Each year, Ashbourne College hosts an audition day for students looking to secure scholarships in A-Level Music and Performing Arts (Drama and Theatre Studies). These scholarships, whilst difficult to achieve, are highly valuable, with offers going all the way up to 100% discount on Ashbourne’s tuition fees (roughly £60,000 for a two year course).
It was great to see such a range of talent and ability from this year’s applicants. We had students who had performed in West End shows, as well as students with no formal acting experience – all students and all levels are considered. What our Scholarship Panel are looking for are students engaged in their academic studies and with promise in performance.
The audition itself is simply a 1-2 minute instrumental performance (Music) or dramatic monologue (Drama). Students are then questioned on this performance, as well as their studies in general. This was the first year that our audition session was conducted entirely online, which made for both an interesting, and rather challenging, experience! All of the auditionees dealt with this fantastically.
Now that our scholarship students for 2021 have been selected, it is great to see them preparing and getting excited for their courses which commence in September. Currently, our Drama Department is working with the University of Cambridge trialling resources for their consideration of Ancient Greek drama in combination with Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem. Ashbourne’s Drama students also have access to Digital Theatre Plus that contains online performances of 500 Broadway and West End shows, which has been essential viewing during lockdown. Students have also been using Drama Online to maintain their reading in preparation for their university applications.
Whilst the audition day itself has passed for this year, Ashbourne considers applications for scholarship throughout the year so if this is something you are interested in please do contact our Admissions Department (admissions@ashbournecollege.co.uk).