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Posted: Thursday 17 March, 2011
Last week, hundreds of local children took part in the annual Mid-Somerset Festival. The two week long festival holds classes for every Arts discipline – Speech and Drama, Music, Dance, Creative Writing and Musical Theatre – and the standard of entrants is always very high. This year the 60-strong Next Stage Youth group had eight entries inthree different Group Acting classes. We were delighted to receive our best ever results, scooping up two Winners trophies and three Second placings, with every group receiving above 83 marks.
First up for us on Thursday was the 16 and Under class, where we had four groups of teens performing extracts from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Teechers, Our Day Out and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The adjudicator commented across the board that all the Youthers worked extremely well as teams, with everyone on stage maintaining their energy and character for each performance. He also picked up on the quality of the “cameo roles” – actors who may only have had a few lines but made a terrific impact to the scene. In an excellent class Our Day Out was awarded second place and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie won with 91 marks and an “Outstanding” certificate.
On Thursday evening the Under 21 class convened at The Guildhall with 14 of our eldest Youthers entering as two groups. In a very close-fought battle, an extract from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie came second with 89 marks and Teechers won with 90. It was a particularly emotional victory for some of our elder members of the company, as this will be their last Mid-Somerset competition before moving on with their studies or into higher education. We wish them all the best in the future and would like to say congratulations for everything they have achieved in their time with Next Stage Youth.
Our last class was on Friday morning, when two groups entered the 12 and Under class. This was a very large class with 11 entries, and our group performing The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe were narrowly pipped to first place by one mark.
Well done to all of our Youthers for all the hard work they have put in during the weeks running up to the Festival, and congratulations on this excellent set of results. Each group has had one more chance to perform their extracts to family and friends at a Showcase before taking a well-deserved Easter break.
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