National Youth Theatre

Sita Thomas has successfully auditioned for a place in the National Youth Theatre this year to play ensemble and also to understudy the character of Zara in 'White Boy' at The Soho Theatre.

4Grade A'S and a place to read Music at Cambridge but Jessie joins the circus

It's not everyone who gives up a place at Cambridge and runs away to join the circus but Jessie Walters(hurtwood 2001-03) is hardly your average girl. With 4 A-grade A-Levels and a glittering musical career infront of her she has chosen to follow her one true love- the circus. She is living the dream and its working. A recent ful page feature in the Daily Express has highlighted her work, she has her own company and above all she loves what she does. Look her up at www.hooplala.co.uk and on www.jessierose.co.uk

The New End Theatre, London

Former Hurtwood students Tim Digby-Bell and Julie Taylor transfer their Edinburgh success to The New End Theatre, London!   Tell was written and directed by Tim with Julie as lead actress.   Tell at the New End Theatre, 27 New End, Hampstead, London, NW3 1JD
7th - 24th November at 9.30pm (Wednesdays to Saturdays only)

TERRY GOES TO AFRICA

At the end of the summer term Terry got a text from former Hurtwood student Samantha Whittaker who was interrupting a busy acting career to do some voluntary work in Kenya. Her request was deceptively simple: please come and teach debating in some of the most deprived schools on the edge of Kiandutu shanty-town. So within the month Terry got all his jabs and jetted off to Africa for the first time, for what was to be the most remarkable experience of his life – deeply sad and moving on the one hand, but so exciting and fulfilling on the other. In one whirlwind of a fortnight he taught English and debating in St Patrick’s and Garissa Road schools and finished with their very first inter-school competition. The debating will go on and hopefully more schools will be added. Apart form the commitment to return next year, Terry has come back with an ambition. The children in both schools are so poor that most are only there because the charity with whom Samantha was working, Action for Children in Crisis, has set up a feeding programme. School means a full tummy! But not for all. Each day Terry watched dozens of children still queuing after the food had run out. So, in the Spring Term, Hurtwood are going to stage a fund-raising concert, which ideally will become an annual event, with the aim of ensuring that there are no hungry children in either of our ‘partner’ schools. If anyone reading this would like to contribute please send any donation to Terry Nicholls at the school. Not a penny will go to middle parties or on administration! As a guide, just consider that £5 will feed up to sixty children for a day. We can make a difference!

HURTWOOD TAKES EDINBURGH BY STORM AGAIN

EYEBALL THEATRE COMPANY ONCE AGAIN GETS ALL THE PUBLICITY AT THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THIS YEAR FEATURING EMMA GREENWELL , REEF AL LAHIQ AND DECIMA CARDOZO IN JAMES HARTMANS ADAPTATION OF THE CHANGELING

The Changeling
By Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
Eyeball Theatre Company
C Chambers Street
****

After last year's The Tempest, Eyeball Theatre Company—which describes itself as "a ragged band of misfits from London, Ireland, Scotland, Bahrain, France, Portugal and Bognor Regis"—has applied the same simple visual style to Middleton and Rowley's Jacobean tragedy.

Although it is simple in that everything is created using nothing but a wardrobe, some huge white sheets and a handful of props, plus multi-character acting from the seven-strong cast, the use of these few resources is very imaginative and effective. The text, although heavily edited from the original to fit into just over an hour, manages to put across many of the twists in the multiple plots reasonably clearly and is delivered extremely well by the performers.

This is a complex story of love, sex, intrigue and murder, where one character is marrying one man but loves another and gets another man who loves her to murder for her, but the price he wants in return involves her in further murder and deception. There is also a side plot in which involves an asylum doctor who suspects his wife may be unfaithful and a madman who turns out to be faking his madness.

