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Rebellion is in the air …

BSPA are delighted and excited to announce that we have been granted the honour of staging the Irish Premiere of Roald Dahl’s much loved story “Matilda Jr”

Matilda JR., a gleefully funny story showing the anarchy of childhood and the power of imagination!

This story of a girl who dreams of a better life and the children she inspires will have audiences rooting for the “revolting children” who are out to teach the school’s mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull a lesson.

Packed with high-energy dance numbers and catchy songs, Matilda JR. is a joyous girl power romp. Children and adults alike will be thrilled and delighted by the story of the special little girl with an extraordinary imagination.

We are delighted that our Artistic Director Peter Corry, who directed the Matilda videos at Easter for the MTI Europe Junior Theatre Festival Online, will also be adding his well known artistic touch to our production.

Peter is excited to be Directing this iconic musical and will be endeavouring to ensure that our youngest and oldest pupils will all get their moment to shine and have a lot of fun while doing so.

He says ” To get the opportunity to direct this incredible show is fantastic and to do it after the year we have all been through is something very special indeed. For BSPA to be staging this in an outdoor venue in front of a live audience is an experience those who take part will never forget.”

The rehearsals will be held at Breda Academy and will then move to Crawfordsburn Scout Centre where we will be performing at least 4 outdoor shows which will adhere to Covid regulations at the time of performance.

Please note that times of rehearsals will be given at a later date when we know more re Covid regulations on numbers etc.

Don’t grow up…

BSPA had the honour of being asked  to produce both videos at the request of Musical Theatre International – Europe which premiered at their Junior Theatre Festival Online on 8^th May 2021

Matilda Production Team

Peter Corry

Director

With over 20yrs experience in musical theatre both on stage and behind the scenes, he is the perfect person to bring our show to life.

As a performer, he has appeared throughout the world and as a director, he has staged shows which have toured the UK, USA and Europe.

Peter also runs his own company, Peter Corry Productions which is one of the leading theatre producers in NI.

Peter and his team can’t wait to get started on Matilda Jr.

Ashley Fulton

Musical Director

Ashley has worked in Musical Theatre and singing for over 20 years as an award-winning vocal coach, musical director, performer and producer. 

He is the most successful vocal coach in Northern Ireland. To date, he has had 80 students go onto study at Drama School. This record is unprecedented and the highest number of students to go onto professional training by any individual teacher in the UK. 

Ashley is the director of BSPA Voices and was musical director for 3 of BSPAs former summer productions

Emily McDonagh

Choreographer

Emily trained in Musical theatre and dance, she is now a dancer/choreographer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland as well as a circus artist and cabaret performer.

Emily has been a rolling member of Yuck Circus, an all-female multi-award winning circus company since its birth in 2018 and is the founder and co-director of POKE Theatre, an up and coming interdisciplinary physical theatre company

Please note that as usual our BSPA Summer Youth Project is open to everyone (not just BSPA)

BSPA Bangor pupil Noah Whiteside with Screen dad Cailun Carragher

BSPA Casting is so proud of BSPA Juniors Bangor Pupil Noah who had an exciting weekend making a short film by Director Thomas Pollock, which is focusing on Men’s Mental Health Awareness.

Seen here on set with his screen dad Cailum Carragher, it looks like they both had a great time.

We look forward to seeing the completed film when it is released and are so proud of Noah helping raise awareness of this important issue.

In order to highlight the importance of dancing, acting and singing on the mental health of our youth, The Belfast School of Performing Arts have conducted a survey which showcases the dramatic impact the Covid 19 pandemic has had on performing arts students in Northern Ireland.

The study, which surveyed 166 parents and 102 students, discovered that 100% of students surveyed said that dancing, acting or singing makes them happy, and that 98% felt that taking part in those disciplines also made them feel confident.

 Tina McVeigh, Managing Director at BSPA, says “The results were startling and really highlighted the important role dance and drama plays in the lives of many young people. Like the general population, many of our students are struggling, during the last year we have been open just nine weeks for face to face classes and have had to take our classes online. Both our students and teachers have embraced these changes as best they can but we believe it has had a detrimental effect on our students. Recently we have seen a drop in attendance to our zoom classes as lockdown lethargy has really set in. I’m confident that our students will return to face to face classes as soon as they can but when that day comes we will have a lot of work to do to get them back to the levels of confidence that they had pre-pandemic. These young people have been dealt another huge blow with the announcement that singing is now banned in schools, after the first lockdown this was allowed and I am struggling to see the sense. This is not the case in the rest of the UK, and with no evidence to back this decision up I fear it is one that has been made in error and once again those who participate in the arts are being made to suffer. Despite a previous submission by ourselves which was requested by the Department for Communities on the impact of the pandemic on performing arts, we are still fighting for our voice to be acknowledged.”

“We decided to carry out a survey so that we could better understand how our pupils are feeling, how their parents see changes in their children and crucially, what we can do to help.”

