Spotlight News

 

Theatre

Musical theatre: What I’ve learnt from my audition experiences

Musical theatre is a competitive industry, with many specific skills and considerations, and no matter how much training you have, there’s no substitute for learning on the job. Here, Spotlight member Jonathan Vickers shares his experiences and advice from the past few years, as he made the transition from graduate to musical theatre performer. Some of his auditions may have been unconventional, but he’s always found a way to make the best of any situation, in or out of work... It’s been two-and-a-half years since that sunny August day in 2009 when I graduated from the...

posted on 31st January 2012 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 20 December

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry. This is our last one before Christmas (and a special one after taking a power-cut enforced break last week), so grab yourself a mince pie and mulled wine and catch up on the stories you need to know about before the festive season. Creative Christmas There’s plenty of great performances on stage and screen this Christmas, and if it’s dance you fancy, then head to The Arts Desk, who...

posted on 22nd December 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight's highlights of 2011

As 2011 comes to a close, we at Spotlight thought we’d look back on our highlights from the past 12 months. There have been so many fantastic performances across stage and screen - theatre, film, dance and television - that’s had us raving to fellow Spotlight co-workers in the office the next day. Of course, the tastes of all Spotlight staff vary, although if there was one play and performance that got everybody talking and featured at the top of our end of year list, it was Mark Rylance’s performance in Jerusalem. Ben, Spotlight’s managing partner, described it...

posted on 20th December 2011 Read full article >>

Dames and dancing: Confessions of a first-time panto performer

Across the country, hundreds of Spotlight members are treading the boards this December in the Christmas theatre staple of pantomime. As well as being a great source of income, it’s also great fun for the performer. But although it’s on stage, panto also requires so very different disciplines. Spotlight member Jassa Ahluwalia is performing in his first pantomime as Aladdin at The Playhouse Whitley Bay. Here he tells us how he’s learnt to love the intensity and tradition of performing panto. The last time I experienced pantomime was as a boy seeing Dick Whittington. Why...

posted on 14th December 2011 Read full article >>

Diary of a child actor's mum: The awakening of a young actor

Each month Jemima Laing, mother of 12-year-old Spotlight member Felix Soper, will be charting the ups and occasional downs of being the parent of a child performer. In her first post for Spotlight, Jemima tells us how Felix was first bitten by the acting bug after landing a part in a theatre production of Peter Pan. What got Felix started with this whole acting thing was, basically, my innate nosiness. Collecting him and a friend from drama group on a wintry Plymouth night four years ago, I noticed the friend was clutching a piece of paper which Felix didn’t have.  Questioning the...

posted on 23rd November 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight members triumph at Evening Standard awards

The 57th London Evening Standard Theatre Awards highlighted the best of West End theatre over the past 12 months, and Spotlight is proud to see several of our members rewarded for their outstanding work, while we’ve also had a hand in some of the winning productions. Spotlight members Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller (above) shared the best actor prize for their dual roles in Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein – with the actors taking it in turns to play the scientist and his monster – in one of the hottest tickets of the year. Spotlight member Sheridan...

posted on 21st November 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 11 November

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry. So, kick back and read what’s snagged our interest this week. Onwards and upwards First off, we head to Devon where Jemima Laing writes for her local paper, the Western Morning News, about her pride on seeing her son, Spotlight child member Felix Soper, on his first big screen performance in The Awakening, with Imelda Staunton (above) and Dominic West. It’s a piece that many parents of our young performers can relate to, and we’d...

posted on 11th November 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight's weekly news roundup: 4th November

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry. So, kick back and read what’s snagged our interest this week. Coming to a stage or screen near you    Plenty of announcements this week for new and returning television shows, and prime among them is a series full of Spotlight talent – Downton Abbey. Filming on series three of Julian Fellowes popular period drama, starring the likes of Dame Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville, starts in the new year....

posted on 4th November 2011 Read full article >>

I wrote one of The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices

Last month The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices, one of the most exciting events for emerging talent, took place at the Old Vic. The brief was simple. 50 actors, writers, directors and producers, many of them Spotlight members, had just 24 hours to create seven brand new short plays. Now he’s finally caught up on sleep, writer Gregory Skulnick tells Spotlight how the day of creativity, madness and semi-improvisation unfolded. From blank page to the 1,100 blank expressions of an auditorium. In just 24 hours. At least, it seemed to me like a distinct possibility. Thankfully, after...

posted on 2nd November 2011 Read full article >>

Spotlight’s weekly news roundup: 28th October

Welcome to Spotlight’s weekly news roundup, where we highlight the news and blogs we’ve enjoyed and want to share with our members and others within the industry. So, kick back and read what’s snagged our interest this week. Last of the London Film Festival The 55th BFI London Film Festival came to a close after two weeks of fantastic films, premieres and top quality acting. The festival’s director, Sandra Hebron, stepped down after eight successful years, and Tim Robey in the Telegraph said this year’s festival was “as stimulating a fortnight as I can remember,”...

posted on 28th October 2011 Read full article >>