Final year students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts visited NewVIc Theatre to perform Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ for NewVIc Performing Arts and Honours students.

Last week final year students from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts visited NewVIc Theatre to perform Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ for NewVIc Performing Arts and Honours students. RADA, one of the oldest and most prestigious drama schools in the UK receives 3,500 applications a year for places on its prestigious BA Acting degree which takes on 28 students per year.

The cast of ten were accompanied by Director, Natasha Rickman and the Stage Management and Technical team. The end of the show was greeted by a warm round of applause and cheers from the audience.

Miriam, vocational performing arts student, said:

“I really enjoyed the performance as it was very engaging and captivating. I also really loved the set and costume design as it contrasted with the Shakespearean language.”

Lamech, vocational performing arts students, added:

“I realised that facial expressions are very important. The way the actors used their faces and bodies was very vibrant, very energetic and this is so important to keep an audience engaged and enjoying it.”

After the performance the actors and production crew participated in an hour long Q and A in which students asked them a range of questions relating to the play, the acting profession and getting into drama school.

Alex, vocational performing arts student, added:

“The performance was so useful. I learnt from the Q and A how important planning is when preparing for a performance and how much rehearsal is needed to be able to make sure the performance is professional.”

The following week, RADA trained actors Caleb Obediah and Lara Grace Ilori visited NewVIc to run an Acting Masterclass for our Performing Arts students. The workshop explored tackling Shakespeare’s text and developing strategies to develop physicality and movement skills through language.

Miriam, vocational performing arts student, said:

“I found the workshop really engaging and fun and learnt a lot from it, for example how I can develop my physicality and how pronunciation can add deeper meaning to a word”.

Abdillahi, vocational performing arts student, added:

“The workshop was great due to the fact that I learned lots of new skills and this really benefited me with my own work and development as an actor.”