The Brockley Central Interview: Take Flight Theatre School
Take Flight is a new theatre school, launching this Wednesday, September 14th. Run by Stevie and Ahmet, two experienced West End performers, it will operate from St Hilda's Church, Crofton Park.
Stevie and Ahmet, Take Flight Theatre School
When BC was at primary school, we would have been pretty pleased with ourselves if we'd recited two lines accurately in the school play and got off stage without our trousers falling down. We recently saw our son's primary school performance of We Will Rock You, an insanely ambitious two-hour production, where 10 year olds were asked to perform Freddy Mercury solos, complex dance routines and harder still, make the audience laugh with page after page of Ben Elton dialogue. Unbelievably, they pulled it off. X Factor cops a lot of flack for breeding a generation that wants instant fame without putting in the hard work - in fact, it's encouraged kids to raise their game. Still reeling from that production, we asked Stevie and Ahmet about the new school:
"We're both from Honor Oak and we've noticed how many more young children there are than when we moved here six years ago. We both have a background in musical theatre and we looked around and felt there was room for at theatre school like this.
"We believe we offer the true West End experience. All our teachers will be active with in current productions and will offer the latest techniques being implemented within musical theatre. The children will also be excited and inspired to meet and be taught by current stars of stage and TV. As well as this, we are promoting and encouraging children to be creative, confident and active.
"Shows like I'd Do Anything, Glee, High School Musical, X Factor and So You Think You Can Dance have really encouraged a whole new generation of kids to give it a try.
"Believe it or not, Brockley is the best place in London to find actors, singers, dancers and musicians in the musical theatre industry. In fact the train line from London Bridge down to Brockley and onwards is often referred to as the “West End Express”. You’ll always bump into a performer on there! We will never have a shortage of teachers and already have a list of people interested.
"Lee Mead is one of our supporters. Stevie worked with him when she was covering the part of Elphaba, the green witch in Wicked. As well as being a collegue and friend, he is very keen to support Brockley, given his connection with the area.
"We plan to do an end of year summer show where parents and friends will be invited to come and witness what the children have achieved! And yes we do plan to talk to the Brockley Jack. It’s such a great venue with a great reputation. To link with them would be fabulous!"
Take Flight begins taster sessions on Wednesday - you can find all the details on their website.
