This year our Performing Arts students are lucky enough to benefit from a year long partnership with the Old Vic Theatre.

The Old Vic, based in Southwark and led by Artistic Director Mathew Warchus, was recently hailed as ‘London’s most eclectic and frequently electrifying theatre’.

Throughout the year-long partnership our students will work with professional directors, actors and production designers to develop an understanding of the way theatre is created and gain an insight into the theatre industry. 

They will visit the theatre throughout the year to watch four live performances. For each performance they will work with a different group of industry artists to explore the context of each production and develop key drama and production skills. 

In October students worked with actors from the Old Vic to explore monologues and the skills needed to perform them. The monologues were written by 10 new playwrights and were commissioned specifically for the project by the Old Vic.

NewVIc student: Mandy Thompson said:

“I really enjoyed the light and heavy experiments and learning that you could perform a monologue in different ways to get the message across to an audience.”

NewVIc student: Kristyn Palmer said: 

“I really liked how they isolated our physical and vocal skills by exaggerating them in different ways. It showed me how these details can impact and change the way I can deliver a monologue.”

Next week students will visit the Old Vic to see an adaptation of ‘A Christmas Carol’ written by Jack Thorne. The following week the students will work with lighting designers to explore the way lighting was used in the production and how lighting can impact their own performance work. 

Annie John, Teacher of Performing Arts said:

“This is a really exciting partnership which offers some amazing opportunities for our students. They will meet and work with a range of industry professionals and have a chance to see a wide range of high quality live performances. After 18 months of no access to live performance it will be wonderful to get the students back into a theatre to learn from professionals.”

Student Zaib-Un-Nisa Ashraf said:

“I'm looking forward to the partnership this year as it will give me a chance to gain further acting experience and develop my knowledge of theatre.”

Student Miriam McQueen said:

“I'm very thankful to work with professionals and I hope to gain more knowledge about performance from the workshops.”