Penny Lane, Ilkley Grammar School IT was a sell out for all three nights for Ilkley Grammar School’s production of Penny Lane.

The Beatles inspired Penny Lane followed the lives of five girls, whose parts were acted by three different sets of girls depicting times in their lives, from young children in the playground, school girls in the classroom to teenagers and young adults in the big wide world.

The girls were Kate (played by Molly Higgit, Sophie Tarring and Gina Vaughan), unsure about what she wants from life and where she fits, Emily (Alexa Clark, Fay Waterhouse and Sarah Pickering) who follows her love of dance, Susan (Emma Whitaker Pitts, Imogen Parton and Katie Butterfield) strong and independent driven to prove herself in a man’s world, Jackie (Annabelle Cole, Ruby Bisset and Maddie Flint) popular and first to do everything and Louise (Ella Shuttleworth, Ellena Quarmby, Christine Gurung), free spirited and desperate to travel and change the world.

The stories covered 1950s childhood, school and their first foray into adult life in the 1970s all played out against a backdrop of Beatles’ songs and dance.

During upbeat all group numbers, the whole company shook and shimmied through great Beatles classics. During I Saw Him Standing There, Help and the self-titled Penny Lane the group showed their high energy and gymnastic dance moves off to a wonderfully played score provided by Ilkley Grammar Schools’ Lonely Hearts Club Band. The quieter, more reflective moments in the production, were played out with emotion and showed the students’ ability to connect with the trials that life throws at you well beyond their current years. They used the more emotional Beatles’ numbers Ticket to Ride, Eleanor Rigby and In My Life to show the journey the girls travel.

The show built its way up to a beautiful moment when the girls reconnect after Kate suffers family breakdown and sadness, acted out emotionally by Gina Vaughan to a background of Songbird sung beautifully by Dominic Coy and played superbly as a guitar solo by Jack Wilkinson.

Penny Lane came to an end with a full cast emotional and uplifting rendition of Here Comes the Sun providing the feel good finale that every show should have, reminding us in the words of John Lennon, to ‘Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears’.

Lara Ramrattan, Head of Creative Arts, was thrilled with the performances. “The 120 plus students from Years 7-13 have used their performance, design, directing and technical skills to create this show,” she said. “The production really has been about everyone working together.”