Huge congratulations to former pupils Lucas Frost and Anna McKenna who have successfully auditioned to take part in a musical extravaganza at the London Palladium theatre.

Lucas and Anna will feature in an exciting project of Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot In Concert at the London Palladium on Sunday 6 February 2022.

The production brings the tragic characters of King Arthur, Guenevere and Sir Lancelot to life in the West End. An evening of music exploring one of the greatest love triangles of all time.

Featuring the acclaimed score from the musical Camelot, a trio of theatre royalty – Ramin Karimloo (Love Never Dies, Les Misérables), Bradley Jaden (Les Misérables) and Lucy St. Louis (The Phantom Of The Opera) lead the cast. Accompanied by a full orchestra, they’ll portray the ill-fated king, his queen and his friend-turned-rival while capturing all the drama from the medieval world of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

The production will also be supported with a 35-strong Trinity Laban Musical Theatre Ensemble.

Lucas’s Mum Karen (and biggest fan) says: “Lucas successfully auditioned with the rest of the Musical Theatre Degree classes from Trinity Laban, for the ensemble, for Lerner & Loewes ‘Camelot’ in concert at the London Palladium. Amongst others, two of your former students, Lucas and Anna McKenna were both successful. We are so proud of them and can’t wait to travel to London to see them perform alongside ‘Ramin Karimloo and Bradley Jaden’ amongst others”. 

The musical – featuring a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe – tells the story of the idealistic King Arthur, who hopes to build his kingdom on fellowship and honour. But those ideals are soon tested when his beautiful wife Guenevere falls for the young knight Lancelot, creating one of the most famous love triangles in literary history.

Olivier and Tony Award nominee Karimloo, who will play King Arthur, said, “This is going to be a very exciting production and the fact it is for one exclusive night only makes it even more special”.

Along with enjoying an incredible display of talent on stage, audiences can expect to hear Camelot’s most well-loved music including If Ever I Would Leave You, I Loved You Once In Silence and, of course, the title song.

LAMDA EXAM RESULTS DECEMBER 2021

We achieved one high Merit and the rest of the pupils gained Distinctions!

Those gaining the top mark of Distinction were:

INTRODUCTORY LEVEL 3

Thanushka

Luxsai

GRADE 1

Taron

GRADE 2

Joseph

GRADE 4

Sujaani

GRADE 5

Chayil

Jesikka

Martha

GRADE 6

Josh

Flyn

Vaishana

GRADE 7

Anishiha

Anushka

Jemima

GRADE 8

Vaishali

Another pupil from Nottingham, Bay, who is taught by Skype, gained a fantastic 100 out of 100 for her Grade 5 exam which she took at the Nottingham Public Centre.  This follows her 97 for Grade 4 which she took earlier in the year.  Fabulous!!!

Trophies were presented to pupils gaining the highest marks over the October and December session in the various grades.

JUNIOR

Thanushka

Luxsai

MIDDLE

Joseph

SENIOR

Hatty

Bay

Well done to you all!

“As a teacher, the most rewarding moments come when you see raw talent blossoming into absolute excellence. That’s what I experienced last week when I went to Liverpool’s Hope Street Theatre to see former pupil Tori Hargreaves appearing in the new professional production of the ‘The Musical of Musicals (The Musical)!’

“In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, I was blown away by Tori’s performance – and so incredibly proud of her.

“She added numerous nuances to her different characters and brought her immaculate comic timing to each and every one. She personifies vivaciousness and was compelling from the moment the curtain went up – right to the end.

“She has grown into an amazing actor, singer, and dancer – but she also remains one of the nicest pupils I have ever taught. It’s great to see how far she has come since the age of six when she started lessons with me. A great night out and one that I will remember for a long, long time!”

Tori starred in the show alongside the small cast of Eithne Brown (best known as Chrissy Rogers in Brookside), John-Paul Birss, Dominic Treacy and Amy Leak – and says it was a ‘dream’ job.#

She says: “The team came together and made a little piece of magic. I’ve truly loved every minute of this job. I haven’t laughed this hard in years and years!!! This group will continue to be friends long after this.

“It was also great to be so supported by the Liverpool theatre scene. To all the creatives, actors, directors, reviewers, and general public who came and supported local theatre, thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming, laughing and having a bloody good time with us. We’ve had the time of our lives, truly!

“To everyone who came to watch us, THANK YOU! It really does mean the world.”

Sending huge congratulations to former Lamont pupil Simon Lennon who recently left Emmerdale after a brilliant 16-month run playing Ben Tucker.

Simon has been a part of the ITV soap family since Autumn 2020, playing Aaron Dingle’s love interest. His character Ben was killed off when evil Meena Jutla (played by Paige Sandhu) claimed her third victim. Danny Miller, who is currently starring on I’m a Celebrity and who plays Aaron Dingle, has also announced he is leaving the soap in the near future.

Prior to Simon’s exit, he spoke on ITV’s Lorraine about his time on the soap, explaining: “I joined just after the pandemic started to ease so it was a very odd time for the industry, but it’s been amazing. On any television or film set, you spend 13-14 hours a day with the same people from the first thing in the morning until the last thing at night. “And then you go home, go to bed and do the same thing the next day. So, it is a very tight nit and it is a cliche but you do have a family on every job you’re doing.”

Simon lived in London when he first started his career, but he has explained he would be willing to do more projects north in the future.

“I didn’t know what was up north and I thought you had to move to London, so that’s what I did when I was 18. I turned down uni offers and moved down there with the hope of going to drama school and being an actor. The older I’ve become and the more work I’ve done, I’ve learned more about the industry and the work up north.

“I’m glad I made the decision at the time but there is such an amazing theatre, film and television scene up north.”

