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Shakespeare Awards offer the opportunity to work one-to-one with a RADA tutor to present a speech, sonnet or scene from Shakespeare and get personal feedback to develop your skills and inspire your acting.

You need to have gained your Shakespeare Silver Award to apply for Gold. Challenge yourself with the penultimate Shakespeare Award level by presenting two speeches or – in pairs – a scene you have chosen from the list we provide, and a sonnet, read ‘on sight’ with 15 minutes' preparation time.

The assessment includes discussion time between you and your RADA tutor before you perform each speech. This will focus on the plays your chosen speeches are from; the nature of the characters involved; and in more general terms, Shakespeare and his works.

Feedback will be given before you have the opportunity to present each speech again.

You should aim to have some awareness of all of Shakespeare’s sonnets. For notes on understanding, we particularly recommend the Penguin Shakespeare’s Sonnets edited by John Kerrigan; and, for contemporary insights, Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets by Don Paterson. However, the sonnets sequence is readily available in most Complete Works and in many separate editions.

To gain the Gold Award, an achievement of 85 marks out of 140 marks is required.

During the assessment:
15 minutes before your assessment you will be given a sonnet to read and work on for the sight reading element of your Award.
The assessment begins with a discussion between you and your RADA tutor.
- You perform a speech from section one. Pairs will present a scene.
- You will then be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text.
- You deliver your speech or scene again.
- You will then deliver a second speech. Pairs will present a scene.
- You will then be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text.
- You deliver your speech or scene again.
- You present your sonnet for the sight reading element (you are not expected to be ''off book'' for this part).
- You will be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text before delivering your sonnet again.

After the assessment
- You will receive your results and any feedback by post within one month.

Normally on the first Saturday of each month. Please email awards@rada.ac.uk for details regarding availability.
Assessment time: 45 minutes or 90 minutes for a pair
Designed for candidates 15+, however the assessment is suitable for adults of all ages
You may choose any of the speeches, regardless of gender
You must act from memory to gain your Award (without reading a script)
The next level to gain after completing the Gold Award is the Platinum Award

You need to have gained your Shakespeare Bronze Award to apply for Silver. Continue your Shakespeare Awards journey by performing a speech or – in pairs – a scene you have chosen from the list we provide, and a sonnet that you have chosen yourself. The Silver Award includes the opportunity to discuss your sonnet with your RADA tutor, touching on the delivery and nature of the piece you have chosen.

To gain the Silver Award, an achievement of 40 marks out of 70 marks is required.

During the assessment:
- You perform a speech. Pairs will present a scene.
- You will then be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text (you will need to have read or watched the play).
- You deliver your speech or scene again.
- You present a sonnet that you have chosen yourself.
- You will then have a discussion with your RADA tutor, touching on the delivery and nature of the sonnet chosen.
- You will also be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text.
- You deliver your sonnet again.

After the assessment:
- You will receive your results and any feedback by post within one month.

Normally on the first Saturday of each month. Please email for details regarding availability.
Assessment time: 20 minutes or 40 minutes for a pair
Designed for candidates 12+, however the assessment is suitable for adults of all ages
You may choose any of the speeches, regardless of gender
You must act from memory to gain your Award (without reading a script)
The next level to gain after completing the Silver Award is the Gold Award

Whether you are new to performing Shakespeare or have years of experience, the RADA Shakespeare Awards offer a unique one-to-one learning experience. Our tutors give feedback in the room, to develop your skills and inspire your acting.

The Bronze Award is an exciting challenge to present a Shakespearean sonnet and speech or – in pairs – a scene chosen from the list we provide.

During a fun and creative session you will receive individual feedback, ideas to try and ways to develop your performance and understanding of the text.

To gain the Bronze Award requires an achievement of 30 marks out of 60 marks.

During the assessment:
- You perform a sonnet from section one for a RADA tutor.
- You then perform a speech. Pairs will present a scene.
- You will then be given some suggestions of things to try out to explore the text (you will need to have read or watched the play).
- You deliver your speech or scene again.

After the assessment:
You will receive your results and any feedback by post within one month.

Further details:
Normally on the first Saturday of each month. Please email for details regarding availability.
Assessment time: 15 minutes for individuals or 30 minutes for a pair
Designed for candidates 12+, however the assessment is suitable for adults of all ages. If you are aged under 14, you need to have obtained the Messenger Award.
You may choose any of the speeches, regardless of gender
You must act from memory to gain your Award (without reading a script)
The next level to gain after completing the Bronze Award is the Silver Award

Young actors in training with Shakespeare and his company would sometimes be entrusted with the all-important role of Messenger. During a fun and creative session, delivered online, you will perform two speeches you have chosen from the list we provide.

To gain the Messenger Award, an achievement of 25 marks out of 50 marks is required.