Peter Corry, Artistic Director at BSPA goes on to say;

“We believe that the role we play is important and goes far beyond teaching young people to sing, dance and act. Taking part is not all about becoming a stage star but about building confidence, creating friendship and developing skills that can really help young people as they grow in all areas of their lives. Much like sports, the disciplines of dancing, singing and acting have a huge impact on the general well-being and happiness of our young people and I believe that now, more than ever, our students need these activities to be reinstated.  An important fact highlighted is that 99% of students and 97% of parents said that attending music, singing and dancing classes has a positive impact on other areas of their lives. Parents (98%) also feel that attending these classes plays a crucial role in their child’s development. It’s clear to us that we need to take action – the well-being of many of our students relies heavily on how we move forward from here. I would urge the executive to reconsider their decision and reinstate all forms of performing arts for students in a safe manner allowing our young people to feel the pleasure and joy they so badly deserve.”

 As a result of the survey BSPA have initiated a series of workshops, which will initially take place initially via the medium of Zoom, with leading  Performance Mindset Coach, Brenda Shankey. Brenda predominantly works with performers in London’s West End at the Urdang Academy of Performing Arts, and is also an expert in Children’s mindfulness.

Brenda explains; “I work daily with performing arts students dealing with issues that range from, lack of confidence, stage nerves and anxiety to panic attacks and overcoming general fear. Throughout the pandemic all of these issues have been magnified and the return to rehearsals will certainly be hard for many. 

“I am delighted to have been brought onboard to work with the team at BSPA to help the teachers and the students learn new tools to help deal with a return to normality – whatever that will look like, in the hopefully not too distant future.  Many students will have lost confidence in themselves, perhaps lost interest in some of the things they once loved, these workshops aim to start to rebuild the performing arts child from the ground up.  

“We will work on a series of techniques that will help each student focus on the moment and all of these techniques can be used in any area of their lives, not just when performing to create a greater feeling of calm and embracing the moment.”

 The survey also showed that 55% of parents believed that their child had lost confidence in themselves and 43% said that their child was harder to motivate and has lost interest in activities they once enjoyed.

 The Belfast School of Performing Arts is Northern Ireland’s largest performing arts school and this year marks its 10 year anniversary.  Over 700 students, aged 3-19, of all abilities, regularly enjoy classes in singing, dancing and drama coaching.

Students receive exceptional specialist training from fully qualified performance artists and teachers in a safe and encouraging learning environment.

BSPA takes pride in teaching much more than just performance. This unique environment nurtures close friendships, self-confidence, determination and an array of transferable skills that help students succeed not only on stage, but in their day to day lives.

BSPA Casting is thrilled to announce that BSPA Juniors Lisburn pupil Eva has been cast in a very exciting film. Eva will be singing on stage and filming alongside Game of Thrones and Derry Girls actor, Ian McIllhinney and BSPA Belfast Pm Drama teacher Julie Alderdice.

What an exciting and fantastic opportunity for this talented 5 year old and we can’t wait to see the finished film

What an exciting opportunity 7 year old BSPA Lisburn pupil Theo Blacklock had when he was the youngest of four participants in an exciting zoom workshop at the weekend. The “Acting for Animation Workshop was taken by renowned voice actor, Katie Leigh. She has and still voices many Disney characters, as well as playing one of the main characters in an audio drama series, Adventures in Odyssey. among many others.

Being the youngest and the only participant not from America he naturally got a lot of attention. What a fantastic opportunity for this talented young pupil.

As we look forward to welcoming back our pupils virtually on zoom it is hard to believe that 10 years ago today BSPA opened the doors for the first time welcoming 37 excited pupils and started on a fantastic musical journey.

During the last 10 years BSPA has grown to become N Ireland’s largest Performing Arts School with 8 schools in Belfast Ballymena, Bangor and Lisburn and 12 BSPA Juniors classes. Since we opened several thousand pupils have benefited from being part of the BSPA Family with several now having gone on to Drama School or performing professionally or even teaching for BSPA .

BSPA has also produced over 80 high class shows, provided workshops led by Westend and Broadway stars and provided entertainment at corporate events. Our pupils have joined well known stars on stage and taken part in both Professional and Amateur shows and pantomime with other Companies.

We have taken our pupils and parents on exciting trips to London, New York and Disneyland Paris and won awards both as individuals and groups in Competitions.

Through our casting agency many of our pupils have had the opportunity to star in films, adverts, TV, professional shows and pantomimes and our midweek accredited classes have resulted in high grades in individual exams in Drama and Musical Theatre. It has also been delighted to support many charities over the last few years.

On behalf of all the pupils who have come through our doors over the last 10 years I would like to thank every single person who has provided them with fantastic opportunities, taught at our schools, helped create the magic in our productions, helped with marketing and design and ensured our children’s safety both at shows and more recently at our schools due to Covid 19.

Every one of you should be very proud that you have contributed to the success and growth of BSPA and have helped our pupils build their confidence, performance skills, build friendships and most importantly provided them and their families with a lot of fun, laughter and happy memories that will I hope stay with them for a very long time. Looking forward to creating more exciting memories in the next ten years ( Tina McVeigh)