The Wait Is On For Final Results

Students from all 4 Phoenix Musical Theatre classes presented performances to an external examiner from LAMDA (The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) in the hope of gaining high marks for their group examinations. The 4 performances were those that were recently presented at The Phoenix Musical Theatre and Dance showcase at The Playhouse in March. Year 1 to 4 (pictured left) presented excerpts from Annie whilst the year 5 and 6 students performed excerpts from Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. The Intermediate class performed songs from the Madness themed Musical Our House whilst the presentations were rounded off with a cut down version of West Side Story by the Senior Class.

Although we now have to wait for a few weeks for the final results, the examiner from LAMDA said she had witnessed one of the most entertaining mornings for a long while, stating that she would be willing to pay good money to see the Senior class perform the whole of West Side Story! The standard needs to be high if we are to maintain our LAMDA Musial Theatre record as last year every class received a distinction! We’ll let you know the results right here as soon as we get them and in the meantime a great selection of pictures from the day can be found on our Facebook page.

Phoenix Student Connor Fronts Indie Band

Phoenix Theatre School  drama and musical theatre students Connor Linden (right in picture) and Calum Landau (left in picture), aka 2 thirds of the indie band Late Night Volleyball, performed a set on stage at Nambucca in London on Saturday 28^th April. Nambucca is North London’s premiere live music venue with a growing reputation for showcasing the best new unsigned bands in the UK.  Guitarist and vocalist Connor and bass player Calum were joined on stage by drummer Sophie Lynch and, with Arctic Monkeys and Subways influences, their set of mainly original material with a few covers thrown in was well received by the enthusiastic audience.

See Late Night Volleyball’s next gig at The Square, Harlow on 10^th May.

School Makes up 5 Acts out of Final 24

The Rhodes Talent Search grand finalists have been announced and Phoenix students make up 5 of the 24 acts that will be appearing. Two of these acts are actual group acts entered by the School, although 3 of the individual acts that will appear at the Grand Final on Saturday May 26^th are Phoenix students. Following auditions there were 42 acts still in with a chance and the panel of 4 independent judges had to make the difficult decision of cutting this list down to just 24.

The 2 group acts are the Phoenix Clowns (Pictured top right) and Phoenix KBD (pictured bottom right). The Phoenix clowns, although originally formed several years ago, have been rejuvenated following a Jack Petchey funded Hip Hop workshop during the easter holidays and now consist of approximately 20 Phoenix drama students, mainly boys, who present an act based on physical theatre, mime, hip hop dance and beatboxing. The clowns were a huge hit when they made their first ever performance at the auditions for the Rhodes Talent Search in late April. Phoenix KBD, named after Phoenix dance tutor and group leader Katie Barker-Dale, are 6 Phoenix drama, dance and musical theatre students who have worked for the past few weeks on a version of Christina Perri’s hit song Jar of Hearts.

The 3 soloists to have made the final are Jake Poolman, Melissa Mountney and Sarinna Proudfoot Mathurin (pictured above left). All 3 students are testament to the importance of full commitment to training as they all study all 3 disciplines of drama, dance and musical theatre. Ten year old Jake, shortly to take a break from the national tour of Oliver!, sang Whistle Down The Wind from the musical of the same name whilst Melissa, 9, entertained with Wouldn’t it be Loverly? From My Fair Lady. Sarinna, just 7, stunned the judges and the audience at the auditions with a haunting version of At Last by Eta James.

The Grand Final takes place on Saturday May 26^th at The Rhodes in Bishops Stortford and tickets, which are expected to be highly sought after, go on sale from May 1^st and can be booked on 01279 651746. Pictures from the auditions can be seen on the Rhodes Facebook page.

Phoenix Students Audition for Top Talent Show!

Phoenix students were recently involved in auditioning for the first ever Rhodes Talent Search, held at the Rhodes Centre in Bishop Stortford. The auditions were held over 3 days where a variety of different acts auditioned in the hope of gaining a place in the Rhodes Talent Search Grand Final which takes place on Saturday 26^th May. The winning acts will then get a chance to perform at The Bishop Stortford Carnival on Saturday 16^th June at Sworders Field in Bishop Stortford.

Over the course of 3 days, (15^th, 21st and 22^nd of April) a total of 71 acts auditioned in front of a panel of four judges drawn from the entertainment industry. Following the auditions a total of 42 acts remain in the competition and the judges will now select the 22 finalists from this list. Phoenix Musical Theatre, Drama and Dance students participated in both group and solo performances including; The Phoenix Clowns (Directed by Vice Principle Jeanne Stacey following on from a recent ‘Clown Workshop’ created by Jody Schroeder, an internationally renowned hip-hop artist, and pictured above), a version of Christina Perry’s Jar of Hearts (choreographed by Phoenix Dance teacher Katie Barker-Dale, and pictured below), and a number of soloists including Primary students Jake Poolman, Sarinna Proudfoot-Mathurin, Elena Cotton and Melissa Mountney and Intermediate students Olivia Pritchard and Jessica Wolohan.

It was a very successful event and everyone that took part really enjoyed the experience and had a great day. Many of the above mentioned Phoenix acts are in the final 42 and we wish them the very best of luck in reaching the final and we’ll let you all know the outcome as soon as we do! More pictures taken throughout the auditions can be found on the Rhodes Facebook page.

Nominated by Phoenix Principal Phil Dale

Drew is a triple threat student who studies drama, dance and musical theatre with Phoenix and has shown great improvement in recent months. He also recently completed two weeks work experience with the company.  During that time he proved himself to be not only great fun to work with but reliable, adaptable and willing, three qualities that will no doubt serve him well in his future career.  Drew’s commitment to Phoenix in recent weeks has been unprecedented and we are delighted to give this Jack Petchey Achievement Award to Drew in recognition of this fact.

