but the majority of songs were newly written for the stage show, which is absolutely amazing!”
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been very successfully reimagined for the stage
Directed by Sir Sam Mendes
Originally, there was some concern how the fantasy films starring Gene Wilder and later Johnny Depp would translate to the stage, but the production which opened at London’s Drury Lane Theatre in 2013 ran for nearly four years and broke box office records.
Directed by Sir Sam Mendes – who now has a home in Studland just a few miles from The Mowlem – it was given a contemporary update, won two Laurence Olivier Awards and was the first West End show to ever earn more than £1 million in a week.
The story, which everyone knows, follows young Charlie Bucket who lives in a shack with his elderly grandparents and wins a golden ticket to the weird and wonderful Wonka Chocolate Factory, a chance of a lifetime to feast on the sweets he’s always dreamed of.
But beyond the gates, astonishment awaits, as down the sugary corridors and amongst the incredible edible delights, the five lucky winners discover not everything is as sweet as it seems.
Hayden-Lee, centre, plays Willy Wonka, with Harley, left, as Charlie Bucket and Rory, right, as Grandpa Joe
“Other versions of Wonka are psychotic”
Swanage School student Hayden-Lee, who plays Willy Wonka, said:
“Looking at all the other versions of Wonka I have seen, they all come across as very psychotic and loopy, but I don’t think at heart he is that psychotic.
“I think he has planned everything out from the beginning to happen exactly how he wants, with Charlie winning the golden ticket and running the chocolate factory, and he knows every moment of the way.
“I think the character is very fun because I have so much freedom and can do whatever I want, and no one should know what I am about to do next.
“The biggest challenge from my point of view was juggling education with the show, doing my mock exams and auditioning for a performing arts college at the same time. It has been a major commitment, but I don’t regret it at all.
“I have such a passion for musical theatre, I have been in all the school shows since Joseph, when I was in year seven, and want to go on to the West End, and get into big productions like Mamma Mia or Wicked, or Les Mis – I really hope to get there one day.”
The Bucket shack, which is so small that its residents sleep standing up
“Very excited about being on stage”
Harley, who is playing the role of Charlie Bucket, said:
“I think Charlie is quite the stubborn kid who wants to get what he wants, but fairly. He is very kind towards his grandparents and will help however much is needed, he doesn’t ask for much but when he wants something he will really go for it.
“I was one of Matilda’s classmates in The Swanage School’s 2024 show, but I’ve been acting since I was seven, and I’m not at all worried about standing up on stage in front of hundreds of people.
“Right now my voice is changing quite a lot, so the songs are quite a challenge, along with the amount of words that the character has, but I’m very excited about being on stage, especially with the elevator we have at the end of the show, which should actually fly!”
You’ll believe that a great glass elevator can fly…
Stuck in bed for 45 years
And student Rory, who is playing Grandpa Joe, said:
“My character is Charlie’s main parent, who has a nice relationship with Charlie, although he is really old and has been stuck in bed for 45 years.
“He says he has been through world wars and bicycle tours, but he has never really had a chance to shine at anything, which is one of the lyrics in my song.
“Now he is able to go with Charlie to Willy Wonka’s factory and is determined to look after Charlie – he is perhaps the only nice character in the whole play!”
Warning – this show may contain nuts, and dancing squirrels!
Further information
- Show updates will appear on The Swanage School’s Facebook page
