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 Leigh McDonald from The Young Actors Company agency came to chat to some of our London Seniors about the benefits of joining Spotlight and a bit about the process of auditioning for professional work. Leigh is a bundle of brilliant energy! Her enthusiasm is infectious and she continually goes above and beyond for our students. We look forward to seeing her again in the new year!
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//drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz-ZHQCAlCAURDFxRXRfam5tMkU/view Here are a few stills from the trailer we made... (expertly filmed by Peter Collins!)    "The week in Gloucestershire with Russell Actors is always a highlight of the year! It gives young actors a creative space to learn, laugh and challenge themselves and to make some really special work. This year's 'Much Ado About Nothing' was sixties themed, yet another spin on the play. The week is so intensive in every sense, the friendship you create are bonds for life not only with the actors but everyone involved. The traditional country setting and amazing house make the experience homely and loving for the actors. The show itself is always a huge success and the audience from the local village are always extremely positive about it and return year after year. This year we also had a concert in the local church to showcase all the musical talent in the group. Overall, Gloucestershire is an amazing experience - both as an actor and as a person and I have so many happy memories there." -Aimee Winch (London Russell Actor)
Very excited and proud to see our lovely alumnus Fay get a credit for her work on the set of 'Bridget Jones's Baby'! Fay is also currently starring in 'Right Place Wrong Time' at the Corpus Christie Playroom in Cambridge. A rather wonderful review states: "I felt lucky to watch first class acting from artists whose names will surely be heard much more in the future"
For the past 8 years I have directed a promenade show at a beautiful country house in the Cotswolds. This year, being the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, it felt fitting to honour the bard by doing a production of 'Much Ado About Nothing'. The cast arrived on Monday 15th August and the performance took place for parents and locals on Sunday 21st. We had a great session on Thursday doing the Shakespeare workshop outside in our venue's garden. It was such a magical setting and both the Juniors and the Seniors really threw themselves into it. We focussed on finding the iambic pentameter (shakespeare's magic beat in all of his writing) and getting our teeth around the text. We then performed our monologues to each other at the end in both 'modern' and original versions.   The Russell Actors Plays Festival was held at The Chelsea Theatre on 19th March. Each of the shows had been created by the casts, with some touching and edgy themes, and then scripted by the directors. The London Juniors performed Right in Front of You about the challenges a family faces when the mother dies; The London Seniors performed Fraying about a therapist dealing with complex clients, and the effects on her own mental state. The Colchester group performed Soul Searching about a family in deep denial after the death of their eldest daughter. It explored the themes of religion, community, drugs and grief. These powerful pieces of theatre also had some wonderfully light moments and plenty of comedy to keep the audience entertained and entranced... Congratulations to everyone involved! ;On November 21st, the Colchester and London branches came together at the Lakeside Theatre for the annual Impro Festival! All the actors threw themselves into their improvisations, often with actors from the other branch. Solo, duo and group improvisations spanned all sorts, from catty cross-dressers to exploding sheep... Leigh McDonald, Casting Manager of The Young Actors Company, was our wonderful judge for the festival; she gave great feedback to all our actors and shiny golden (plastic!) cups were awarded to the most innovative pieces. |
