PQA Wolverhampton's Students Receive RADA Awards Success

Students from The Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts (PQA) in Wolverhampton have scored great success with their Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) Shakespeare Awards for the fifth year running.

Some 23 students were entered at all levels from introductory level up to the gold award, gaining passes throughout. They learnt and practiced monologues from a set list for 5 to 6 weeks. They then performed them for two assessors who had travelled from London to the Academy. The assessors are both professional performers and directors, who are currently directing shows at the prestigious drama school RADA, and are also working professionally.

Julian Elcock, Principal at PQA Wolverhampton, said: "These awards are challenging for the students as they have to do a lot of the work themselves. We can't learn the pieces for them nor do the research on the plays. It is a testament to our staff and students that we consistently score highly in the awards and also that the assessors volunteer to give up a Saturday to come to us."

PQA Wolverhampton has been running these awards for five years and has a pass rate of over 95% for the awards. The academy was in the vanguard of the awards being made available outside of RADA and Principal Julian has been part of the consultation process in updating the awards recently.

PQA, which was started by actress Pauline Quirke and her producer husband Steve Sheen in 2007, is a weekend performing arts Academy providing tuition for children and young people from 4-18 years. Students spend three hours rotating through hour-long sessions in Comedy & Drama, Musical Theatre and Film & TV. There are more than 170 Academies nationwide.

For more information about PQA Wolverhampton, contact Julian 07838 115152.