Fingers crossed Simon that you spend more time in the North-west and drop in to see us anytime!

Said Mrs Lamont: “I’ve had a number of pupils who have left the drama school and gone on to professional success. It’s always a delight to hear how former pupils are doing, especially when they have been as successful as Simon.

“He always wanted to mix things up and try new things when he was a teenager, so I’m not surprised that Simon has decided to move on from Emmerdale. He always loved a new challenge! I can’t wait to see where he turns up next! Well done, Simon – you’re a great role model for all my current pupils.”

Prior to working on Emmerdale Simon has starred in a variety of screen and stage productions including Our Girl (2013), Bridgerton (2020) and Pace (2020).

Lamont pupils achieved a great set of results in the 2021 Fleetwood Online Festival.

Says Mrs Lamont: “ It has been really wonderful watching all the winning performances, especially at the gala championship evening”.

Lots of places were gained by pupils but those gaining 1^st prizes were:

Orlando for his acting, Shakespeare, own choice verse and memorised prose.

Serafina for her comic verse, own choice verse and memorised prose.

Gabriel for his sonnet, comic verse and prepared prose reading.

Verity for her duologue with sister Evie, solo acting and own verse composition.

April for her duologue with Martha and memorised prose.

Amelie for her solo acting.

Flyn for verse speaking.

Bay for memorised prose.

Taron and Joseph for their duologue.

Well done to all!

Results are just in from our Autumn LAMDA examinations. Only a small set this time, but you all did GREAT!

All pupils gained the top mark of Distinction:

Grade 4:  Kisaan Vigneswaran Aakash Muraleetharan

Grade 5:  April Humphreys, Milind Potla

Grade 6:  Akshaara Muraleetharan

Grade 7:  Hatty Hobbs, Victoria Osborne, Ifeoluwa Oyedeji

Grade 8:  Louisa Whorton

Well done to everyone!

Ten-year-old Freddie Thomason is looking forward to treading the boards in the upcoming professional production of Tennessee Williams’ prize-winning masterpiece Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  

This bold new revival plays at the Liverpool Playhouse from Wednesday, September 22 to Saturday, October 2. It is a co-production between Everyman & Playhouse, Curve Leicester and English Touring Theatre and is directed by

Anthony Almeida, winner of the 2019 RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award.

Freddie plays one of the sons of Gooper and Mae Pollitt. Gooper is the older son of wealthy Big Daddy and Big Mamma together they have 5 children. 

Says Mrs. Lamont: “Freddie is such a talent. As well as this latest success, he has recently passed with Dictinction and 95 marks his Grade 3 LAMDA exam and has enjoyed performing in several drama festivals, winning many prizes.  It is lovely to teach Freddie because I taught his mum, Danielle,  at the same age and Freddie has definitely inherited the same love of performing!”

Freddie will be performing at the following performances: Sept 22 (7.30 pm) , Sept 23 (7.30 pm), Sept 25 (2 pm), Sept 28 (7.30 pm), Sept 30 (1.30 pm), Oct 1 (7.30 pm), Oct 2 (7.30 pm).

Good luck Freddie!

Practice makes perfect so they say….. and in the case of 3 Lamont pupils that’s exactly what happened!

In the latest LAMDA examination session, all pupils received distinctions and 3 pupils gained 100%. Yes 100% !!!!

It was also the first time that a parent and child took the exam together.  Gabriel and his mum studied for the Grade 6 exam together and both gained high distinctions with 93% and 100%.  Brilliant!  They are now studying for Grade 7.  What a wonderful experience!

The full results are as follows: –

SPEAKING OF VERSE AND PROSE

INTRODUCTORY 3           

Taron Premakantha       

GRADE 01

Joseph Edwards

GRADE 2

Ava Wright

Emilia Guy

Campbell Gie

GRADE 3

Sujaani Mathanraj

GRADE 4

Pip Charnley

Charlie Geldart

April Humphreys

Siena Wright

Bay Jaworski

GRADE 5

Flyn Aindow

Josh Sikdar

GRADE 6

Gabriel Osborne

Vicky Osborne

Anishiha Vigneswaran

Lori-Jo Quinney

GRADE 8

Alexander Goldman       

Congratulations to Rory Rushton on his sensational 1^st Class Honours degree from Lancaster University.

Rory, a very successful Lamont student, in both festivals and LAMDA exams, (a.k.a also cherished nephew!) has just completed his four-year Finance and Accounting Degree with the news of achieving a 1st!

Sadly, no graduation ceremony until 2022, but plenty to celebrate nevertheless!

Rory was accepted into the National Youth Theatre in his teens after many years of success in verse, prose, solo and group acting in drama festivals. In 2020, he spent his placement year at Fitch Ratings as an Associate Analyst in London’s Canary Wharf after being awarded a scholarship place on the company’s Placement Initiative. He will return to Fitch Ratings in September as a full-time analyst on their graduate fast-track scheme.

He said: “It’s been a challenging time with Covid restrictions impacting on both my final year at university and on my placement. Fortunately, things relaxed just in time for me to get in some end of exams celebrations. All my friends have done well so we are celebrating with a holiday in Edinburgh.  My manager at Fitch told me he was more impressed with the fact that I’d gone to NYT than any of my exam results – so all I can say to current pupils is give it a go!  I never thought that such a great experience would also play such an important part in getting a job!”

Says Mrs Lamont: “Super proud of my nephew who always gives 100% to whatever he’s doing! However, I never imagined when, as a five-year-old, reciting ‘Roger was a Razor Fish’ at Southport Festival, that it would be the first of so many successful moments. Well done, Rory! You’ve got a great work ethic which I hope you, partly, learnt at Lamont Drama!”