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Students showcase their talent at the Theatre Royal

YORK College University Centre has staged its first-ever Graduate Showcase at the Theatre Royal.

The first graduating cohort from our BA Acting for Stage and Screen degree exhibited their highly impressive drama skills by performing a series of short scenes from contemporary plays and Shakespeare classics.

Captivating extracts from Closer by Patrick Marber, The Effect by Lucy Prebble, Sixty Five Miles by Matt Hartley, Eigengrau by Penelope Skinner, Consensual by Evan Placey and Bird by Katherine Chandler were all played out in front of industry professionals on the lookout for talent.

A video of the performances will also be sent out to agents who were unable to make the Showcase.

Commenting on the event, Programme Leader and Acting Lecturer James Harvey said: “The Graduate Showcase was a culmination of two years of professional actor training and gave our first cohort of actors an opportunity to present their work to the industry, which will launch them into successful careers for many years.”

York College University Centre is just one of around 20 education providers in Great Britain and Ireland affiliated to the prestigious Spotlight Graduate Membership Scheme

The only other one in Yorkshire is based in Leeds and the course is regarded as a professional actor training programme by the industry.

Our degree is run in partnership with the Theatre Royal and Screen Yorkshire, who helped finance the iconic BAFTA award-winning film This is England, as well as the hugely popular TV series’ Peaky Blinders and All Creatures Great and Small.

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Jordan Benson, playing Rich, is roughed up by Jim Carnall’s Pete in Sixty Five Miles by Matt Hartley during the final Graduate Showcase rehearsal at the Theatre Royal

Students immerse themselves in professional acting training all day, every day on a course that is overseen by James, who is currently developing a musical with West End collaborators.

James is assisted by a highly talented team of working professionals, boasting bags of experience in the industry, including Voice Lecturer Yvonne Morley-Chisholm, who regularly works at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Movement Lecturers Jen Malarkey and Gemma O’Connor, Professional Development Lecturers Niall Costigan and Cassie Vallance and Screen Acting Lecturer Kate Chappell.

External industry experts are also frequently invited to share their knowledge with students and the Royal Shakespeare Company recently delivering a workshop on motion capture.

For more information on our BA Acting for Stage and Screen degree, please click here

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Celeste North Finocchi is frustrated as Adriana in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors
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Philippa Hickson plays a heartfelt Isabella in Measure for Measure by Shakespeare
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Zee Williams and Jim Carnall are in conflict in an American Medley
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Lizzie Lickley’s Alice (left) challenges Celeste North Finocchi’s Anna in Patrick Marber’s Closer