This week has been incredibly busy with rehearsals for Stagedoor’s first public show at the Everyman – a variety show entitled That’s Show Last Century (Sean’s idea) Not only is this the first public performance for the Stagedoor gang, but it will be their first assessment for their Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma. Before getting stuck in to rehearsals, they researched the history and development of the Variety genre, tracing its roots in Victorian Music Hall, and learning about the type of acts which were popular. We then followed its development through the 20th Century, discovering how popular TV shows like The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. The next step was to choose a theme for the show, and then to make decisions about acts which both fitted the theme and allowed the cast to show off their considerable talents.

The final choice for theme was The 20th Century, and so That’s Show Last Century will take its audience on a journey from 1900 to 2000, in song, dance, comedy and drama. The show will be performed on Thursday 9th November at 7.45pm in the Everyman Studio. Tickets are just £6 and are on sale at the Everyman Box Office.

On Friday, we welcomed visitors from VLUK, another of our partners, who were very impressed with what they saw, and are looking forward to seeing the students on stage on 9th November.

We’re now taking a break from rehearsals to spend a full week working with the internationally renowned physical theatre company Theatre Temoin. This is a really exciting opportunity for our students, and we’re thrilled that our partnership with the Everyman means, yet again, that our students are able to have such incredible experiences.

A final word about the students. I’ve been teaching for 20 years, and have never before had such a consistently hard-working group. Whilst other schools and colleges are breaking up for half term, the Stagedoor students are preparing for an intense week of learning and developing new skills, and building on and refining those they already have. We’ll be taking a break the following week, but they have decided to dedicate a full day of their holiday to rehearsing for their show, to ensure that it is in the best possible shape when we go into show week. I am incredibly proud of their dedication and commitment.