North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance

The North London Festival of Music, Drama and Dance takes place in May each year. The Playing Space enters students in the speech and drama component of the festival.

This year’s speech and drama festival takes place on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 May 2011. The venue is:

All Saints’ Church of England Primary School
116 Oakfield Road North
Whetstone
London N20 9EZ

The adjudicators are Michael Stone and Lianne Strauss.

The festival is divided into classes. Classes include:

• Verse Speaking
• Prose Reading
• Sight Reading
• Modern Acting
• Classical Acting
• Group Acting
• Improvisation

The festival offers students at The Playing Space the opportunity to:

• perform in a working theatre in front of an audience
• adapt the performance they have prepared in the classroom to meet the demands of a bigger space
• discover that nerves are not only natural but useful when giving a performance
• put theory into practice
• learn from watching the performances of other students
• learn from theatrical professionals

The festival is a competition. Students from The Playing Space generally do well. In 2008, 2009 and 2010 our students won numerous first, second and third prizes.

However, we tend to underplay the competitive aspect of the festival. Much more important than certificates and adjudications is the sheer thrill of taking part. If drama isn’t fun, what’s the point in doing it? All students who step bravely onto the stage should be enormously proud of their achievement.

Every year the festival is adjudicated by an esteemed theatrical professional. Each entrant receives a written adjudication sheet. The top three entrants in each class receive medals and certificates. Various cups and shields are awarded to winners in solo and group classes, and the highest marked competitors across all classes receive book tokens.

For more information about the North London festival, see www.northlondonfestival.org.uk