Stage is set for city acting students

Students from a Chester acting school are stepping out to pursue dreams of stage and film careers after landing places at the country’s leading drama schools.

North West End Acting School student Michael Murray has secured a coveted place at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London.   No stranger to the theatre, the former Ellesmere Port Catholic High School student has already tread the boards at Storyhouse, Chester in the highly-acclaimed production of Blue Stockings, staged just before the first UK lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Fellow NWEAS student Joseph Stanley, who is currently appearing in the semi-dramatised Sky documentary Liverpool Narcos, will be heading to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and Charles Harris, of St Helens, will study acting at ArtsEd in London.

Olivia Millington, of Flintshire, is taking musical theatre at the Emil Dale Academy in Hertfordshire while Lydia Jones will start at ALRA (The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts) in Manchester in September.

Director of NWEAS Francis Tucker said: “We are so proud of all our students.  This past year has been so challenging for them with lessons online or socially distanced in the studio so it is an extra credit to their talent that they have stuck with it and beat stiff competition to get in to some of the UK’s top schools.”

Co-director Lucy Thatcher added: “Auditions for drama school are challenging enough at the best of times but with some taking place online and only the final audition being in person, it has been even tougher.

“We are delighted that Michael, Joseph, Lydia, Charles and Olivia are able to pack their bags, move away from home and begin their exciting acting journey in person! We wish them the very best.”

Current NWEAS students are in for a musical treat in August when award-winning musician, composer and songwriter and Echo and the Bunnymen keyboard player Jez Wing will join physical theatre and acrobalance specialist Becky Illsley in leading a week-long summer workshop alongside director Lucy Thatcher.

A Midsummer Night’s Mash Up, from August 23-27 at Garden Lane Methodist Church, is aimed at teens and young adults.  For more information, to book a place or find out more about NWEAS acting courses visit:

www.northwestendactingschool.co.uk.