Ashford School Shine on the Stage
Ashford School students Charlotte Martin (Year 11) and Fig Benton (Year 10) have both been awarded membership to the National Youth Theatre, and places to their prestigious summer training course. They received the news following their hugely successful auditions which were held by the NYT at Ashford School earlier in the year. This was the first time our School has been used as an audition venue for the NYT, and this has helped give both our students, and other local school students, the chance to showcase their talent.
Places for the training course are seriously competitive and The National Youth Theatre were impressed with all who auditioned across the UK stating, ‘the standard of talent has been extremely high so gaining a place represents a significant achievement!’. This is further emphasised by our very Speech and Drama Specialist Neal Andrews, who said, ‘I have worked at many schools and normally one student, if any, wins a place to train with the National Youth Theatre, so having two students is phenomenal.’
The National Youth Theatre was established as the first youth theatre in the world and has helped to nurture the talent of hundreds of thousands of young people and continues to be recognised as a world-leading youth arts organisation. Over the last sixty years it has helped to discover, develop and provide platforms for some of the best known performers in the world including Dame Helen Mirren, Sir Daniel Day-Lewis, Sir Ben Kingsley, Catherine Tate, Orlando Bloom and many more.
The summer course will give the Charlotte and Fig access to the very best drama facilities and training. Membership to the NYT will also open up a number of professional stage and screen casting opportunities, and they will benefit from on-going workshops and expert training. This is a great moment for the girls as they look to follow in the footsteps of prestigious National Youth Theatre Alumni and add their names to an elite list of West End and Hollywood stars.
Ashford School intends to build on this fantastic achievement and will be growing it’s relationship with the National Youth Theatre to help give young performers the platform to shine.
