Lamont Drama pupil Lois Cringle returns in the hit BBC1 drama series The Responder.

13-year-old Lois reprises her role as Lexie, daughter of Jodie Sweeney played by Faye McKeever (Time, A Confession, Trollied, Little Boy Blue). Lois featured in the first series which nabbed six BAFTA nominations and racked up over 9.5 million viewers.

The Responder stars Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as troubled Liverpool police night officer Chris Carson, who found himself struggling to hold his life (and mental health) together after getting tangled up with the city’s criminal underworld. The first season saw him make several dark, unethical decisions.

Series 2 picks up six months after the events of the series’ first instalment, as Chris attempts to rebuild his life and relationships.

As a regular member of the cast, Lois was excited to be invited to the cast screening of the new series.

Says mum Helen: “We had a great time. It was lovely for Lois to catch up with all the cast and crew. She loved it!”

The second series has received rave reviews, especially for Martin Freeman’s performance. Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, says : “ Martin Freeman returns in the exquisitely painful study of a police officer’s breakdown – and it’s a rare second run that’s just as riveting and vital as the first”.

Congratulations to 10-year-old Lamont pupil Esme for her excellent performances at the recent Reigate and Redhill Speech and Drama Festival in Surrey.

Esme entered two sections in solo acting and prose reading – and was awarded first place for both!

Following her performances she was invited to take part in the Prizewinners’ concert and received the following email: “Esme really impressed our adjudicator and she will be one of around twenty-four performers in two concerts. They were chosen from well over nine hundred entries.”

What an achievement Esme!

Mrs Lamont teaches Esme remotely and praised her hard-working ethic. She said: “Esme is a delight to teach. She works extremely hard in her classes and deserves this accolade. Well done!”

The Lamont Competition team achieved great results at the Alderley Edge Festival at the weekend.

Eight pupils, aged 6 – 16, took part in 17 classes. They achieved a fantastic twelve 1^stplaces, seven 2^nd places and two 3^rd places.

All of the pupils gained at least one 1^st place.  Siblings Zaynab and Maryam and Vidusshi and Sharuhi placed in all of their solo classes and 1^st and 2^nd in the Year 4 and under Duologue sections.

Full results are :

Duologues

(Year 4 and under) 1^st Vidusshi and Sharuhi

2^nd  Maryam and Zaynab

Maryam and Zaynab with very proud drama teacher Diane Lamont. Lovely performances from these talented sisters!

(Year 7-9) 2^nd Emilia and Freddie

Set Verse

(Year 1) 1^st Zaynab

(Year 2) 1^st Sharuhi

(Year 3) 1^st Maryam

(Year 4) 2^nd Vidusshi

Own Choice Verse

(Year 1) 1^st Zaynab

(Year 2) 1^st Sharuhi

(Year 3) 1^st Maryam

(Year 4) 2^nd Vidusshi

(Year 7-9) 1^st Emilia  2^nd Freddie

Prose Reading

(Year 3 and under) 1^st Maryam  2^nd Sharuhi

(Year 4)  1^st Vidusshi  3^rd Fin

(Year 7-9)  2^nd Freddie

Solo Acting

(Year 4 and under) 1^st Fin

(Year 7-9) 1^st Freddie 3^rd Emilia

OLIVIA won ALDERLEY YOUNG THESPIAN OF THE YEAR 2024 with a fantastic 92 marks! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

LAMDA RESULTS – SPRING 2024

All pupils gained the top mark of Distinction!  25 pupils took the exams and 17 gained 90 and over.

Speaking of Verse and Prose

Introductory 1

Sia, Annabelle, Zaynab

Introductory 2

Maryam, Iris

Introductory 3

Timmy, Kiki, Sharuhi

Entry

Jaylun

Grade 1

Beracha,

Grade 2

Harry, Ben, Vidusshi, Felicity

Grade 3

Hallela, Thanushka

Grade 4

Gadowl, Erin

Grade 5

Taron, Clara

Grade 7

Sujaani

Grade 8

Kisaan, Josh, April, Jesikka

LATEST FESTIVAL RESULTS!

Pupils from the  Lamont Competition Team have been participating in festivals all over the UK over the past few weeks and have had great success.

Eight-year-old Kiki took part in the Tunbridge Wells Festival in Kent and won a 2^nd and 4^th in her verse and prose classes.

Siblings Esme (9) and Ethan (11) competed in the Coulsdon Festival in London and Esme won two 1sts for her verse selections and a 3^rd for her solo acting.  Ethan won 1^st for his verse and two 2nds and a 3^rd for his other classes.

At Lytham Festival in Lancashire, 6-year-old Zaynab won her verse class and 8-year-old Maryam won both her classes in verse and prose.

