Former Lamont Drama pupil and Lamont Drama Assistant Teacher Simon Lennon has been cheering on his girlfriend Coronation Street actress Sair Khan as a campmate in ITV’s 2018 I’m A Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!

During her jungle stay with Harry Redknapp and Fleur East, Sair mentioned her other half on numerous occasions. On her exit, she once again paid tribute to her friends and family and her boyfriend Simon during her interview with I’m a Celebrity presenters Dec and Holly.

Viewers then saw the two meet up on the famous I’m a Celebrity bridge for a welcome back kiss and cuddle.

Simon, who is well-known to TV viewers himself for playing ‘Brains’ alongside Michelle Keegan on BBC’s Our Girl and for parts in Grantchester and The Dark Room, has been very publicly supportive of Sair in the jungle. On Twitter, @SiLennon, the actor tweeted ahead of her eating Bushtucker trial: “Hahaha! This is gonna be hilarious! She’s an absolute legend. Come on, Sair!”

Over on Instagram, @silennon he’s even created a whole Insta moment for his girlfriend.

Simon, who is a National Youth Theatre member and very active NYT Ambassador, began his romance with Sair in December 2017 after they met at Buckingham Palace. Sair is also a member of the National Youth Theatre, and they were both invited to the royal home to celebrate their 60th anniversary of the prestigious organisation.

Said Diane Lamont: “It was absolutely lovely seeing Simon and Sair meet up on the bridge. I have had many, many pupils becoming National Youth Theatre members but Simon stands out as being an NYT star. He has given up many hours to help run the national auditions in order to give younger aspiring actors the same opportunities that he has enjoyed. However, an NYT romance is a first for Lamont Drama! I always say that you never know where NYT can lead you! “.

Simon plays Brains in BBC’s My Girl

Former Lamont Drama pupil and professional actor Tori Hargreaves is wowing audiences as the Princess in Aladdin in Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre’s spectacular Christmas production.

The panto, which tells the story of Aladdin and the magic lamp, is the longest-run production so far at the newly established Hope Street Theatre.

Written by Jessica Lea (Hollyoaks, EastEnders) in a new and hilarious scouse dialogue, the performance carries a contemporary voice and genuine, local feel.

Tori joins Adam McCoy as Aladdin,  Helen Carter as the Genie, Liam Dascombe as Wishee Washee, Emma Bispham as Abanazer and Jamie Greer as Widow Twankey

Says Tori: “I was part of the company for last year’s panto and had an amazing time. There are really no better audiences for panto than in Liverpool so  I couldn’t wait to fly back in to take on the role of the Princess in this year’s production. There is a great atmosphere and the cast is enjoying it every bit as much as the audience!”

The panto is produced by Drops of Light CIC and runs all through December and tickets are available.

Playwright and former Lamont pupil Luke Barnes continues to go from strength to strength. His latest play All I Ever Wanted Was Everything is currently wowing audiences at the legendary Bush Theatre in London.

Set across three decades, from 1997’s Cool Britannia to today’s Brexit Britain, this multi award-winning gig theatre mixes original live music from James Frewer, with bold new writing from Luke.

The play focuses on Leah and Chris; raised on Harry Potter, New Labour and a belief that one day they would be as ‘special’ as their parents promised. But what happens when those dreams don’t become reality?

Luke’s play has been attracting rave reviews:-

“a slamming-together of a play and a gig.”
The Telegraph ★★★★

“Middle Child really smashes it with a superb piece of gig theatre…combines music and storytelling in an outrageously entertaining fashion”
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian

“Glorious…a raucous, riotous 75 minutes of storytelling”
The Stage ★★★★

“Heart-wrenching and heart-warming all at once”
Broadway Baby ★★★★★

Says Luke: “All’s good my end. As well as the show at the Bush Theatre, I’ve got one coming to The Young Vic next year.”

“I’m also developing other projects trying to get them made – just the usual,” laughs Luke.

“Hopefully Luke will be visiting us soon to catch up and provide some great inspiration for other young budding playwrights in the school.  No-one deserves success more than Luke who was always brilliantly imaginative and creative in his weekly drama classes and on stage” adds Mrs Lamont.

Lamont Pupils achieved a set of FABULOUS results at the 2018 SOUTHPORT FESTIVAL!

The school entered 25 classes and gained an outstanding 20 first places.

