SOTA Lockdown Acting Challenge Entries!

3 years ago

We have given young performers who attend our classes in Reading, Bracknell and Windsor the amazing opportunity to use the Covid 19 / Corona Virus Lockdown to get creative at home, develop their own choreography, singing and acting skills and to showcase their talents to some incredible industry professionals.

LOCKDOWN CHALLENGE PANELISTS

We are so priviledged to have an amazing panel to give our young performers inspiration and feedback.

Actor – Dominic Monaghan (Star Wars / Lord Of The Rings)

Vocal Coach – Jai Ramage (The Voice / The Voice Kids)

Director of Read College – Helen Read (Former West End Performer)

Composer, Producer & Film Maker – Tim Arnold (Latest single release – Weird Now)

All of the creative challenges have something to do with themes we are all experiencing during this extraordinary time. Artists use the world around them to explore and create meaningful pieces of creative work. It has been our aim to encourage young performers to use themes like social distancing, self-isolation, lockdown, heroes working on the front-line, kindness in the community, what it’s like to live through a pandemic and personal freedom to create their pieces – and of course all the pieces created will have been created during lockdown.

There were three challenges to enter pupils could enter as many as they like!

The Singers Challenge: film yourself singing a song of your choice during lockdown that showcases your vocal talents.

The Actors Challenge: write and act to camera a monologue that explores or is inspired by an aspect of living through this pandemic.

The Choreography Challenge: choreograph your own dance exploring themes of lockdown, isolation and dreams of freedom to a set piece of music called The Fall Of A Sparrow – written by Tim Arnold.

ACTING CHALLENGE ENTRIES

We were really impressed by the level of creativity shown in the writing and acting work that has been submitted and would like to congratulate you all. your work shows so many different sides of being on lockdown and the standard of writing was impressive.

Entrants will be receiving their individual feedback from SOTA Patron and Actor Dominic Monaghan, who we are hugely grateful to for his support and contributions as we strive to help our pupils #trainfortheindustry.

Flo – Age 6.

Flo’s monologue focusses on missing family during lockdown and her delivery style makes the audience feel as if they are gaining a very personal insight into her thoughts and feelings. These are impressive skills for such a young actor / writer.

Mimi – Age 8.

Mimi’s monologue focusses on the amusing challenges that Grand parents have had with technology and the fact that whilst it has presented some amusement and frustrations- it’s also provided an important lifeline to our loved ones.

Brooke – Age 9.

Brooke’s piece educates her audience about the ‘Clap for the NHS’ movement. This was an excellent idea to focus her piece on such an important aspect of the Corona Virus and her use of her neighbours in the filming of the piece was genius!

Islaa – Age 9.

Islaa focussed her piece on all the positive aspects of the lockdown and her writing encourages her audience to make the most of the experience and to help each other and the world. A beautiful message.

Robyn – Age 10. “Diary of a Quaranteenager’

Robyn uses her bedroom, props and clever changes of costume to show the passing of time during lockdown, showing a character who starts positively about the experience but who soon finds that lockdown takes it’s toll on her happiness and wellbeing – dealing with very real concerns. We love the title of her piece too.

Olivia – Age 11

Olivia plays an NHS worker, dealing with the Corona Virus in a thought provoking monologue that shows excellent character insight and empathy for her character and the plight of front line workers.

Zuzanna – Age 12.

Zuzanna focusses on the very real issue of ‘screen time’ and family tensions during lock down. We like the way Zuzanna uses an off screen camera to highlight the characters situation, contrasting with the internal struggles her character reveals to us through the camera.

Dylan – Age 12.

Dylan has written his piece about a teenager who is struggling with lockdown and shares his feelings with us, giving us an excellent insight into those who struggle in these situations.

Xavier – Age 13.

Xavier focusses on the experiences of a nurse in training and the trauma they have experienced through their work in the hospital during Covid 19 showing tremendous empathy and insight.