It was the first time Zaynab and Maryam had competed in a festival but they both held their nerve and gave confident performances.

Joseph (10) gained two 1sts for his verse classes and a 2^nd for his solo acting.

Joseph at Lytham Festival

Emilia (11) won 1^st in solo acting and a 2^nd and 3^rd for her verse classes.

A happy Emilia after her performances

Sixteen-year-old Olivia won a 1^st for her verse and three 2nds for her other classes.

Fantastic results for Olivia

Well done to you all! 

Onwards and upwards now for the Alderley Edge Festival in May and exams in July.

No time to put your feet up – well maybe for a few days over Easter holiday!!!

When one of Lamont Drama School’s most talented former pupils got back in touch….. the delight was fourfold!

Not only did Mrs. Lamont have the great enjoyment of meeting up with former pupil Sara – she got the news that Sara’s children would like to enrol as Lamont pupils.

Says Mrs. Lamont : “It was lovely to meet up for lunch with Sara for a catch-up. I taught Sara for many years when she lived on the Wirral. She remains one of my dearest pupils as she was so hard-working and extremely talented. Sara won many prizes at speech and drama competitions as well as gaining high distinctions for all of her LAMDA exams.

“Sara now lives in Manchester and has 3 lovely girls! I am so excited to be able to teach them and have already had my first lessons with Maryam and Zaynab via videolink. I am so looking forward to taking them on their festival/LAMDA journeys. Our meet up was a really perfect day and brought back so many wonderful memories!”

Lamont pupil seven-year-old Kiki was awarded 1^st place for her verse speaking (7 years) at Maidstone Festival.

Kiki is a Lamont Drama remote learner so has all her lessons via skype from her home in Tunbridge Wells.

Well done Kiki!

Congratulations to all pupils who entered the Fleetwood Festival – both in person and online.

Lamont Drama pupils achieved a fantastic set of results :-

In Person Festival – 1^st places were won by :

Iris                          Set verse

Martha                 Own choice poem and solo acting

Emilia                    Own choice poem/comic verse/solo act/duologue

Skylar                    Novice solo act/duologue

Serafina                Set verse/solo act/sonnet

Freddie                 Memorised prose

Olivia                     Comic verse/memorised prose

Emilia                    Most promising Junior Verse

Olivia                     Junior Verse Championship Trophy

Matha                   Junior Solo Act

Serafina                Senior verse Championship Trophy

Online Festival 1^st places were won by :

Set verse 7 and under                     Kiki

Set verse 8 & 9                                  Esme

Set verse 10 & 11                             Ethan

Set verse 12 & 13                             Amelie

Set verse 14 &15                              Serafina

Own choice verse 8 & 9                 Esme

Own choice verse 12-16                Gabriel

Comic Verse 11 and under            Poppy

Prose Read 7 and under                 Jaylun

Prose Read 8 & 8                              Esme

Memorised Prose 10 &11             Ethan

Memorised Prose 12 & 13            Amelie

Solo Act 11 and under                    Poppy

Solo Act 13 & 15                               Serafina

Sonnet 12-15                                     Gabriel

Rising Star Award                             Timmy

Congratulations to former Lamont Drama pupil Emma Charnock who was recently awarded with an ‘Outstanding Lawyer of the Year’ award.

President of the Liverpool Law Society (pictured left) presented Emma (right) with her award at the recent Liverpool Law Society awards evening.

Says Mrs Lamont : “Emma was such a talented pupil and won many many awards at drama festivals and got exceptional results for her LAMDA exams. The word that always came to mind when she presented her finished pieces to me was ‘Outstanding’ – so I can only concur with the Liverpool Law Society!

“I have, of course had many pupils who went onto great success in the theatre, on television and on film, but it is always a delight to hear about pupils who go on to succeed in other walks of life. I like to think that a little bit of what they learnt with me – stays with them for those pressured moments of public speaking whether on stage, in the court room or in the doctor’s surgery! Hopefully ‘Lamont Life Skills’ go a long way.”

Congratulations Emma!

Another fabulous set of results with all pupils gaining the top mark of distinction! Lovely to see so many of my remote students across the country doing so well!

Introductory Stage 2 Jaylun, Sharuhi

Introductory Stage 3 Kiki (pictured below)

Entry Esme (Pictured below with Ethan – both from London)

Grade 1 Felicity, Vidusshi

Grade 2 Thanushka

Grade 3 Fin, Erin, Jack, Henry, Ethan (pictured with Esme – both from London)

Grade 4 Harriet

Grade 5 Olivia

Grade 7 April

Grade 8 Chayil

Well done to everyone!