The highlight of this week was Pilot Theatre’s production of Brighton Rock at The Everyman. We were treated to a workshop with assistant director Oli O’Shea, who later tweeted “Sharing rehearsal approaches and exercises today with brilliant BTEC students @Everymanchelt before they watch the matinee of #BrightonRock”. The group then watched the play, which student Angel said was “the best show! It was so smooth” It’s always lovely to hear that Stagedoor students enjoyed a show so much that they have booked to see it again!

This week brought the end of the Spring term for Stagedoor, and what a term it has been! I told the Stagedoor gang in January that this would be the term where things got busy, and I wasn’t joking! This term has involved performances at Henley Bank High School in Brockworth, The Everyman Theatre Studio, The Egg in Bath, and the Pump Rooms in Cheltenham, as well watching a total of 8 productions on the main stage of The Everyman, workshops with Pilot Theatre, the Touring Consortium Theatre Company the cast of Flashdance, and the Fabularium Theatre Company, and work experience in costume and marketing at The Everyman.

It’s sometimes hard to remember, amongst all this, that Stagedoor Learning is actually running a Level 3 Performing Arts course, and our students are also writing logs, evidencing their work, undertaking assessments and completing units of study. The course is not for the faint hearted – they work hard – harder, we’ve been told several times, than students at our neighbouring university! But the progress, and the students’ results speak for themselves. This term, students have completed Unit 2 – Skills and Techniques for Live Performance. We’re nearly through Unit 23 – Singing Techniques, and Unit 4 – Performing Arts in the Community – and every single student is currently on track to achieve Distinctions in these units. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve been focusing our energies on Unit 1- Investigation Practitioners’ Work, and Unit 3 – Group Performance Workshop. By the end of next term, we’ll have completed 7 of the 13 units required to achieve a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in Performing Arts. The Stagedoor difference is that almost everything we do is “real”. We want our students to really understand the world of Performing Arts, and our unique partnership with the Everyman allows us to do this. Every performance we have done so far has been for a public, paying audience. It just so happens that they also count towards BTEC assessments.

Looking ahead to next term, we will be completing Units 1 and 3, before spending more time working with Theatre Temoin, understanding how a professional company develops and refines its work. We’ll also be holding a summer showcase in the Everyman Studio, to share some of the fantastic work we’ve done this year. Look out for more details! Of course, we’ll be continuing to offer our students unprecedented opportunities in the theatre, undertaking further work experience, watching productions and working alongside professional practitioners.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Easter holiday.