THE scene may look a little chaotic, but the young performers knew exactly what they were doing.

They had spent weeks preparing for their production of King Arthur and the Saxons.

The photograph was taken at Headington Secondary School in Oxford – better known to many of our readers as Margaret Road School – in 1972.

King Arthur and the Saxons was an operetta adapted from the work of Henry Purcell, the 17th century composer. In the scene shown above, King Arthur’s subjects are celebrating their military victory over the invading Saxons.

Teachers from several different departments at the school, including art, needlework, music and English, combined to help stage the production.

Brenda Catanach, head of the music department, was in charge of bringing it all together.

King Arthur was played by Matthew Del Nevo and the Bard by Mary Greenfield.

The cast of 62 were accompanied by an orchestra of nine instrumentalists from outside the school.

We are not sure how many performances of the operetta they gave to audiences of parents and friends, but all took place in the school hall.

Apart from King Arthur and the Bard, we don’t know the names of any of the children who took to the stage in the production.

Do you remember the show and recognise yourself or anyone else in the picture?

Write in and let us know.