Emma Greenwell is strong in the central role of Beatrice-Joanna, and, as her partner in crime Deflores, Aonghus Weber gives a passionate and intensely-focussed performance. Decima Cardozo is also excellent in the dual roles of Beatrice-Joanna's waiting woman Diaphanta and wife of the asylum doctor Isabella. Andrew Fitch creates two very distinctive characters as the fool Lollio and the lord Tomazo. There are also very good performances from James French as Alsemero and Pedro, Reef Al Lahiq as Jasperino, Antonio and Alonso and Dan Hamilton as Vermandero and Alibius.

Eyeball does impose its physical, visual style on the text, but it is not gimmicky or distracting, instead putting over a clear story in a fresh and clear way with some very good, committed performances from the whole cast.

David Chadderton

COMING TO THE HURTWOOD THEATRE DECEMBER 2007.AUDITIONS SOON.

A LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHER

CLICK HERE TO SEE EXAMPLES OF TARIELS WORK

http://www.photoclub.com.ua/author/1464/

WHITE LIGHT

White Light assists Hurtwood showcase

UK - Entertainment lighting supplier White Light was asked by set and lighting designer David Amos to work with him on the lighting for this year's showcase concert at Hurtwood House, one of the top higher education schools for the performing arts in the country.

Amos has been designing shows for Hurtwood House for several years, working with resident musical director Miles Russell and guest West End choreographers to create. This year, the designer decided to try a different approach to the show. "I persuaded Miles that rather than using the theatre in its standard end-on format, we should do the show side-on, using the full width of the theatre," he explains.

"This presented the production with many challenges in terms of audience seating, which had to be built from scratch, and the close proximity of the band to the audience. Luckily they have a great sound team at Hurtwood, headed up by Dave Parsons; they solved the sound issues and we squeezed in enough seats to make the gig viable."

The new approach allowed Amos to build a widescreen set with a variety of screens and trusses. "With 34 numbers to light, I needed the flexibility a large rig gives to make each song feel unique. Our schedule from build to opening night was also very tight, so I needed a rig that would work first time. White Light did not fail to deliver; the kit was in excellent condition, and Jedd Hamilton could not have been more helpful both in the planning and with support during the show."

The rig White Light supplied to the show drew on the company's extensive hire stock and included 12 Vari-Lite VL2000 Spots, 12 Martin MAC 600s, 17 MAC 250s, 12 MAC 300s, 12 PixellLines, 24 ChromaStrips, 30 ColorBlocks, six Atomic strobes, six PixelPars and two followspots, along with truss, cabling and mains distribution. The rig was controlled by a Chamsys MagicQ100 console, which also ran three Arkaos media servers driving five screens. The video content was designed by John Sims. "With so much video to programme into the desk, it was great to have a lighting rig that you just had to hang, turn on and have it do what it's supposed to do," adds Amos.

For more on the Hurtwood House event, see the April 2007 issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine. (Jim Evans)TOP

HANNAH HERZSPRUNG(HURTWOOD'98)

It's no uplifting tale of redemption but the tale of a violent musical prodigy in a German prison rings true, writes Craig Mathieson.
THE young German actor Hannah Herzsprung had never wanted a part so badly as when she walked into her audition for Four Minutes, the story of a stern and uncompromising piano teacher who tutors at a decaying women's prison and the former child prodigy who becomes her combative charge.
Herzsprung wanted to play Jenny von Loeben, a character whose feelings for the instrument are measured in extremes of pleasure and hatred and whose outward response is ambivalence shadowed by self-destructiveness.
"I didn't know if I could do it, because I'd only had supporting parts until then," says Herzsprung, speaking from her Berlin apartment last week. "I didn't know if I could survive for two hours on the screen and if people would want to follow me but I was fascinated by the character of Jenny. I liked her, even though she was so cold and hard."
Her experience was mainly guest spots and multi-episode arcs on German TV, the same path that informed the career of her father, veteran character actor Bernd Herzsprung. But her favourite piece of advice came from her mother - "always pursue your dreams" - so when she sat opposite the film's casting director, Nina Haun, she didn't hold back.
The audition scene was a meeting between Jenny and Traude Kruger, the potential teacher who has returned an incomplete note of apology the inmate has written to a guard she has violently beaten. The scene ends with Traude insisting that Jenny eat her note as an act of contrition and a setting of disciplinary standards. In the audition Herzsprung ate the sheet of paper they were using as a prop. The casting director told her she had to meet the film's director.
"Later they told me that I was the only one who ate it, but it was really only a small piece."
She came back and did a second scene, a panicked monologue with a bathroom mirror, for writer-director Chris Kraus. Only when Herzsprung won the part did Kraus and Haun tell her that they'd been searching for Jenny for almost a year and that she was the best of 1200 actors who auditioned for the part.
The independently produced Four Minutes achieved success in Germany and overseas sales in 40 countries. Last night it opened the 2007 Festival of German Film in Melbourne (and will screen tonight with Herzsprung in attendance), focusing attention on a film industry that's going from strength to strength.

