Acting and Drama Studies
ALRA, the Academy of Live and
Recorded Arts, is pleased and excited to announce the launch of ALRA North, a
northern base for ALRA. We are delighted to be the first CDS Drama School to
offer regional training together with training at our London home.
Rationale
The vision of ALRA North is born
out of ALRA’s long-term commitment to access for all together with the North
West having a particularly vibrant theatre industry. Manchester, Liverpool,
Bolton, Oldham, Lancaster, Leeds, Newcastle, Sheffield, York, Harrogate,
Birmingham all have producing theatres and there are many touring companies
based in the North West.
There is strong national drama
output from BBC Radio Manchester and Granada TV studios are just up the road.
The aim is for ALRA North to use these artistic centres as resources whilst
ultimately supplying them with new talent.
With financial pressures on
students being greater than ever, ALRA North will provide a centre of
excellence Acting students won’t have to travel hundreds of miles to attend.
With more and more students choosing, or being obliged, to live at home during
their studies, ALRA North will allow a wider demographic to choose Acting
training.
Location
Wigan has been identified as a
town with efficient transport links across the North of England. Lancaster,
Preston, Bolton, Southport, Crewe, Liverpool and Manchester are all within easy
reach, and changes at Manchester take you across the Pennines to Leeds and
Sheffield. With the new high speed rail link to London, the journey into Euston
can be made in under two hours. ALRA North will be staffed through a mixture of
new recruits and existing contacts, with London staff making use of the
high-speed rail link for the days they commit to ALRA North.
Financing
ALRA North is also able to offer a
substantially lower fee structure, due to the lower running costs in the
North-West of the country.
Course Delivery
Course delivery will be identical
to ALRA’s London base, and as such will continue to be accredited by NCDT and
ALRA’s two validating bodies; Trinity College, and the University of Greenwich.
From September 2010, the 3 Year
Acting will be available at ALRA North, and we hope to launch other courses
there in due course.
Premises
The North West facility will offer
rehearsal studios, TV and radio studios, an on-site modern café, and a Library
with state-of-the-art IT facilities. There will be a 200 seat performance space
with full lighting and sound capabilities.
The flexible complex, of
approximately 9,000 square feet, is 10 minutes’ walk from Wallgate and
Northwestern Stations, and 5 minutes from Wigan town centre, with its shops and
bars. The whole site has recently been refurbished to the highest standard, and
is bright, modern and clean. Apart from the specialised adaptations needed for
recording studios and the performance space, the complex is ready for use.
Adrian Hall
Adrian Hall joined Clive Duncan as
Co-Director of ALRA in June 2009, after 22 years as a professional actor, and
the last ten years as Head of Production at Guildford School of Acting. Since
joining ALRA, he has been tightly focused on outreach, heading out to schools
and colleges across the country to hold auditions with students on their home
turf.
‘ALRA North marks a huge leap forward in ALRA’s outreach objectives. ALRA is building a reputation as a Drama School that produces down-to-earth, committed actors, ready to work, and full of character and drive. They aren’t divas; they’re interesting, and interested. ALRA North will give us the chance to draw on an even wider pool of potential students, bringing a greater diversity to the school, and pushing it forward into an industry hungry for it.’
http://www.alra.co.uk/
