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A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make our week at the Exeter Northcott with THE LITTLE MERMAID such a success.
This was a fully staged, lavishly costumed and beautifully lit Broadway style musical- not a concert in simple black outfits. The work (and expense) was massive!
We are especially grateful to our chaperones and backstage crew who helped this talented, energetic, hard-working and (very importantly) supportive and considerate cast of 75 young people to great such a memorable 30th anniversary show!
AWARDS GALA 2023
THE DRY VERSION!
We hoped to enjoy our open air venue, but the September weather wasn't kind and fortunately we managed to transfer to the Exeter Gym Club just in time!
We enjoyed a whole range of performances from 'The Greatest Show' to 'Spelling Bee' plus a host of prizes following another year of great performances!
Winners of trophies included:
BEST SENIOR PERFORMANCE
Abigail Baptist (Spelling Bee)
BEST JUNIOR PERFORMANCE
Ellis Connor Fortune (The Greatest Show)
BEST JUNIOR IMPROVEMENT
Isla Charles
BEST SENIOR IMPROVEMENT
Tallulah Hadden
BEST BREAK-OUT DRAMA PERFORMANCE
Nate Poyner
COMEDY CUP
Luke Westley
DANCE AWARD
Amelia Cheffers-Lily
GOLDEN VOICE AWARD
Archie Benham
KICKLINE PANTO AWARDS
Charlie Williams & Frankie Vialls
TEAM PLAYER
Matilda Ivory
YES, IT'S TRUE!
OUR MASSIVE 30TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW !
WE WILL SHORTLY ANNOUNCE A MASSIVE 30TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW FOR 2024!
Amazing! We've just been wowed by Fletcher Dobinson in MUOLIN ROUGE in the West End! Seems like only yesterday he was playing Judas in our production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and a Lion-dancer in 'The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe'!
Don't miss his incredible dancing if you can catch this spectacular show!
It was colossal, stunning and enormous fun! At long last, we took on the challenge of one of the most difficult shows to stage: CATS at the Northcott Theatre!
Audiences roared their approval for a show with a cast of 66, aged 7 to 18 years of age. Andrew Lloyd Webber insists that each new production of CATS is different, and we are immensely proud of the new vision of a show which will live in the memory for many years!
At long last we are on stage indoors (we managed some open air shows last Summer). Now Oliver! has dodged all the obstacles to get to the stage of the Corn Exchange!
With a cast of 60, directed by Chris Jones and Will Trafford, the musical favourite is proving to be a lovely Easter treat- especially for audiences who have been waiting for one of our shows since 2019- Annie had to be cancelled at the last minute due to the pandemic and we've been waiting ever since. Well, now we're back, LIVE ON STAGE, where we belong!
News Archive...
A few snaps of Summer School
SPLURGE-TASTIC FUN!!!
Audiences at the Corn Exchange were delighted by outrageously messy pie-fights and great songs and dances in our Junior Production of BUGSY MALONE!
A cast of over 80 filled the show with crazy energy and great comic timing and entertained the full houses who thrilled the the climactic huge splurge fight!
The next Junior Production will be JOSEPH & THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT!
AWARDS GALA DELIGHT
Another year passes and once again we celebrated twelve months of performances and learning at the Exeter Corn Exchange on Sun 29 September.
We enjoyed a whole range of performances from 'The Wizard of Oz' to 'Headless Horseman' plus a host of prizes were awarded by our special guest, Christopher Edward, who starred in 'Aladdin' last Christmas.
Winners of trophies included:
BEST SENIOR PERFORMANCE
Mia Davies
BEST JUNIOR PERFORMANCE
Jim Sheen
BEST BREAK-OUT SENIOR PERFORMANCE
Tom Currie
BEST BREAK-OUT JUNIOR PERFORMANCE
BRIANNA ZEPEDA
BEST JUNIOR IMPROVEMENT
Emma Jinks
BEST SENIOR IMPROVEMENT
SAM MARRIOTT
BEST COMEDY
Darcy Hedden
GOLDEN VOICE
Jena Bentley
DANCE AWARD
Archie Benham
TEAM PLAYER
Cerys Wiliams & Grace Broderick
What an honour! Ian & Tanya have been awarded the Lord Mayor's Commendation for services to individuals and the wider community on behalf of STAGE BY STAGE's 25 years as Exeter's theatre school. We felt very humble to stand alongside some amazing people who work hard to make life great for the people of Exeter!
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORS
So many thank you's after the epic CHILDREN OF EDEN 25th anniversary. Firstly, thank you to everyone who came to the show: a show without an audience is just a rehearsal. Secondly thank you to the magnificent chaperone team: so well-organized and so kind, especially with a huge age range to deal with. Also many many thanks to a production team who are at the very top of their game, including Dominic Jeffery who lit the show, Mike Reddaway who production managed, Jon Matanle who mixed sound, Riannon Cheffers-Heard who designed and painted the set including the rainbow floor for the fifth time! And of course, huge congratulations to the entire cast, all working at a phenomenal, no, a truly exceptional level. CHILDREN OF EDEN is an ensemble musical about the fact we have to live and work together in harmony to truly prosper: all the members of Stage by Stage brilliantly demonstrated this truth live on stage. We feel very proud of you all!
All the Production Team
SEE MORE PHOTOS IN OUR GALLERY
Wow!