During the assessment:

- You will connect with a RADA tutor in a one-to-one online session.
- You will first perform a speech from section one.
- You will then perform one of the speeches from section two.
- After delivering the speeches, you will be given some live suggestions of things to try out to explore the text.
- You then deliver your speech from section two again.

After the assessment:
- You will receive your results and any feedback by post within one month.

Normally on the first Saturday of each month. Please email awards@rada.ac.uk for details regarding availability.
Assessment time: 15 minutes
Designed for single candidates 12+, ideal for those between 12 - 14
You may choose any of the speeches, regardless of gender
You must act from memory to gain your Award (without reading a script)
The next level to gain after completing the Messenger is the Bronze Award

Are you passionate about theatre and communities? Then volunteering with W&T might be right for you. Volunteering is a great way to develop your skills, meet new people and work as part of an enthusiastic and talented team.

All our volunteer roles are attached to projects, and may range in length from a couple of weeks, to a number of months. W&T volunteers have supported heritage projects in local communities, performances in older people’s settings, the creation of new theatre with vulnerable young people at Birmingham Hippodrome, and comedy courses for adults with mental ill health.

All our volunteer opportunities are advertised on the W&T website (linked below).

ProPortal is a brand-new and completely free online platform developed by Unity Theatre, Liverpool. The website has been created to diversify the UK touring circuit by bringing together artists and programmers who would normally struggle to connect.

At its simplest the ProPortal is a private, online library of performances available for tour and artists available for commission. Through ProPortal, programmers and producers at venues and festivals will be able to watch high-quality recordings of company work through this new YouTube-style platform.

Designed to make decision-making easier and more personalised, the portal allows productions to be filtered by genre, location, availability and staging, as well as features such as accessible performance options, community engagement packages and suitability for schools

The website is private and secure, meaning artists don’t need to worry about work being accessed by anybody they wouldn’t want to see it. Submission for artists is brief, saving endless cold-emailing or extensive travel costs.

Yorkshire Dance offers studio time in our building in Leeds to dance artists who are researching & developing new work. We provide residencies to artists who live and work in Yorkshire or have a strong commitment and connection to the Yorkshire region or the North. You can apply for 1 or 2 weeks of studio residency time.

Yorkshire Dance is specifically interested in supporting residency applications, which reflect our artistic statement (that you can read here) and also:
- reflect developments in current contemporary performance practice and seek to develop the field of choreography and dance
- proposals which emphasise innovative, interdisciplinary collaborations
- proposals which demonstrate a strong and realistic desire to consider connection with the public, audiences or participants and/or those which demonstrate other partnership support

Applications submitted by the end of each calendar month will be discussed at the beginning of the following month. You will be contacted once a decision has been made on your application.

PLEASE NOTE: We are currently receiving a high amount of interest by artists in booking our studios for residencies. Unfortunately we are currently booked up until Jan 2022, therefore please only submit application for space with dates from February 2022. There might be the one off day/ week becoming available before Feb 2022 due to cancellations, please make a note in your residency application if you would like to be informed of any space becoming available at shorter notice. Thank you.

Residencies for projects that receive no other funding (e.g. through Arts Council England) can be offered one week of residency space free of charge, especially if this is part of an R & D project.

If you apply for the residency in conjunction with raising funding for your projects (for example through Arts Council Project grants), we will ask for a subsidised contribution towards the space of £400/ week. If you seek studio space for a 2 week residency, Yorkshire Dance can offer one week free of charge and the second week at the subsidised contribution of £400. The two weeks must be taken consecutively in this scenario.

Two weeks can be offered in another format over a longer period of time (6 months) however, the cost follows the rule of £400 subsidised contribution per week in this case.

Confirmed residencies must take place at the dates originally agreed, if for some reason your dates change you must reapply for the residency.

Once your offer is accepted and agreed on, any cancellation thereafter will require you to re-apply for a new residency. This will be assessed on equal merit and dependent on availability of space.

If you have any questions about the residency application process, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Kirsty Redhead: kirstyredhead@yorkshiredance.com.

We encourage you to B-Scene and take part in creative activities.

The Blue Elephant runs a Writers Group.

Everyone interested in playwriting is welcome to join, whether you aspire to have work you're creating put on professionally or not. We also love to have people come who are interested in acting/critiquing as that's a massive part of the group too.

There's no charge to take part. Our Writers Group is currently on a break for the summer and will have its next meeting on Tuesday 28th September, meeting every fortnight after that. To join please email Niamh at niamh@blueelephanttheatre.co.uk. Sessions are a mixture of writing activities and readings from each other's work.

Beyond Online, is Graeae's digital library where you'll find all our in house resources to support artists, students, directors, practitioners and curious minds.

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