Massive congratulations to the latest Lamont pupils who have been accepted by the prestigious National Youth Theatre (NYT).

Ellie Edwards (16) from Formby and Itsoghena Oyedeji (17) from Hoylake heard this week that ‘They’re in!”.

Following their tough auditions, they both received a letter inviting them to become a member of the National Youth Theatre by completing an acting intake course with them.

The intake course, held in the Summer, will bring together talented successful auditionees from around the UK for an intensive programme of workshops led by industry professionals from their experienced NYT Associate Artists pool.

The course culminates in an informal sharing of work and leads to NYT membership and the opportunity to appear in future NYT productions, access professional castings and much more. This is a huge achievement for both girls, well done!

We are also keeping fingers well and truly crossed for Henry Leason (15) from Formby, who is on the reserve list. Well done Henry! You narrowly missed out but you obviously impressed and there’s still a chance you may be able to attend.

All three have been attending classes with Lamont School for many years.

Ellie and Itsoghena took all their LAMDA exams finishing with Grade 8 in the 90s for both.

Congratulations to Lamont pupil, Ellis Coulter, who has been offered places at the following drama schools: Italia Conti, Drama Studio, American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, The Oxford School Of Drama and 4^th Monkey.

After much consideration, Ellis has decided to take up the offer from THE OXFORD SCHOOL OF DRAMA and will start there in September.

Ellis has won many prizes at drama competitions over the years and has passed his LAMDA exams with Distinctions.

Last year he was accepted as a member of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and completed the course last Summer.

Says Mrs Lamont: “I know Ellis will give 100% to the course as he has such a strong commitment to learning and giving his best. He has been a wonderful student and I will miss teaching him but I am absolutely delighted that he has secured a place as such a prestigious drama school. Luke Barnes, another former Lamont pupil, who is now a very successful playwright and who appeared in Game of Thrones, also attended The Oxford School of Drama”.

Keep in touch, Ellis!

Fabulous results! In the most recently LAMDA examination session – all pupils passed with the top mark of Distinction!

A special mention has to go to Louisa who gained 99 marks for her Grade 7 and to April who gained 98 for her Grade 3.

We have one more set of results to arrive from the April session and then trophies will be awarded to those pupils gaining highest marks in Junior, Middle and Senior grades. Well done to you all!

Speaking of Verse and Prose

Grade 2                Gadowl Oyedeji

Grade 3                April Humphreys, Aakash Muraleetharan

Grade 4                Chayil Oyedeji

Grade 5                Beth Edwards, Akshaara Muraleetharan, Serafina Campolucci-Bordi

Grade 6                Jemima Brooks, Anushka Choudhary, Ifeoluwa Oyedeji

Grade 7                Louisa Whorton

Grade 8                Orlando Campolucci-Bordi

Solo Acting

Grade 6                Matteo Elezi

Shakespeare

Level 1                  Gabriel Osborne

Nine-year-old Lois Cringle is back on set filming more scenes for the new BBC1 police comedy-drama The Responder.

Lois, a Lamont Drama pupil, stars as Lexie in the six-part series and her dad is played by Liverpool actor Ian Hart (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone).

Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock) leads the cast in the series written by ex-police officer Tony Schumacher. Freeman plays the part of an urgent response police officer Chris, who is on the beat in Liverpool, and who is tasked with six night shifts – each of which he completes over the course of one of six episodes.

Schumacher said in a statement: “I’m so incredibly fortunate to be writing for a cast as amazing as the one we’ve assembled for The Responder. From legends at the top of their game, to young talents who are legends in waiting, it’s a writer’s dream come true.”

Filming began in Liverpool in March and it has a likely broadcast date of later this year or early next.

Nine-year-old Lamont Drama pupil Martha Last has been rubbing shoulders with the stars whilst working on a new feature film.

Martha’s co-stars are Rebel Wilson and Celyn Jones!

Martha’s mum Catherine, said: Martha had a great time on the project. She was treated very well and loved meeting both Rebel and Celyn”.

Well done Martha! Exciting Times!

Lamont pupil 9-year-old Lois Cringle has been enjoying filming for new BBC1 police comedy-drama The Responder.

Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Sherlock) leads the cast with Lois playing the part of Lexie. Her dad in the six-part series is played by Liverpool actor Ian Hart (Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone).

The upcoming series is penned by ex-police officer Tony Schumacher, with Freeman leading the project in the role of an urgent response police officer. Based on Schumacher’s real experiences on the job, Freeman plays protagonist Chris, an officer on the beat in Liverpool, and who is tasked with six night shifts – each of which he completes over the course of one of six episodes.

Schumacher said in a statement: “I’m so incredibly fortunate to be writing for a cast as amazing as the one we’ve assembled for The Responder. From legends at the top of their game, to young talents who are legends in waiting, it’s a writer’s dream come true.”