What an amazing run in '42nd Street' at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane!
Kirsty Fuller has just finished a year as cover 'Anytime Annie' in the fabulous tap show that is playing to huge acclaim in London's West End.
We wish Kirsty huge success with her next projects- she is such an amazing performer we know she will be a hit!!!
TWELFTH NIGHT Shakespearean Acting!
WORKING WITH TOP WEST END PROFESSIONALS!
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CINDERELLA has now completed a record-breaking run at the Exeter Corn Exchange, featuring a youth chorus from Stage by Stage.
The show starred top West End performers from such shows as 42nd Street, Billy Elliot, The Color Purple and The Lion KIng- offering a great opportunity for our students to learn from the best!
The Comedy of Errors is one of those Shakespeare plays that does just what it says on the tin – produces confusion by the truckload and almost unbounded potential for comedy and clowning. And this production from Exeter based Stage By Stage, this year celebrating twenty years at the Fringe, exploits every nuance in the script (as well as several of their own) in delivering a pulsating hour of high quality theatre.
Think Madness (and a plethora of other Ska and two tone bands) meets mayhem and you’ll have some idea of what these guys got up to. With the ten strong cast bursting onto the stage dancing, miming and moving, the eye was immediately drawn to the superb costumes, strong on black and white but using every conceivable pattern and the odd splash of colour to aid character identification.
An imaginative setting of the boating disaster that defines much of the subsequent capering was the prelude to a whirlwind of music, dialogue and exquisitely presented clowning and physical theatre. Using every inch of theSpaceUK Niddry Street stage, this production in the round also lost no opportunity to break through that famed fourth wall and engage the small but uniformly appreciative audience.
Acting was pretty much top drawer across the piece but particular credit goes to Will Pearce for his portrayal of Antipholus of Syracuse (great accent and physicality) and Caitlin Tyrell for delivering both Dromios with such dexterity. I particularly enjoyed the catty interplay between the sisters and “It” girls Adriana and Luciana (Josie Tapp and Leah James respectively) and special mention must be made of Benjamin-Jack Charles for his contrasting delivery of the urbane Egeus and, rather memorably, the flirtatious Courtesan.
And sound techies are generally an unrecognised force in most theatre shows but whoever put together this soundscape deserves a small medal, or a large beer. Amusing and appropriate as well, at times, nostalgic, it supported the cast during dialogue as well as providing backing for the singing and physical theatre. Whoever was responsible, please take a bow!
This production had just about everything; pace, energy, clarity, humour, dance, movement and a cast that were clearly having the time of their lives. It’s something I would highly recommend to any Shakespeare buff, indeed to anyone who appreciates good all-round theatre. Given its early slot time, it counts as a real hidden gem, something that it’s well worth getting out of bed for.
http://fringereview.co.uk/review/edinburgh-fringe/2017/the-comedy-of-errors-4/
We can't express how proud we feel of the entire cast, crew, backstage helpers, chaperones and front of house volunteers who made this show a highlight- even with our incredible history of shows.
Sixty-five Stage by Stage members were involved in the show, working as one brilliant team to create a very special production. A new legend is born!
Once again we produced one of the biggest shows Exeter has ever seen with the UK youth theatre premiere of 'SPAMALOT'. The audience were on their feet cheering for all six performances and the whole show was a fantastic testament to the company spirit, teamwork and superb professional approach of every member of the cast and crew!
We are proud to say that no other youth group in the South West stages shows with such elaborate physical productions, which enable our students to really learn how to perform at a professional level and with full professional technical teams; no franchise school would ever dream of budgeting their so-called "showcases" on the scale of our full stage shows!
One of our junior members, Archie Benham, has just had an amazing experience- he was selected to play Benji in the national tour of PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT opposite Duncan James!
According to all the reviews, he was sensational! Well done Archie!
http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co.uk/Exeter-schoolboy-sings-Blue-singer-Duncan-James/story-29110570-detail/story.html
Stage by Stage does not run an agency, charging fees to our members- and yet top national theatre and TV companies come to us for great young performers!
FULFILLING THE DREAM!
MORE AWARDS!
TWO HITS IN EDINBURGH!
Our annual trip to the Edinburgh Festival created two hit shows: 'She Loves Me' and 'Candide'! Broadwaybaby praised our 4-star musical with 'the young actors handling the show with such warmth and grace' * * * *, whilst Edinburgh Spotlight hailed 'Candide', with 'no weak links in this talented cast of young people'! * * * *
DANCE FESTIVAL SUCCESS!
'LES MISERABLES' TRIUMPHS!
A DREAM OF A DREAMCOAT!
SWEET AS HONEY!
‘Little Shop’ booms in Edinburgh!
Senior Academy presented its "exuberant" (Broadwaybaby) production of 'Little Shop of Horrors' at sweet International as part of the Edinburgh Festival 2013 this August. singled out for special praise were Will Trafford as Seymour, Laura Porter as Audrey 2 (the plant) and Bryony Buckingham as Audrey (the human).
Students also saw a host of shows and Aalysha Power's entire year was made by meeting Miriam Margoyles (Prof Sprout in 'Harry Potter') and having a photo with her!
Stage by Stage has once again been asked to provide junior performers for Exeter's professional pantomime at the Exeter Corn Exchange. Audition news coming soon...