A busy two-year run of college performances has paid off for Stockton Riverside College students Lola and Layla.
The up-and-coming young actors have both secured places at The Arden School of Theatre, one of the UK’s most prestigious theatre schools.
Among the college-leavers celebrating results this week, Lola, said: “I was so happy when I found out I had got my place.”
Layla added: “It will be an amazing experience.”
With ambitions to work in the competitive industry, for the acting for stage and screen students the audition process itself was a huge learning curve, that included self-tapes, screen tests and a Shakespearean monologue.
“I was so nervous, but everyone was really supportive of each other,” said Layla, 18, from Eaglescliffe, who immediately fell in love with the stage school in Manchester.
“There is a lot of competition, but they want you to give your best performance, so they try to make you feel comfortable.”
The pair were also supported on the day by former Stockton Riverside College acting for stage and screen students already studying at Arden.
Of course, mastering all those lines is a test for any budding young actor, fortunately both Lola and Layla have lots of experience.
In fact, their class was selected from more than 250 theatre groups nationwide to be one of just 10 to perform at the National Theatre’s Connections Festival in London last year, in which Lola played the lead role at the National Theatre’s Dorfman stage, a dream for any actor.
“It was really nerve-racking because it was my first proper lead role in my first year of college,” said the 18-year-old from Billingham. “But I know how lucky I am to have experienced that.”
Most recently, both Lola and Layla challenged their acting skills playing the lead as Susie Salmon in their final college performance of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.
A hugely emotional part where the character stays on stage unseen by the other characters for the whole performance, Layla said: “When I started at the college I never would have imagined getting that part or to have the confidence to lead a whole show and learn all those lines, but I did.”
Now both are preparing for a fresh challenge at Arden in Manchester. Layla will be studying the HNC in Performing Arts and Lola is embarking on the BA Hons in Acting.
