Drama Showcase

‘Drama Showcase’ was at The Canning Agricultural, Horticultural and Recreational Exhibition Centre, 1438, Albany Highway, at the corner of Station Street – near Carousel on Monday 5th August at 6.30 pm. About 18 months ago a talent contest was held in the mall of the Carousel Shopping Centre; some young talented kids were spotted and asked to appear at the Canning Agricultural Show. Such was the success that it was decided to try and give budding stars of any age a chance to perform, and so a couple of professionals were engaged to help. When Emma Perks of the Stargate Academy, and award winning actor and singer, Zalia Joi, started teaching the initial series of 5 sessions, it became obvious that some students were there for purely for self-confidence classes. One young girl could hardly say ‘hello’ to any one and yet last night she sang beautifully to an audience of a hundred. As I walked up the path to the hall, a couple of ‘sprites’ jumped from behind a bush and took up a graceful, statuesque poses on the grass. Inside the venue a dozen boys and girls, from 5 to 15 years, were carrying out movements in a tai chi style. Every 15 seconds they would take up a random new pose; this was the first task of the dedicated teachers, to show the children movement skills. In the following weeks came voice projection, pace, chemistry, mime, body language and various other basic theatrical skills. This 75-minute fun show covered story reading, guitar playing, dancing, recitations, pantomime and serious dramatic pieces. At times you could see the torment that some of the actors were going through, but they carried on with courage. So successful has this series of 5 one-hour lessons been, that the group are going to expand, accepting children from 6 to 16 and giving them their first break in the theatre. Stage personality, Ryan Schulz acted as mentor and stage manager. Whilst all of the children did very well, as any of the proud parent and grandparent would tell you, my choice as the two with most potential were the youngest, Jade (?) with the broken arm who could sing and dance with aplomb, and Alison Arrowsmith who captured and delivered two quite a heavy dramatic pieces with skill. However, congratulations to them all. There is to be another ‘audition workshop’ for the youngsters (phone 9451-1820) before the next major Talent Quest is held at Carousel in October. Similar classes are being run in the Melville recreation centre.