First on the stage at the college’s Derby Road-based Create Theatre was the Dance and Express 21 performance featuring first and second year dance and musical theatre students.
Songs from the stage and film were enthusiastically delivered together with impressive dance routines, covering musicals like Shrek with a rendition of Freak Flag and lively numbers such as Forget About The Boy which featured in West End hit musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Students were also involved in the stage management, lighting techniques and other aspects that a stage production team typically work on in a theatre setting, to improve their behind the scenes skills required in such careers.
In the same week, Level 3 first and second year acting students shone the light on a modern play about grief with Burying Your Brother In The Pavement, written by Jack Thorne.
The main character Tom, captured the emotions and upheaval that a sibling death can bring to a young mind. Tom’s decision to bury his brother Luke in the pavement where he was stabbed to death, provided an interesting twist to the tragedy.
The students played the parts of Tom and Luke’s family, police officers, undertakers, estate agents, ghosts and a tramp on the Tunstall Estate.
The third and final act also from first and second year acting students showcased their skillset in a performance of Road. This show explored the lives of Lancashire people in a deprived, working-class street, during the reign of Margaret Thatcher.
Learners captured the characters in a very gritty and dry comical way, enabling the audience to see the mix of humour and pathos from Lancashire born dramatist, Jim Cartwright’s first-ever play.
Programme area leader for performing arts, Simon Watt, said: “The best part of any project is always the performance at the end. The fact that our students can once again perform to the public in full-scale shows, after two years, has been wonderful.
“First and second year students have worked together in every show with great commitment, dedication and skill. As a team, we could not be more proud of them. We hope that the three very different performances provided the public with a welcome chance to experience live performance once again.”