While releases such as Downfall and The Lives of Others spotlight the new wave of German filmmakers, the festival's 20 titles detail the breadth of cinema the country has to offer.
"There are a lot of great feature films being shown now in Germany - and in the festival - as well as being produced this year and next year," the 25-year-old Herzsprung says. "I'm reading some great scripts and when I have time I'm at the cinema seeing German movies. There's a belief among the supporting companies who finance the movies that good films can be made, so the money is there for filmmakers."
Herzsprung's part in that revival has won her unexpected acclaim in her homeland, rewarding her investment in the character of Jenny von Loeben. Before shooting she spent five months learning the piano and kickboxing, while at night she worked on her own biography of the character, filling in the gaps of Kraus' script. During the shoot Herzsprung would approach Kraus, who was making only his second feature, and ask after each scene, "Chris, was that Jenny?"
"It was tough and exhausting, but yet so much fun doing it," Herzsprung says. "That's why I love acting - it lets me destroy myself. I had to protect Hannah from the character and just use my body and my understanding of the character to feel her and play her. I wouldn't use Hannah's sad moments to play Jenny. I play Jenny with Jenny's memories, with her sad moments. I spent the day with Jenny, but I slept as Hannah."
The film's strength is that it refuses to be an uplifting tale of redemption. "I think you're despicable, you should know that. But you have a gift," Traude (Monica Bleibtreu) tells Jenny.
The elderly woman, whose tangled history with Luckau prison (the film used the real, recently decommissioned jail as a grim location) stretches back to the close of World War II when she was a nurse there, is not a mentor who gets through to Jenny. Their relationship is vicious but emotionally honest.
Nor does it rhapsodise the piano. The instrument is a source of pain to both protagonists, whose memories of it are bundled up with distress and despair. Herzsprung knew exactly what Jenny had to do in the film's finale to satisfy the story. "I had to fight the piano," she says.
Hannah Herzsprung will be at the Festival of German Film screening of Four Minutes at 7pm tonight at the Palace Brighton Bay and will participate in an audience Q&A following the session.
Four Minutes will be released here on June 28.

German actor Hannah Herzsprung, 25, has been hailed a rising star of film for her passionate portrayal of Jenny von Loeben.TOP

GREECE TRIP

This Easter 14 students and 3 brave members of staff took a trip to Tolo in Greece. The trip was a great success and included trips to Epidavors, the ancient Greek theatre site, Temples and Tombs of the dead Kings of Mycene and the beautiful town of Naflion, the old capital. We stayed in the Hotel Christina and had our very own private beach which meant the workshops and performances could take place on the sand and shore. The students rehearsed and performed key scenes from the play 'The Trojan Women' and worked alongside the Artistic Director from the company Actors of Dionysis to produce some excellent work. The performances used fire, masks, music and song and really captured the essense of the play and the heart of Greek Theatre. Doug, Clare & Louise had a wonderful time with the students and enjoyed every minute of the trip, especially when they the students had all gone to sleep! TOP

MAX BIRCH AND CLIFF RICHARD

Max Birch(hurtwood 90-91)has joined forces with Sir Cliff Richard and is now the chief winemaker at Adega do Cantor, Sir Cliffs vineyard in the Algarve.Now producing 180,000 bottles per vintage, the largest single producer in the region, exporting to 10 countries.

