Olivia Laing achieves Royal Shakespeare Company success

Last year, we were invited to put forward 7 young people to audition for a new RSC talent ID programme. RSC casting directors recruited from across the country and auditioned more than 200 children for just 20 places on the acting programme. I’m over the moon to announce that Olivia Laing, year 8, has been successful in securing a place on this programme, RSC Next Generation ACT. This is the acting equivalent of being scouted for a Premier League football team and is a great testament to Olivia and the hard work that has gone into the RSC partnership.

The programme, which will cover this academic year initially, will see Olivia working with RSC practitioners, actors and directors towards a showcase at the end of the year. She will spend a number of weekends in Stratford-upon-Avon participating in the programme. Her first weekend starts on Thursday this week so please note that she will be absent from school this Thursday & Friday.

Olivia is understandably excited about this opportunity and, although she has known about her success since before the summer, we are only now allowed to talk about it as today is the official press launch. If you see Olivia please do talk to her about this, she will be very pleased to finally be able to share her excitement with you.

Olivia joined us from Luddenham Primary, one of our former RSC cluster schools, where she first experienced Shakespeare and came across the RSC. She acted in our cluster production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Marlowe and was subsequently selected to perform in The Dream at the RSC’s Swan Theatre, where she played Bottom with infectious enthusiasm, energy and confidence.

Photography by Rob Freeman © RSC’