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BSPA is delighted to announce that they have been accepted by Trinity College London to become a Trinity Exam Centre.

This means we will be offering Trinity Grades and Diplomas to our Students at The Performance Academy at BSPA.

We feel this is the perfect way for our students not only to develop their skills as a performer but also have the opportunity to gain useful qualifications and those UCAS while doing so.

Students will be able to gain a Level 4 Diploma or Trinity Grades while attending the Performance Academy

Performance Academy at BSPA will reopen on Thursday 5th October at Belfast Operatic Company studios. 22 Heron Road, Belfast.

If you are aged 16 year – 24 years and would like to join us for what will be an exciting year please contact us at: performanceacademy@thebspa.co.uk

This opportunity is open to all, not just BSPA Students.

Congratulations to BSPA Bangor Alumni Louis McCartney who makes his West End Debut in “Stranger Things: the first Shadow” at The Phoenix Theatre in London.

We are so excited for Louis who has been cast in the role of Henry Creel, such a talented young man.

We are so proud of you and cant wait to come and support you, we know you will be fantastic.

It was lovely to see all our Midweek class pupils last night and to welcome so many new ones pupils. We hope they all had a fabulous evening.

Congratulations to some of our pupils who were delighted to receive their LAMDA Certificates last night from their teacher Julie Alderdice. So many wonderful results and an incredible achievement.

We are so proud of you all.

Well the Barricades have fallen for the final time and what an incredible month long journey it has been.

A cast of 74 incredible young people, four Gavroches and 4 Cosette worked their socks off and put every ounce of their heart and soul into this production. It was such a privilege to watch their journey, from the first few days of rehearsals every cast member was “off book” and taking on board the direction of the team. They were making friendships, learning new skills and growing in confidence and developing their performance skills.

As you all know “Les Misérables” has been a huge part of Director: Peter Corry’s professional career and I know how special this production was to him, working with a lot of young people he knows through BSPA but also others who joined us for the summer. We are delighted so many who joined, we will be see at BSPA when we reopen next Saturday.

I know our Javert especially benefited from his knowledge of the role and was thrilled when he was granted the privilege of wearing his coat from the West End show.

It was a privileged to watch all the rehearsals and all the performances and to witness the development of what is undoubtably the best version of Les Miserables I had the pleasure to watch. As many parents who watched the show more than once will have noticed, ever member of our ensemble was in character the whole way through and had been encouraged to have their own story and special moments. Who couldn’t have helped notice in “Master of the house”, while you would think all focus would be on the main action, the three girls under the table, giggling and enjoying an underage drink under the table passed by their father. Or the young cook/servant finding the dead mouse, considering what to do with it then shrugging and putting it in the mincer. I love that Peter assisted by Meabh Quinn invests so much time not only with the principals but also giving these magical moments to the ensemble and encouraging them to develop them and make them their own. That and the magical musical so expertly drilled by Ashley Fulton and with the added bonus of an amazing orchestra, made this a show to treasure and one we know our young people will never forget.

There are so many people that need thanked and who added their own expertise, whether it was the incredible sound and Lighting, the costume and props, the stage design, management , marketing , programme and chaperones. In all over 40 adults contributed their skills to make this show come to life.

We would like to thank every one of them and I know you all will have special memories of this week and please believe me that every member of the cast will never forget this show and the role you played in making it so special.

Did we mention we had 6 sold out performances which was incredible for our cast Feeling so proud and emotional and missing all those incredibly talented young people today.

“What makes us special, makes us strong”. and this is a wonderful message for a very special cast who were all absolute stars.

Over 70 young people, aged 6-16 years from all our schools were joined by others from different schools and some children who were doing a show for the first time.

They all joined together 3 weeks ago and rehearsed together, learnt together, laughed together and made some wonderful new friendships. The cast of “Shrek Jr” have been a joy and gave us four amazing shows full of energy, laughter and had our audiences on their feet leaving the theatre with a big smile on their faces.

We would like to thank the amazing Production team of Director. Nik Parks Musical Director: Ryan Greer and Choreographer, Sean O’Neill for all their hard work, encouragement and creativity. Our young cast has learnt so much from you all and will always remember this special show. Dianne Nevin who made our costumes and props look amazing and it was wonderful to watch the casts wee faces light up as they tried them on and their characters came to life.

To the amazing Geoff Clarke Audio Visual for creating wonderful lighting effects to create the magical atmosphere of the Swamp and Duloc.

Thank you to Andy Mcknight and team for a wonderful set and for ensuring everything was safe and organised back stage.

Ensuring that everything works smoothly and keeping our children safe and our parents informed is no easy task and I would like to thank Alex Crawford for a sterling job ably assisted by Eoin Kelly and Jade Patton and an incredible team of chaperones at the theatre.

BSPA is blessed to have an incredible team who go over and beyond to ensure our children have a memorable experience and have the most supportive parents and pupils who helped out front of house or came to support the cast. It was especially lovely to see so many of our “Les Miserables” cast attend and it was very much appreciated by our Junior Cast.