Go and visit the vineyards and take a tour of the winery when you are in the region, it really is well worth the visit. www.winesvidanova.com The wine is available at Waitrose online and on the shelves at Sainsburys.

TOP

CANADA TRIP

TOP

THE BIG DIG HAS BEGUN

Work has started on the new media center and is scheduled to be up and running in January 08

JACK HUSTON

Ex HH student Jack Huston opened last night in the West End in the Movie 'Factory Girl' with Sienna Miller.

   TOP                                                  

EMILY BLUNT

Its hard to keep up with the meteoric rise of Emily blunt. THIS WEEKS NEWS is that she is to star in the new SCORSESE film about the beautiful young Queen Victoria. Watch out for Emily in Wind Chill on release shortly.

3 EXCITING SUMMER COURSES AT HURTWOOD

A ONE WEEK RESIDENTIAL INTENSIVE
ACTING COURSE.
Are you talented, ambitious, aged 14-19.Develop your acting skills with the best of the best. Acting for stage, for film and television, audition preparation, voice/speech/movement and combat.
July 2007 Cost £1250

AN EIGHT DAY RESIDENTIAL INTENSIVE
DANCE COURSE.
Launched by RAMBERT DANCE COMPANY An exciting introduction to a professional dance training. Masterclasses and workshops both challenging and inspirational, work with
skilled industry professionals. Classical ballet, hip hop, contemporary and musical theatre styles.
July 21st -28th Cost £1250

A ONE WEEK RESIDENTIAL
FILM-MAKING COURSE.
Are you considering a career in film or television?
This is a hands on Directors Course covering all stages of film making, including pre-production, story-boarding, lighting, sound, camera work and digital editing.
July 2007 Cost £1500

FOR MORE INFO CONTACT info@hurtwood.net
                                                        TOP

POETRY IN MOTION

The following students have just been nominated for winners of the 'Away with Words' poetry prize and will be published in March: Davy Callaghan for his poem ' Lazy Day for a Busy man' and Oliver Horsfall for his poem ' The Last Thing on my Mind'.

THEATRE TRIP TO GREECE

No not Grease. On 22nd March Doug Quinn will take fifteen theatre studies students to Greece where they will have specialised drama workshops as well as seeing the sights.

                                                       TOP

FRENCH TRIP TO QUEBEC

On March 23rd Malika will take a number of students to study at college Northside in Quebec. Four hours of French a day !   It isnt all bad news- the rest of the time will be spent skiing in the St Sauveur and Tremblant resorts.

EMILY BLUNT WINS GOLDEN GLOBE

Congratulations to Emily(Hurtwood2001) on her Best Supporting Actress Award for her role in Gideon's Daughter.

STAFF VERSUS STUDENTS FOOTBALL

The staff took an early lead with a convincing strike from Cosmo but their joy was to be short lived as the students slotted away four goals in rapid fire fashion.All was not lost and by halftime the staff had clawed their way back to level with a supeb long range effort from Remy,a stubby jab from Cosmo and a classic poachers goal from Graham.On paper the second half belonged to Graham,who bagged four more,but in reality it was the first class supply service provided by Mark Ian Ted and Liam that really helped the staff to clinch victory.The crowd were on the edge of their seats 2 minutes from time as the students closed the gap to one with a penalty and shortly after when Cosmo gently floated a header over Bobs head. Luckily the giant keeper leapt like a gazelle and plucked the ball to safety.A fifteen goal thriller 8-7 to the staff.

TOP

FILM ACADEMY NEWS

Film Academy students are now editing their final documentaries, which have been shot in Hong Kong, Germany, Italy and the UK this year.

All films are student initiated and produced. Our slate of productions for 2006/07 include:

THE FESTIVAL OF CHUNG YEUNG, HONG KONG

Hong Kong is Manhattan meets life by the China Sea. A fantastic mix of western and eastern cultures, with a fierce capitalism abroad. Beautifully majestic skyscrapers dominate the bay and the stunning skyline, amidst the teeming eastern buildings crammed into a tiny space with over 7 million inhabitants.