Lois’s Mum, Helen, said: “Lois had a great time filming and the director seemed really pleased with her. Ian Hart played her Dad and he was really great with her, making jokes and getting her to feel at ease. Both actors who played her parents came out to say bye to her when we left. She was over the moon!

“She also took part in a photo shoot which was a lot of fun. She got on so well with the cast and crew and loved every minute! Thank you for putting her forward for this great opportunity”.  

Filming began in Liverpool in March and it has a likely broadcast date of later this year or early next.

Lamont pupils achieved great success when they recently competed in the Springboard 2021 Brighton Virtual Festival.

The excellent results are as follows :

Solo Act (10-11 years)

1^st Gabriel Osborne                         89

2^nd Serafina Campolucci-Bordi    88

Solo Verse (11 years)

1^st Serafina Campolucci-Bordi      90

2^nd  Gabriel Osborne                       88

Prose Reading (11-12 years)

3^rd Gabriel Osborne                        88

Oral Communication (10-14 years)

1^st Gabriel Osborne                         90

Audio Book Characterisation

1^st Gabriel Osborne                         88

Prose Readings (14-17)

1^st Orlando Campolucci-Bordi      88

Solo Verse (14-16)

2^nd Orlando Campolucci-Bordi     86

Solo Act (14-16)

1^st Orlando Campolucci-Bordi      89

Gabriel also competed in the Junior Championships (11-13) and was runner up receiving a cash prize.

Covid didn’t stop pupils sitting their LAMDA exams – albeit remotely – and coming away with an awesome set of results.

LATEST LAMDA RESULTS

Speaking of Verse and Prose

Pass 50-64, Merit 65-79, Distinction 80 and over

Introductory 3 – Joseph Edwards (D)

Entry – Campbell Gie (D)

Grade 2 – Sujaani Mathanraj (D), Esme Goatcher (D), April Humphreys (D)

Grade 3 – Lois Cringle (D), Faith Cromer (M), Kisaan Vigneswaran (M), Charlie Geldart (M)

Grade 4 – Isla Gie (D), Josh Sikdar (D), Jesikka Rajkumar (M)

Grade 5 – Gabriel Osborne (D), Anishiha Vigneswaran (M)

Grade 6 – Bronze Medal – Niamh Hughes (D), Danish Rajkumar (D), Hatty Hobbs (D)

Grade 7 – Silver Medal – Alexander Goldman (D)

Grade 8 – Gold Medal – Catarina Cardeira (D)

The Lamont LAMDA trophies for pupils gaining the highest mark were awarded to:

Junior Grade                      Campbell Gie (97)

Middle Grade                    Anabelle Redmond (98)

Senior Grade                      Hatty Hobbs (95)

Congratulations to you all!

The adjudicator at Chichester Drama Festival judged one Lamont pupil as producing the ‘finest performance he had had even seen in all his years of adjudicating!’

High praise indeed for Serafina Campolucci-Bordi who was awarded 1^st place for both her verse speaking and her prose reading. Serafina received 92 marks for verse (the highest mark in the festival) and her report said:

“Many congratulations!.  This is as good as it gets! You had excellent presentation, quality of vocal tonality and interpretation. It was highly expressive and mature in thought and delivery, commanding total audience involvement.  I cannot praise you too highly as this was outstanding!”

Her brother, Orlando also wowed the adjudicator. Orlando received a 1st for his verse speaking with 90 marks.

Gabriel Osborne  gained two 2^nd places for prose speaking and verse speaking. 

Said Mrs Lamont, “ Gabriel did particularly well in the verse speaking gaining 90 marks – there were 17 in the section, so he did extremely well to come 2^nd!

“I was very proud of all my pupils who entered. It’s lovely to see that through entering these on-line festivals, pupils are continuing to hone their craft whilst enjoying performing”.

Congratulations to 9-year-old Isla Gie on her latest professional film role starring opposite the Worst Witch’s Bella Ramsey.

Isla plays the character of Sabra is in Cowboy FunfaIr Productions latest film Villain. It is currently in post-production and is due for release next year.

Said Isla, “Filming Villain was a lot of fun. My character of Sabra is half-girl and half-dragon, so I needed scales along my arms. It took quite a long time for the makeup team to do but it was worth it because it looked amazing! It was also lovely acting with Bella.”

Following Isla’s latest film role, the rising star has also signed to appear in a new BBC Television/Amazon series which will start filming in the New Year and will be aired worldwide, including the UK, America and Australia.

Said Mrs Lamont: “2020 has been an exciting year for Isla and she is now looking forward to her new project in 2021. Isla is represented by top talent agency Curtis Brown but she still has her drama lessons with Lamont Drama and is currently working towards her Grade 4 LAMDA exam. Whatever she does, she always gives it 150%, so I’m looking forward to her getting a great result in January.”

Well done, Isla!