Theatretrain Coventry

🌟 Leadership 🌟

Leadership comes in many forms — supporting others, encouraging teammates and leading with kindness and confidence. 💙
Through performing arts, Theatretrain students develop valuable leadership skills that help them grow both on stage and in everyday life. 🎭✨

Love this Show 🥰

A Story of Our Lives

I often get asked if there is a show that I would recommend in the West End. I saw a show yesterday that was outstanding. As they said they smashed it, nailed it or whatever you want to call it.

The show in question is Into the Woods playing at the Bridge Theatre but transferring to the Noel Coward Theatre in September. It’s a tale that takes well known fairy tales and weaves them together to see if happy ever after is what happens. Spoiler alert. Actions have consequences.

Over the years I must have seen 5 or 6 performances including a lovely one starring our company director Cate in the Belgrade Studio in Coventry. I also remember seeing Nicholas Parsons as the narrator in the 1990s.

Everything about this performance was outstanding. The design, the lighting and the sound were fantastic while the performances were superb. I’m sorry if I sound gushing but I was blown away by the ensemble power of this performance.

The staging was imaginative with minimal props and believable truthful characters. Stephen Sondheim packs a lot about life into this show and the performers squeezed in so much more emotion, particularly through the songs. There was humour, pain, disillusion, hope and joy and ultimately a wonderful earned sense of remaking the world and facing up to misfortune. The audience roared its approval.

Jacob Fowler, our company director at Market Harborough, was on as Cinderella’s Prince. His performance as the Wolf that devoured Red Riding Hood and Grandma was funny, seductive and delicious. He owned the space. As the Prince he carried the bearing and demeanour of royalty but with a twist. As the character says “I was brought up to be charming, not sincere.” Jacob did a great job in bringing out the nuances of the characters he played.

The show won two Oliviers earlier this year (best musical revival and best design) and I’d say it is destined for a sell out run. It’s one of those shows that lives long after in the consciousness. So there, I recommend it.

See you at 10am Folks ready to Rock abd Roll 🎉🎉

Super proud of our wonderful 'Oldies' (aka Group 3 - 13 to 18s) who took part in the LTG Youth Theatre Festival at the Crescent Theatre Birmingham last Saturday as part of the 80th Anniversary Conference. They were lucky enough to receive a short session from the fabulous RSC Practitioner Ian Wainwright and to watch a variety of other young performers from all over the country before taking to the stage to perform five varied pieces of our own in a new space with no rehearsal.
What a privilege it is to work with these fabulous young people. They are a dream to be with and their discipline on and off stage is always exemplary. Congratulations and thanks to them all 🥰

Up bright and early and all set to 'get on the train' and represent Theatretrain at The LTG Conference at The Crescent Theatre, Birmingham

Good luck to all of our wonderful Theatretrain students taking their GCSE exams over the coming weeks 🍀✨

Remember to believe in yourselves, stay positive and take each exam one step at a time 💙

You have worked so hard to get to this point and everyone at Theatretrain is incredibly proud of you 👏

Make sure you:
⭐ Get plenty of sleep
⭐ Stay hydrated
⭐ Take breaks and look after yourself
⭐ Do your best — that is all anyone can ask

You’ve got this! 💪🎭

💙 No pressure—just a chance to be creative, try new things and build confidence without even thinking about it. Everyone’s just there to enjoy it. 🎭✨,I can just be myself here.

More than just a class… it’s a community ❤️
Theatretrain is where friendships are formed, teamwork is celebrated, and every child feels part of something special. From weekly classes to incredible performance opportunities, it’s a place to belong. 🌟

Find your nearest class: www.theatretrain.co.uk

Super Proud of our wonderful TT Cov students who are strutting their stuff at The Albany Theatre in the CN Live production of Magic of The Musicals today. Congratulations and Break A Leg for this evening.




CN Live Productions The Albany Theatre

Standing Out

When I was at school, we had an assembly every morning. The head teacher would sweep in in a gown, and there would be prayers, a hymn, and messages about the football team. It was very different back then. Something about everyone being so silent and still made me want to shout out and surprise them all. Perhaps I just wanted attention, but I think it was more than that. I found the sense of overwhelming control a bit oppressive. It was a reaction inside.

I’ve carried that crazy impulse to play against the things around me. But of course, it’s in my head. Much as I’d like to, I don’t think I’ll walk into the coffee shop and suddenly turn it into an operatic solo. “I want to order a decaf latte if you please.” Although I would enjoy the look of shock, surprise, humour, or fear that would come from the barista. I do that sometimes in Starbucks, where they always ask my name, and I say, “James Bond” and see what reaction I get. Don’t we all have moments where we want to shake things up a bit? What about in the car when someone zigzags ahead of you on the motorway, don’t we react?

I know a few musical songs, maybe I could try out a number from Rent or Chicago in the bread aisle of Tesco's. You never know, it might cause enough of a conniption to get others to join in. After all, it sometimes happens spontaneously in queues, “Why are we waiting, why are we waiting” to the tune of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.” And where would football be without people singing out?

In my acting classes, I often shake things up. I’ll whisper to an actor, “Leave the room in the scene.” They do so, and it’s fascinating to see how the other actor deals with it. Do they follow them, or do they just stand there? I can tell you that when they follow, the scene goes up a gear in the corridor, or on the stairs, or even outside.

A few years ago, flash mobs were all the rage. At Theatretrain, we did a few. We got a big crowd of students together in London and suddenly popped up in Waterloo Station with our song, “Calling all Stations” and Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the Tower of London. These days, though, it’s harder to shock people. You can suddenly pop up, and people very quickly accept it – oh no, another flash mob. I think that’s why they went out of fashion.

You may have seen Channel 4’s Piano programme, where a piano was left at a railway terminus, and various people wandered up to play. Some were astonishingly good. And the new second series of Your Song, which launched recently on Channel 4, brings private singers to public places. Good luck to them, but I think my Tesco debut will stay on the back burner.