A TALENTED group of four young performers from Tavistock has just been selected from thousands of entrants to win a national accolade for their outstanding work. Sam Hilton, Sarah Stenning, Heidi Lowe and Julia Mole, students with the Callington-based All Out Performing Arts group, have won an exclusive exhibition award for the Grade 8 group drama (devised) piece they entered for the Trinity College London exams in 2006, one of only two groups to do so. To win the award the young actors had to beat off stiff competition at a national level. They did so by gaining one of the highest Distinction marks possible in a practical exam in the whole country, including Eire. The piece they performed before a national examiner explored the difficult area of suicide. It was challenging work requiring great sensitivity and a lot of research and understanding of the subject matter. Devised by the performers themselves, two original scripts were then written and directed by All Out Performing Arts artistic director, Julian Barnicoat. Julian said: ?I am so proud of Sam, Sarah, Heidi and Julia. ?This is an extremely prestigious award considering the vast number of students entering for these exams every year. Grade 8 is the highest level exam they are able to take and they have proved that they are among the most talented in the country. ?This group was one of ten from All Out who entered last year and they all did extremely well, with seven of them receiving distinctions. ?Another ten of our groups have just performed their exam pieces for 2007, so who knows, maybe next year will see another winner!? Each member of the group will now receive a hand-inscribed certificate and a cheque. Julian said that as well as preparing pieces for exams, the company regularly stages performances of devised work, often with music specially composed by Julian and dance choreographed by the co-artistic director, Suzanne Sanders. They also put on two Summer Schools each year, due this year to start on Monday, July 30 for juniors and Monday August 6 for seniors. There are still a few places left for seniors. To find out more about how you can join All Out Performing Arts, contact Julian on 01579 351305.
