Winter Graduate News
It may be cold outside but that hasn’t stopped our graduates from being involved in a whole host of exciting projects this winter.
Our alumni had a successful night at the recent WhatsOnStage Awards with awards going to four productions with Mountview connections. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie directed by Jonathan Butterell and starring Mina Anwar and Luke Bayer walked away with Best New Musical, whilst Hair, produced by Hope Mill Theatre founder Joseph Houston and starring Andy Coxon, Laura Johnson, Jessie May and Kirsten Wright scooped Best Off West End Production. Away from Musical Theatre, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child starring Thomas Aldridge and boasting Adam King as Associate Lighting Designer won Best West End Show and The Ferryman starring Justin Edwards walked away with Best New Play and Best Direction.
Vault Festival, packed with Mountview graduates, has been running throughout February and into March and you can learn more about its Mountview connections over on our Twitter thread. We also have a whole host of graduates and current students involved with BEAM 2018.
Turning our attention to what our other graduates have been up to, we begin our roundup with our Acting alumni. The last couple of months have had a distinctly Shakespearean feel, with Romayne Andrews and Buchan Lennon involved with King Lear and All’s Well That Ends Well at the RSC and Shakespeare’s Globe respectively. Maisie Greenwood has been performing in two-hander Winter at the Young Vic, whilst Rujenne Green will star in The Dog Beneath the Skin at Jermyn Street Theatre. Maisie Brooker has written and stars in Shanter at the Old Red Lion and away from London Roanna Lewis performs in The Girl with Incredibly Long Hair at Cardiff Millennium Centre and Sharon Small has been in Still Alice at West Yorkshire Playhouse. On your TV screens Brendan Coyle recently starred in acclaimed BBC TV series Requiem and finally, proving that our actors are versatile, Stanton Wright has been going down a storm as part of All or Nothing: The Mod Musical at The Arts Theatre.
Onto our Musical Theatre alumni and as ever, it has been a busy couple of months. New musical Myth: The Rise and Fall of Orpheus opens at The Other Palace in March and stars Laura Johnson, Richard Carson and Damien Walsh whilst Rachel-Lea Gray and Jodie Beth Mayer feature in another new musical, Carmen 1808 at the Union Theatre. Samuel Thomas and Jean-Luke Worrall are in the new cast of The Comedy About a Bank Robbery at the Criterion and Jordan Luke Gage and Rob Copeland are in the company for the return of Bat Out of Hell at the Dominion with acting graduate Julie Stark and Musical Direction graduate Christopher Cameron. Recently Oliver Savile and Simbi Akande performed in Aberdeen Arts Centre’s production of Company and in Leicester Maisey Bawden will be in An Officer and a Gentleman at the Curve Theatre. Back in the West End, Jessica Stent will join the cast of 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Lara Denning appears in Ruthless! The Musical at the Arts Theatre. Our Musical Theatre graduates aren’t immune to Shakespeare and James Gant and Tom Lorcan were recently involved in Twelfth Night and Titus Andronicus at the RSC and Barbican respectively. Last but certainly not least, Tyrone Huntley stars in the world premiere of Angry at the Southwark Playhouse and also takes on some of the classics in Sondheim on Sondheim at the Royal Festival Hall with Rebecca Trehearn.
Our Theatre Directors have also been busy and we start with Peter Taylor, who directed Weird at the Arcola in February, written by fellow graduate Lucy Burke. Eloise Lally directed Gold Coast at Theatre503 and returning to Company at Aberdeen Arts Centre, Oliver and Simbi were directed by Derek Anderson.
Musical Directors next, starting with Dustin Conrad who, fresh from working on Mountview’s Much Ado About Nothing, will soon start work on the UK tour of Fame. Working on other touring productions will be Dan Glover and Alex Bellamy on The Sound of Music and Flashdance respectively. Finally, Ashley Jacobs will be Associate MD on West Side Story at Bishopsgate Institute.
Creative Producing graduate Ellie Claughton produced The Drill at Battersea Arts Centre, which also starred MA Acting graduate Luke Lampard. Also in producing news, Julia Mucko produces previously mentioned The Dog Beneath the Skin at Jermyn Street Theatre.
In Production Arts news, Damien Stanton is currently Assistant Stage Manager for the National Theatre’s Pinocchio and Ella Wheway will be taking on the same role for Kindertransport at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.
Keep your eye on our website for more graduate news coming soon.
If you are a Mountview graduate, please keep us updated with what you’re up to by emailing marketing@mountview.org.uk or tweeting us @mountviewldn.
Photo: WhatsOnStage