Uncategorized

Alumni Louis McCartney makes West End Debut

BSPA Bangor Alumni Louis McCartney makes his West End Debut

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.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow

For show information and ticket bookings

Pupils receive LAMDA Certificates

BSPA Midweek pupils receive Lamda Certificates

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.

Interested in Midweek classes?

Drama classes, LAMDA examinations & Musical Theatre

The curtain comes down on Les Misérables

BSPA Summer show of Les Mis

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.

Belfast Times reviews Les Mis

“This youth production of an iconic musical theatre show is stunning…”

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.

BSPA Summer show of Les Mis

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.

Bringing a Fairytale to life

“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.

Northern Ireland World review

“The cast of 78 young performers filled the stage with colour, music, and dance, as they brought the story to life…”

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.

Review from Belfast Live

“A heart-warming evening being amazed by the enthusiasm and exceptional talent of our local young people…”

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.

Congratulations Peter Corry MBE


Peter Corry, our amazing Artistic Director for BSPA, has 30 year’s experience in musical theatre as a performer, director, and producer and has now been honoured with an MBE in the recent King’s Birthday Honours list.

Peter recently spoke about his role at BSPA;

“Being Artistic Director for BSPA is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding roles I play, our ethos is not necessarily to see our students end up in a career on the stage, although that’s fantastic when it happens, but to help them grow in confidence and develop into young adults that can take on anything the world throws at them no matter what path they choose, being able to step up on stage and perform certainly helps to build resilience, something I believe everyone can benefit from.”

Peter has appeared on stages across the world including an impressive three-year stint on the West End as Inspector Javert in Cameron Macintosh’s Les Miserables, and he will be artistically directing our performances of Les Miserables at The MAC Theatre this August – Is there a better man for the job? We don’t think so.

Tickets are selling fast so check out The MAC Box Office Here to get yours.

Note: Best Availability is currently the Saturday Afternoon show which is perfect for the whole family.

Meet our friends, Oscar & BAFTA!

Ross & Peter with Oscar & BAFTA

An incredible story. 

Congratulations to Oscar & BAFTA winners Ross White, James, Paddy, Tom, Seamus and the rest of the team of ‘An Irish Goodbye’, this is the stuff of dreams (or a Hollywood film).

Not many will know this, but Ross was in a junior production of Les Mis back in 2009.

Ross has been one of our teachers at Belfast School Of Performing Arts over the last few years.

He has taught the pupils at BSPA many things but last night he taught them the best lesson of all ~ along with ability and imagination, that commitment and self belief can take you anywhere.

Youth theatre is so important, beneficial and invaluable to so many young people- the arts are important to us all.

Artistic director, Peter Corry was able to catch up with Ross, Oscar & BAFTA. What an honour!

What a huge achievement and what a great example to our pupils. We couldn’t be happier for him.

Well done boys!!

Watch the Irish Goodbye

Available on BBC iPlayer