Clown Troupe to enter Talent Search

Phoenix drama students spent 3 days during the Easter holidays in the company of internationally renowned Hip Hop artist Jody Schroeder in order to learn the basics of various Hip Hop skills including popping, locking, breaking and beatboxing. The workshop was funded by the Jack Petchey Foundation following a grant application made by Phoenix Principal Phil Dale. The Phoenix Clowns were first used as cheerleaders during the Thunderslam Wrestling shows that Phil used to produce at The Playhouse in Harlow. Having stopped producing the shows, Phil was keen to keep the idea of the clown troupe. It is planned for the troupe to become a vehicle for promoting Phoenix Theatre School at events and shows by using physical theatre and Hip Hop skills.

Throughout the 3 day workshop Jody was joined by Phoenix Vice-Principal Jeanne Stacey who helped develop a 5 minute mime, physical theatre and Hip Hop routine. The first chance for the Clowns to be tested in front of an audience will be at the auditions for the forthcoming Rhodes Talent Search event in Bishops Stortford. The auditions will be the first stage of the competition, with the ultimate goal of all acts to win through to the Grand Final at the Rhodes on Saturday May 26^th. The winners of the Rhodes Talent Search get to showcase their performances at the Bishops Stortford Carnival in June.

Phil was delighted with the way the workshops went and is really looking forward to the Clowns becoming an integral part of the school. “Jody is an amazing guy – he’s just about the most passionate performer I’ve ever come across and the students loved being able to spend time with someone of that calibre.” The Clowns distinctive look and character will be revealed at the auditions at Rhodes and we’ll bring you details of how well they went down as soon as we can.

More pictures from the Clown workshop can be found on our Facebook page.

Sophie Represents East 15 Acting School at National Festival

Primary Drama Tutor Sophie Barker was onstage at the world famous Globe Theatre on Londons Southbank this weekend (1st April). Sophie, who teaches drama in Harlow on a Saturday, played the part of Imogen in an excerpt from William Shakespeare’s Cymbeline that was the East 15 Acting School entry into the Festival (Pictured left). The Sam Wannamaker Festival, named after the actor whose lifelong ambition was to see the famous Globe Theatre recreated, brings together students from all 21 of the UK’s accredited drama schools to present a collection of duologues. As well as East 15, other drama schools represented included RADA, LAMDA and the Central School of Speech and Drama. Although the event is a celebration rather than a competition, the sense that each school is hoping to ‘out do’ the others with their presentations is apparent and Sophie’s achievement in being picked as the only female actress form East 15 is a reflection of the high regard with which she is held at the school. Sophie is currently in her final year of a 3 year acting course at the Loughton based drama school.

Largest audience ever for Primary Showcases

All 104 Phoenix primary drama students recently performed in the annual drama showcases 2012 (24th & 25th March) in the Studio Theatre at The Harlow Playhouse.

For the first time there were four performances playing to a combined audience of 500 enthusiastic parents and family members. In total we were treated to 13 separate pieces with an amazing mix of intriguing stories. These included a visiting alien from planet Zion, the history of working children, the tale of how Amazonian birds came to obtain their colours and many more. Highlights included the year 1 and 2 Harlow class’ tale of the Boy who Cried Wolf and the theatrical presentation of The Great Snakeskin, a piece created by the year 4-6 students from our new Bishop’s Stortford primary classes.

Each show finished with a finale devised by the students themselves in which they expressed what being a Phoenix student means to them and why they love our school. It was a fantastic conclusion, to a fantastic show. The children will be performing their pieces again for this year’s group LAMDA examinations in May and will have the opportunity to receive external accreditation for their efforts. We are sure they will do well and prove to be a credit to Sophie Barker and Faye Linden our Primary Drama tutors who have been ably assisted this term by Amy Moulder and Connor Linden.

Both shows were filmed and photographed and DVD copies will be available soon.  A selection of the pictures taken can be seen on our Facebook page. The other 1400 or so will be available on a disk along with any DVD order.

Nominated by Phoenix Principal Phil Dale

Emily is a diligent and conscientious student who always approaches her performance with a mature and professional attitude.  This was most recently demonstrated in the role she took in her group performance of The Pied Piper at the recent Phoenix Showcase.  Such is her commitment, that she has recently moved to the second, more advanced drama group on Tuesday evenings.  She is a great student with much potential and I am sure she will continue to flourish.

Senior & Intermediate Students perform in Playhouse Studio Theatre

Approximately 100 Phoenix drama students appeared in the Studio Theatre of Harlow Playhouse last weekend (16th & 17th March) to showcase their work to packed audiences of friends and family. For the first time the Senior and Intermediate classes were split and Senior Students (Year 10+) performed on Friday evening whilst Intermediate Students (Year 7 to 9) performed twice on Saturday. This was due to the increased number of students in the Intermediate age range following the opening of our Bishops Stortford classes.

The presentations included a mix of devised and scripted work, much of which will be honed over the coming weeks before students enter group LAMDA exams towards the end of May. On Friday the first Year 10+ class presented scenes from the Willy Russell play Stags and Hens whilst the second Year 10+ class presented 3 short devised pieces including a twist on the recent story of the Dale Farm evicitions (pictured right).

On the Saturday evening it was the turn of the Intermediate classes (Year 7 to 9) The first Harlow class preseted prose work consisting of an excerpt from The Woman in Black as well as a version of the Pied Piper. The remaining 2 classes presented an eclectic mix of devised work ranging from the story of a tragic incident revisited (pictured left) to a cautionary tale about a young girl who was spoilt. DVD’s of the presentations wil be available shortly and pictures can be found on our Facebook page of both the Senior and Intermediate presentations.