Hurtwood House Recent Arts News

BEST NEWCOMER KERRANG! AWARD

Following their success in the Metal Hammer awards, heavy metal band Rise to Remain, featuring ex-student Austin Dickinson, son of Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, has won the Best British Newcomer award in the Kerrang! Awards 2010. Congratulations guys.

(2/08/10)

INTERNATIONAL DJ

Ex-student (and ex-Media staff member) Jon Williams has secured a post working as a radio DJ in Canada for the radio station "The Zone" in Victoria, British Columbia. He was offered the job after an trial period only weeks after arriving in the country. Well done Jon-mate. Hear him here.

(2/08/10)

"AN INFLUX OF TALENT FROM HURTWOOD"

Current students

George Gilles

& Betsy

Mackenzie

have received

rave reviews

for their roles

in the Space

Theatre

Company's

production

 of "Our Town’,

produced in Broadbridge Heath in May and directed by Hurtwood drama teacher Hugo Ellis.

Simon Machin's County Times review says "an influx of talent from Hurtwood House School."

George GIlles - "gangly vulnerability".

Betsy MacKenzie - "brings extraordinary presence and naturalness".

(01/06/10)

SITA'S BUSY SUMMER

Sita Thomas is very excited to have been cast in Rebecca Lenkiewicz's new production ‘Stars Over

Kabul’ which

opens at the

Tramway

Theatre,

Glasgow

in August.

She is also

spending

some of the summer touring to Shanghai with the National Youth Theatre in their latest production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

(18/05/10)

GO GO GHANA!

Jason Mohan, or Dr. J. as he is better known in the rap world, is putting the finishing touches to this year's Ghanan World Cup song for the football tournament in South Africa this summer which he wrote and performed with his group G-Force. We hope that Ghana does very well in the competition, (unless they meet England!)

(18/05/10)

SWISS FEATURE FILM ROLE FOR NURIT

180°, a movie produced in Switzerland featuring current student Nurit Hirschfeld in the role of Sabine, has started its pre-premier

publicity.

This tense

drama opens

in September

and is directed

by Cihan Inan.

See the trailer

here.

(01/06/10)

RIO WINS AWARD

Ex-student Rio

West recently

won a "Judges'

Comendation

For Acting"

Award at the

National Student

Drama Festival

for her role in the Warwick University production of "By the Bog of Cats". The show also won the Cameron Mackintosh Music Award and the FestGoers' Award, amongst others.

Congratulations Rio.

(26/04/10)

CAROLINE HAINES IS DIRTY DANCING

We've just

heard that

ex-student

Caroline has

landed the

lead role of

Lisa Houseman,

Baby's older sister, in the West End production of Dirty Dancing. She takes over in July.

(24/05/10)

HURTWOOD GIRLS BECOME NUNS AGAIN

"The Ladies of the Sacred Heart", a comedy, written and directed by Roisin Kelly and featuring ex-students Stephanie Glide, Natasha Nightingale and Roisin herself, will be revised at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. You can catch the show at 'The Spaces: the Surgeon's Hall, Theatre 2' from the 6th-28th August.

(18/05/10)

STUDENTS TOURING TO EDINBURGH

A group of current students, Grace, Beth, Ali, George & Maria are planning to take their devised play "Cake" to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer. They say "the characters in this eternal tea party move as if caught in a nightmare hell of there own making. As the Kettle boils the tension mounts, desires peak as the cake get sliced, conflict resolves as the sugar dissolves, breathless we wipe the stains from the table cloth." See it if you can!

(19/03/10)

SUNDAY TIMES REVIEW

"Kirby is excellent and understated as the unwittingly incestuous Isabella".

From having

attended a

Hurtwood

Shakespeare

Drama

Summer

School, Vanessa Kirby is now getting excellent reviews like the one above for her role in 'Women Beware Women' at the National Theatre. This follows on from 3 leading female roles at The Bolton Octagon. Her leads in Ibsen's 'Ghosts,' Miller's 'All my Son's' and as Helena in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' have already won her The Manchester Evening News' Best Newcomer' award and consideration for the much coveted Ian Charleson award. All this has happened barely a year out of university when she came to Andy Johnson, Hurtwood House's Director in Residence, for some help in getting in to Drama School. Her talent was spotted and we tipped off an agent. And all the rest.... Is history.

(24/02/10)

NIKKI'S LEAD AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE

Nikki

Amuka

Bird has

just gained

the coveted

lead role of

Eurydice

on Richard

Eyre's

production of "Welcome to Thebes" at the National Theatre. The show opens in June in the Olivier Theatre.

(12/05/10)

EMILY'S ON TOUR

Emily Altneu is

going on tour

in the latest

David Wood

show, "Guess

How Much I love

You" from May

to October this year. This Sally Humphreys' production, which is in association with the Rose Theatre, opens in Kingston on the 19th May.

(26/04/10)

"BEST CONCERT I'VE SEEN ALL YEAR"

is a quote

from James

Mulligan

for his GQ

concert

review

for ex-

student

Beatie

Watson

(now Beatie

Wolfe). She recieved the rave ratings when launching her new EP "Burst" in St Pancras Old Church on April 22nd.

"The best concert I have been to all year"

"had the packed room enraptured"

"charismatic stage presence and eloquent lyricism".

You can find more info (and buy the EP) from her myspace page.

(27/04/10)

SAM'S ON AVENUE Q

Not only is ex-

student Sam

Harrison

performing in

the West End

in Avenue Q

on Shaftesbury

Avenue but in

April he'll be playing the lead roles of Princeton & Rod.

(18/1/10)

FANTASTICK LUKE IN PRESS RELEASE

Luke has appeared in a press release about his upcoming West End run in the Fantasticks. See it here.

(02/03/10)

"ITS A FINE LIFE" FOR ANNA CLARK

  Anna Clarke

  is making her West End

debut having

  landed the

plum role of

cover for

Nancy in the

Drury Lane

production of Oliver starring Griff Rhys Jones as Fagin. Anna Lawrence, as she's known in the business, also features as the Rose Seller. The opening night is in December and she'll be working on the show for at least a year.

(edited 9/11/09)

LUCY NARRATES FOR BBC3 SERIES

Established voice over artist Lucy Irving, (Lucy Bigland while at Hurtwood), is the narrator for the new BBC3 documentary series "Blood, Sweat and Luxuries". Lucy is also currently the voice of ITV2 and can be heard on many ad campaigns and radio stations. "Blood, Sweat & Luxuries" also features ex-student Oscar Harwood who spent a year with us before moving on.

(20/04/10)

ALICE & LARA

MAKE "THE CUT"

Alice Southwood AND Lara Goodison have both gained roles in the BBC Switch drama for teens, The Cut, playing "Finn" and "Marla" respectively.

The BBC says " we've pulled together a cast of hotties, thrown a few secrets, lies and crushes at them, stirred, and then watched the drama unfold." Check out the site HERE.

(15/06/09 edited 28/02/10)

OLLY IS THE NEW NICKELODEON STAR

Hurtwood has just heard that Olly Murray has landed a plum job presenting Nickelodeon's new teen show, Teenick, airing every day between 5pm and 7pm. Check it out!

(29/10/09)