A Dorset born music teacher and one of the most unlikely internet sensations is to perform a singalong of school assembly festive top tunes at The Mowlem in Swanage, Dorset.
James Partridge has amassed more than three million likes on Tik Tok since starting to put up videos of songs that everyone remembers from their school days and he’s now performing them live in his new stage show The Big Christmas Assembly.
Father Christmas will be at The Mowlem on Saturday 14th December 2024
Full day of festive fun
James’s first live stage show, Assembly Bangers, became so popular that he got a call to play on the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury festival in June 2024 and he is already booked for Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle in summer 2025.
And the spin off show, The Big Christmas Assembly is now touring the UK and stopping off at 7.30 pm on Saturday 14th December 2024 at The Mowlem.
Expect to hear some of the classics like Little Donkey, Away in a Manger and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Everyone is invited to join in and it’s for all ages from children to adults.
The evening performance is part of a full day of festive fun at The Mowlem.
Earlier, during the day, there will be The Father Christmas Experience when children are invited to take part in a seaside themed adventure with professional actors at half hour intervals, finally meeting the big man himself in The Studio to receive a special gift.
There’s also a free Elf Trail running through The Mowlem until Christmas Eve during bar opening hours when children will be asked to help Jonny the Elf find a lost message from Father Christmas.
And following The Big Christmas Assembly, there will be an after party event with Swanage DJ Flying G in The Showbar.
James Partridge’s The Big Christmas Assembly is suitable for all ages and everyone is encouraged to singalong
“I remember the New Year parties”
James Partridge said:
“I grew up in Poole and spent many happy hours as a teenager in Swanage, I especially remember the New Year parties out on the streets. I’m very much looking forward to coming back to Swanage and singing at The Mowlem, as well as having some fish and chips!
“I used to work on singing courses when I was a teenager, where I would play piano for singing teachers, so I’d be the accompanist for a lesson and that kind of gave me the spark.
“So after I left university I worked for a couple of music companies in admin roles, but I got sick of doing spreadsheets and as teaching was the one thing I really enjoyed, I started tutoring and started teaching around London.
“I had been a music teacher and a singing teacher for about 10 years when lockdown happened and I had to work online, so I decided to put some videos on YouTube for pupils to sing along to at home.”
The Mowlem is getting ready for its programme of Christmas entertainment
Conjure up memories of a simpler time
James added:
“Then someone suggested that I tried Tik Tok, which was a relatively new app at the time. I wanted to put something up that my friends might relate to and came up with the idea of school assembly songs, which got a lot of interest.
“People kept requesting songs from their schooldays, so once restrictions finally finished I thought there had been enough interest to do a one off live event, which was in February 2023 – and it just snowballed from there.
“The songs are very catchy and hold a special place in people’s memories from their school days, they conjure up memories of a simpler time where you didn’t have all the cares you have as an adult and people related to that.
“Not everyone has the best memories of school necessarily, but there was that great communal aspect of the whole school getting together, singing a couple of uplifting songs and I think it became a moment of escapism online.”
James has seen his one man show become one of the most in demand productions this Christmas
Christmas tour ’25 already filling up
Although a lot of theatres at first didn’t know what to make of James when he requested a booking to sing primary school assembly songs on stage, those which took the plunge found that the shows sold more and more seats as word spread about them.
Now venues are queueing up to include James on their programme, and his Christmas tour for 2025 already has more than 30 venues which can seat up to 1,500 people, including the Bournemouth Pavilion, Portsmouth Guildhall, Bath Forum and the Cambridge Theatre, London.
There’s another six months of the school assembly bangers tour before that, as well as summer festivals, and TV appearances – James has already appeared on BBC Breakfast, The One Show, Loose Women and the Vanessa Feltz show chat show among others.
James is also finding time to squeeze in writing a fiction novel for children about a girl and her adventures with a magic piano, and hopes to record an album, but has had to give up some of his teaching to cope with the growing demands of his live show schedule.
The Christmas Assembly is heading for the 1,500-seat Bournemouth Pavilion next year
“Venues are getting to be scarily big”
James Partridge said:
“I’m having to drop a few days of teaching and while I will still be in schools next year I will be taking on a lot less. It has been quite full on, touring and teaching at the same time, so I might have to take a sabbatical for a while to concentrate on doing the shows.
“The venues are now getting to be scarily big, and the production values will need to be quite a lot bigger with screens and props and all of that kind of stuff.
“I never expected to get more than 50 people in a room with me singing these songs – it’s nostalgic and fun for me, but I found it amazing how many other people it connected with.
“I used to go to Bournemouth Pavilion to see touring musicals and now I’m playing these big spaces to 900 people or more. It’s faintly terrifying, quite exciting, and nerve wracking at the same time.”
Family friendly Camp Bestival at Lulworth Castle has already booked James for summer 2025
“Love it when teachers come to this show”
James added:
“I’m officially booked in to play at Camp Bestival 2025, in lovely Lulworth Castle – the show should work quite well there, because it is a mixture of ages and a lot of families.
“I played at Glastonbury this year, which was pretty amazing and even made the ITV news, I think because it was so unexpected that people would go along to Glastonbury and end up in a field singing along to school assembly tunes.
“I have been pencilled in for Glastonbury 2025, but it’s not been confirmed yet, so fingers crossed. Rod Stewart will be playing there next year, and I could end up on the same bill as him – wouldn’t that be outrageous?
“I hear that a lot of The Mowlem’s audience is filled out by teachers on their Christmas night out. I really love it when teachers come to this show because they spend all their time in school, then I take them back to school on a Saturday night.”
“I have found that teachers can be some of the rowdiest audiences, I guess because they are getting a chance to let go a bit and perhaps act in a way they couldn’t in school, but it’s great that they help to get the energy levels up and become more involved in the shows.”
Watch James Partridge
Further information
- More about The Mowlem’s Christmas lineup and to book tickets
