The final term of this academic year was a real rollercoaster. We spent the first two weeks on final rehearsals for our first ever full scale musical – The Battle of Boat by Ethan Lewis Maltby & Jenna Donnelly. During that fortnight, we worked with professional Musical Director Jez Francis, as well as de-camping to St Andrew’s Church to rehearse in a larger space, before a wonderful, if hectic, day at the Parabola Arts Centre in Cheltenham. We only had one day in our performance venue, so our fantastic cast got through technical and dress rehearsals before performing for a sell-out audience in the evening. Feedback from the audience was absolutely overwhelming, with a four star review from Creative Reviews UK.

Production images by Neil R Smith – sosfilm. The full set can be viewed here

Following the success of The Battle of Boat, our students undertook independent research projects in to the development of Musical Theatre, and we finished the year with some excellent presentations from both first and second years.

The end of term was certainly emotional, and it was difficult saying goodbye to our wonderful second year students, all of whom have achieved great success in their BTEC, and are leaving us with grand plans for the future. We wish them the very best of luck, though we fully expect to see plenty of them over the next few months! First year students finished for their summer break, and we look forward to welcoming them back in September.