A 7 strong Academy team filmed for 5 days in Hong Kong recently, aiming to capture this clash of culture through the thoughts and feelings of the younger and the older generation towards this famous festival.

The “sweeping of the graves” festival involves a weekend where people celebrate their ancestors lives, honour them and offer assistance for the following year in the after life. They do this through: a special dinner and chrysanthemum tea, kite flying, a family visit, picnic and burning of emblems at the site of the grave of their ancestor.

The cemetery we filmed at was a spectacular one – 20 levels cut into the steep hills beside the Hong Kong Bay, with over 200 impressive marble graves on each level. Over 45,000 people struggled in 27degree temperatures without shade on a 2 mile walk up steep hills to reach the cemetery. Our intrepid film crew did the same, arriving at 7 am to be ready to film the crowds!

Editing has now begun in earnest on the 20 minute film.

STEEL AWAY IN GERMANY

A major steel works in an East German town is the major employer for miles around. Older people are committed to the works, taking great pride in its achievements and international standing. Younger people cannot wait to get away the 30 miles to Berlin, looking for careers in media, fashion, advertising, anything but steel.

A team of 5 shot for 4 days to explore this generation gap through the lives of two characters, and to assess where this quite town goes from here.

Editing has now begun in earnest on the 20 minute film.

BARGA, MUSIC GALORE, ITALY.

A highly ambitious film, with 6 students spending two weeks in the summer seeking to capture the joy and delight of a music and cultural festival high in the Tuscan hills.

Editing has now begun in earnest on the 20 minute film.

SCHOOL WITH A DIFFERENCE

A team of six filmed at a school for children with autism recently, looking to capture their very special qualities and yet the challenges in teaching them.

Editing has now begun in earnest on the 20 minute film.

UK FILMS

UK based films have foundered somewhat this year, which is not normally the case.

We have short films, with production teams attached to each, which we hope to complete on:
The inside story of a tattoo parlour, and the world of tattoo people.
Life models and why they do it.
A Year in the Life of a Shepherd.
A short fiction film, which students have written and will cast and produce.

TOP

THIRD HURTWOOD ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE

Produced and performed by Hurtwood students in the Hurtwood Studio, the third Hurtwood Album is now available.Please contact us at info@hurtwood.net to get your copy now!

THE REUSS LIBRARY

We have received a lovely bequest of History and Art books from the library of Flavia Reuss, who taught History here at Hurtwood from 1972-1984, and who died this year.

Flavia was a dear friend and a one-in-a-million teacher. Eccentric, outspoken, charismatic and caring, she was an instinctive, born teacher who swept her students along with her passion for her subject and with the sheer force of her personality. In so many ways she embodied the real spirit of Hurtwood.

We have named the school library “The Reuss Library” in her honour.

TOP

WEST END SHOW FOR PAUL SELLAR

From Fringe to West End in one jump Following his monster Edinburgh hit with 2Graves, Paul Sellar(HURTWOOD 89/90)is now set to conquer the West End.  2 Graves is set to run  At The Arts Theatre in Great Newport Street,from November 1st  06 through to December 7th 06

DRAMA SCHOOL PLACES OVER THE YEARS!

TOP

BIG NEW BUILDING DEVELOPMENT

At long, long last, we have got planning permission for a major building development.

One of the penalties of having one of the most beautiful school sites in England is that planning permission is the next best thing to IMPOSSIBLE. However, after 10 years and numerous failed planning applications, we have finally succeeded and work will begin in the New Year on a huge extension to the Naylor building.

This will house a brand-new, spectacular, state-of-the-art, split-level dining room and hi-tech kitchen, and this will be a really superb addition to our facilities here on campus.

It will also house a dedicated television studio, even more hi-tech and state-of-the-art than the dining room/kitchen complex – designed to ensure that we maintain our position as the country’s best media/theatre/music/art centre.

TOP

TOP

Home | Sitemap | Contact