We have been having a very busy term so far, with three different performances in rehearsal, plenty of work with industry professionals and lots of opportunity to watch productions at the Everyman.

Our second years are currently rehearsing Zero For the Young Dudes! by Alistair McDowall, which will be performed in the Everyman’s Irving Studio on 14th November. The play is giving the students an opportunity to really focus on detailed characterisation, which, whilst challenging, is a great way to hone a range of skills.

Our first years are working on their first public performance – a variety show entitled Forget Me Not, which takes war and peace as its theme. The show will include a wide variety of acts, naturally, so expect song, dance, comedy, movement and drama. First years are finding out just how intense things get at Stagedoor, as they work on around 20 different acts for the show. Performing for a public audience is slightly scary, but does mean that our students have a totally “real” experience – just one reason why our course is #betterthancollege!

The third performance that we’re currently working towards is on 11th November – our second years are very excited to be taking part in the huge 100 Years On gala on the main stage at the Everyman. They will be performing an excerpt from The Battle Of Boat, which we will be performing as a full musical later in the year.

Tickets for all of these performances are available from the Everyman Box Office.

Other highlights of the last couple of weeks have included a fantastic workshop with Fourth Monkey, who are an actor training company based in North London. We were privileged to be joined by Steve Green, Artistic Director of the company, as well as alumnus Will, who put the whole gang through their paces in an intensive three hour workshop which gave us a real taste of how Fourth Monkey work. Students were offered the opportunity to sign up for a free audition to the Fourth Monkey training programme at the end of the session – something which several of our second years took up.

Second years have also worked with local director Kirstie Davis, as well as the wonderful Elise Heaven, writer, director and performer. Both Elise and Kirstie took the second years through workshops on preparing for auditions – something that most of them are currently planning to do as they apply for drama school and university courses. This week, Everyman Creative Director Paul Milton will be running a final auditions workshop before we break up for half term.

First years have not been left out – they have got into the routine of weekly workshop with Ria Keen, voice tutor, as well as Liz Warner, dance and movement tutor. As well as this, first year students have been spending time in the marketing and wardrobe departments at the Everyman and have had workshops with Creative Director Paul Milton, and Joe Hackett, who is Marketing Co-Ordinator at the theatre.

The whole group has also managed to fit in productions of Dracula and Gulliver Returns, with the first years also watching The Unknown Soldier. This week, everyone will be watching Othello,  which is a joint production from English Touring Theatre, Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and Oxford Playhouse.

It’s hard to believe that Term 1 is nearly over, but we certainly seem to have packed a lot in!