Said Mrs Lamont, “When we return for our new term in September, it is always a very quick turnaround to prepare for our much-loved Southport Festival. You all delivered fantastic performances, particularly considering that you had just 6 lessons to choose, learn and perfect your verse, prose reading and acting pieces. You should all be very proud of this significant achievement. It’s a joy to watch you all gain so much enjoyment from bringing your pieces to the appreciative audiences at Southport Festival and to see you gaining confidence and experience whilst you excel.”

“I look forward to the same level of enthusiasm and commitment as we turn our sights to our next set of LAMDA exams. The last couple of sessions have resulted in incredible results across the school, so I’m hoping for the same high level of success at the end of the year.”

VERSE SPEAKING

Under 8

1st  Martha Last  2nd  Bobby Marshall

Under 10

1st Verity Clark  2nd  Serafina Campolucci-Bordi

Under 12 A

Joint 1st Evie Clark/Orlando Campolucci-Bordi  3rd  Beth Edwards

Under 12 B

1st  Jemima Brooks  2nd  Jessica Harrison  3rd  Joseph Bigley

Under 13

1st  Jasmine McElhinney  2nd  Annabel Harrison

Under 14 A

2nd  Ellie Edwards

Under 14 B

2nd  Lydia Russell

Under 16

1st  Itsoghena Oyedeji

PROSE READING

Under 10

2nd  Verity Clark

Under 12

Joint 1st  Joseph Bigley/Evie Clark  3rd  Jessica Harrison

Under 13

Annabel Harrison

Under 14

1st  Ellie Edwards

SOLO ACTING

Under 10

2nd  Verity Clark

Under 12

1st  Evie Clark  2nd  Joseph Bigley  3rd  Orlando Campolucci-Bordi

Under 14 A

2nd  Annabel Harrison

Under 14 B

1st  Ellie Edwards  2nd  Henry Leason  3rd Lydia Russell

Under 16

1st  Oliver Bigley  3rd  Harry Wingate

Over 16

1st  Ellis Coulter

DUOLOGUES

Under 10

1st  Martha Last and Bobby Marshall

Under 12

Joint 1st  Orlando Campolucci-Bordi/Joseph Bigley and Evie/Verity Clark

Under 14

1st  Annabel and Jessica Harrison  3rd  Hatty Hobbs and Jasmine McElhinney

SHAKESPEARE

Open

1st  Ellis Coulter

Lamont Drama pupil Isla Gie has a hat-trick of successes to celebrate.

Isla Gie

In the same week that she heard that she achieved a high distinction in her LAMDA examination she also received news that she had successfully auditioned to play the part of Éponine in the forthcoming UK and Ireland tour of the Boublil and Schönberg musical “LES MISÉRABLES”.

Isla will take on the role at the opening of the tour at the Curve, Leicester for an already sold out season from Saturday 3 November – Saturday 24 November 2018 (press night 14 November 2018).

Isla will play alongside Killian Donnelly as Jean Valjean. Killian played the role of ‘Jean Valjean’ in the West End production of “Les Misérables” until June this year. Prior to his run in “Les Misérables”, he played the role of ‘Charlie Price’ in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway, a role he originated at the Adelphi Theatre in the West End in 2015, for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award.

Cameron Mackintosh said, “When I announced the first UK tour of Les Miserables for ten years, I was really delighted that Killian said to me that he would like to continue playing Jean Valjean.  No stranger to the original production, having played both Enjolras and Valjean with enormous success, his passionate take on the role will be even greater in the thrilling staging of my new production which has proved to be a worldwide success all over again. He is the first Irishman to play the role since Colm Wilkinson in the original and I’m delighted that from advance bookings, this new tour looks set to be sold out before we open”.

Isla (aka much loved grand-daughter of Lamont Drama Principal Diane Lamont) receives most of her drama lessons by skype as for the past three years she has lived in Cyprus.

Said Mrs. Lamont: “Isla has recently moved back to the UK but is now living in Nottingham so the skype lessons will still continue alongside family visits. Isla was one of the youngest children to audition for the Les Misérables” tour as she had only just reached seven by the audition date. We are all immensely proud of her.”

Before leaving Cyprus, Isla competed in the Annual National Junior Gymnastics Competition in Limassol and achieved gold, silver and bronze medals for her age group on rings, vault and floor.

Mum, Katy said: “Isla spent three years training with her Cyprus gym so we were very sad to leave her coaches and friends behind but the competition proved a lovely way to end her time with the club. She is continuing her gym and dance training in Nottingham and of course, her drama training with Lamont Drama School.”

