A QUARTET of Evesham teenagers are celebrating after being handed honours from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA)
Archie Verhoest, 17, Connor Hill, 14, Ben Morris, 14 and 15-year-old Harry Stanley have all been studying characters and speeches, background and acting skills to be able to take the group’s solo acting exams and their enthusiasm and commitment have paid off.
Harry, Ben and Connor took the Bronze Medal exam, for Grade 6 and Archie was entered for Grade 7, the Silver Level exam in March.
The group have been working with Evesham tutor Eric Jones since September outside of their usual school work and other activities.
Connor is a musician and hockey player, Harry, Ben and Archie all have plenty of other musical strings to their bow, including all having taken part in their school production of ‘We Will Rock You’ last October.
All four attend The De Montfort School and Eric said he was delighted with the outcome
“Ben gained a merit and Connor and Archie gaining distinctions, which meant marks around the 90 per cent level,” he said.
“Archie gained another distinction a year ago for his Grade 6 exam. They have had to learn a lot and practice a lot, not to mention paying for their own exam entries, of course, but it has proved very worthwhile.”
LAMDA exam successes attract valuable UCAS points which students can use alongside GCSE and A level results towards getting to the college courses or universities of their choice.
Each student had to learn one Shakespeare monologue speech from a play of their choice, plus one modern piece of drama also as a monologue.
Archie also had an extra piece to learn, from a play written between 1800 and 1980. So they chose pieces from Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, each one at least three minutes long, plus pieces from A Christmas Carol, Blood Brothers, Our Country’s Goo, a Quentin Tarantino film and An Inspector Calls.
“Congratulations to them on their hard work and commitment – as well as their success in gaining these qualifications at so young an age,” Eric said.
Any teenagers interested in LAMDA qualifications or anybody wishing to know more about performances of The Comedy of Errors can e-mail Eric on [email protected] or call 01386 48788 for more information.
