ASPIRING young drama students from across Craven attended the first ever spring drama festival held by Stage 84.

The festival, held in Bingley, included students, aged between seven and 18 years old, who attend Stage 84’s Saturday morning drama workshop classes held at Skipton Girls High School.

The festival was organised to create new opportunities for young people to perform for a live audience and to receive feedback from a professional independent adjudicator.

Almost 120 took part, each performing a 10 minute extract from a published play, which they had rehearsed over several weeks.

All students also took part in a professional drama workshop, which saw the students from across the Bradford, Skipton and Burley-in-Wharfedale branches working together for the very first time.

Children in both the Skipton Junior and Intermediate classes were each awarded first places at the festival. A fantastic achievement which follows on from excellent results gained in prestigious Trinity College London Drama examinations in October last year.

Several of the groups from Stage 84’s Skipton branch who took exams gained the top ‘distinction’, with one Junior group achieving the top result in the school, with a mark of 92.

Students from Skipton have recently secured numerous auditions for television dramas and commercials. They have auditioned either in person or via taped audition pieces, offering them the valuable experience of being evaluated by professional casting directors from across the industry. Some have also been fortunate enough to secure roles in professional theatre or television production.

Stage 84 was first established in Bradford in 1984 by principal Valerie Jackson, and new classes were opened in Skipton just under three years ago by the school’s managing director, Craig Winward, who is also one of the teachers in Skipton.

“We are delighted to see the ongoing success of the young people who attend our Skipton classes. Parents regularly write to us to say how much their child’s confidence has developed, or how their communication skills have improved as a result. At a time when many schools are cutting back their performing arts provision, we are pleased to be in a position to offer unique opportunities for our students which we know they will both enjoy and equip them with skills they will be able to call upon in the years ahead. It is a genuine pleasure for us to work with children from Skipton and the Craven area and we are now looking forward to our big Summer School in the summer holidays.”

Stage 84 will hold its annual Summer School at Skipton Girls High School in late July. To find out more, visit:stage84.com