Isla has also just competed in the Nottingham Dance Festival held each year in August. She achieved four 1^st places and one 2^nd place for her five solos in A section and was invited to compete in the Bursary Final alongside 11 other ‘adjudicator picks’ on the last day of the festival. She was selected as the runner up and received a special trophy and £150 bursary award. Isla also won the Junior Character Trophy.

Good luck Isla – for November when the “Les Misérables” tour begins.

Awarded first place for her French Poodle Modern at Nottingham Dance Festival 2018

Isla is awarded Runner Up Prize in the Bursary at Nottingham Festival 2018

There’s fabulous news from star pupil Ellie Edwards!

Ellie Edwards

Ellie has been chosen to play Alice in the award-winning Alice Experience in Liverpool’s St George’s Hall in February. It is the second time the production company Another Place has staged this exciting event.

In 2016 , the production first staged Alice in Wonderland

Creative Director Annie Spiers says “We are so excited to have a second opportunity to stage this popular, magical event in the heart of Liverpool.

Ellie, will be one of 20 Alice’s who successfully auditioned for the role earlier this year. She will now be busy rehearsing her role from September and will appear in a minimum of five shows over the two weeks run.

Annie Spiers explains further: “It is a 90 minute walk through production where St Georges Hall is transformed to create the magical, colourful and slightly mad world of Wonderland. Visitors enter a forest of giant mushrooms, meet weird and wonderful characters, join Alice on her adventures and experience Wonderland for themselves.

Visitors follow the White Rabbit, have tea with the Mad Hatter, visit the Caterpillar, meet the Cheshire Cat, sing along with the playing cards, and avoid losing their heads with the venerable Queen of Hearts! The show will be on for two weeks in February 2019. The shows run on rotation throughout each day.

Ellie’s Mum Jayne Edwards, says: “Ellie and I are both really excited about the show. It’s a great opportunity for her to play a leading role, particularly in such an unusual and interactive production.”

The Queen will be back!

Congratulations to all pupils who sat their LAMDA exams this July. We received a super set of results! Well Done!

Twenty-four pupils took the exams with 3 gaining high Merit and 21 gaining the top mark of Distinction (80 and over). 11 pupils gained 91 and above!

Those gaining Distinction were:

Introductory 1: Gadowl Oyedeji
Introductory 2 : Martha Last, Campbell Gie
Entry: Isla Gie
Grade 1 : Chayil Oyedeji, Jacob Cavendish, Serafina Campolucci-Bordi
Grade 2 : Ifeoluwa Oyedeji, Grace Petrie
Grade 3 : Alfie Molloy, Harry Geldart, Alexander Goldman, Callia Edwards, Lori-Jo Quinney
Grade 4 : Louisa Whorton, Liana Edwards, Orlando Campolucci-Bordi, Matilda Brookes-Jones, Niamh Hughes
Grade 7 : Grace Farnell
Grade 8 : Francesca Medlicott

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!

Another former pupil who continues to shine is Simon Lennon. Simon is currently starring in the BBC series Our Girl as ‘Brains’. In the previous series ‘Brains’ was seen as the clever one in 2-Section – until the arrival of Rab. But in the new series something else is troubling Brains as we see him fail to engage with the group and start snapping at his colleagues.

In addition to Simon’s role in Our Girl, he has also played Marcus Ruskin in Grantchester series three.

When he’s not busy filming, Simon is a great supporter of the National Youth Theatre and often takes on the role of assistant director with the prestigious group.

We are all very proud of you Simon – and we think you look great in your combats!

Congratulations to former Lamont Drama student Luke Barnes who has been commissioned by the National Youth Theatre to write a production. His play LOST BOYS NEW TOWN will be produced by the NYT in August 2018.

Since leaving Lamont, Luke has been carving out a successful career as both an actor and a playwright. He featured in the first two series of Game of Thrones and has performed extensively on stage, film and television. He also works as a writer and director.

Luke is also in demand as a teacher and has done playwrighting tutorials at the Guidhall School of Music and Drama, for the Playwrighting Group at the Royal Court Theatre, for the National Theatre, Young Vic, Nabkov, Liverpool University, National Student Drama Festival, The Oxford School Of Drama, L.I.PA, HighTide and schools across the U.K.

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Congratulations to Lamont Drama’s most long distance pupils – 7-year-old Isla Gie and 5-year-old Campbell Gie.

They are taught by Mrs Lamont (a.k.a. Grandma) by skype – and in their recent LAMDA exams in Limassol were awarded the brilliant Distinction marks of 96 and 92.

Well done Team Gie!