This Monday evening saw the 2014 national final of MonologueSlam UK at our home in Theatre Royal Stratford East. The performers were almost all previous winners, with regional champions attending from Manchester and for the first year, from Birmingham as well! Four lucky performers got through from the auditions and two from the Masterclass – so we knew the talent was going ot be ridiculous!
The stakes were high, with the overall winner taking away a year’s free membership to Spotlight courtesy of our supporters at the casting directory.
Our judging panel was suitably stellar for the last MonologueSlam of the year, packed full of casting directors, agents and directors.A big thank you to Dawn Walton, Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre, Sian Smyth, an agent from Hamilton Hodell, Kelly Valentine Hendry and Victor Jenkins from VHJ Casting, Stuart Piper, an agent from Cole Kitchenn, Rosalind Bach, an agent from BBA Management, Nadine Rennie, Casting Director at Soho Theatre, and Annie Rowe, a freelance casting director.
The evening was hosted by the fabulous Chizzy Akudolu with regulars Shoot From The Hip making sure everyone’s sides hurt from laughing. Our wonderful musician on the night was Nadina Ameen McQuilkin.
it was a special night, with not only the usual winner’s but an overall champion chosen as well and proclaimed as MonologueSlam UK National Champion 2014! The Youth Round was bigger and better with six young people taking to the stage – the winner was declared as George Morley, who has now won the Youth Round three times! Congratulations to Sam Hevicon, who won the 1 Minute Round after getting through to the show through the incredibly competitive auditions, and fellow auditionee Charlton O’Connor, who took home the 3 Minute trophy. Special mentions were given to 1 Minute Round performer Alexander Stutt and 3 Minute round regular, Maia Watkins. After much discussion by the judges, the overall winner was declared as Sam Hevicon! Sam took home his year’s Spotlight membership (which he said was great as his mum wouldn’t be paying for it this year!) and also a brand new shiny Nokia Lumia! Both winners also recieved Colin Leslie sunglasses and a Spotlight goody bag, with Charlton as the 3 Minute Winner benefitting from a free monologue recording session at Spotlight to add as a showreel to her Spotlight CV.
We also took the opportunity to remember our friend Joe Grime – Joe was a wonderful DJ and friend of TriForce who’d been the resident TriForce DJ for many years. Just last month, Joe sadly passed away after suffering from cancer. Joe’s family came to see the show, and wanted to share with the audience the support they’d received from Macmillan Cancer Support. If you would like to donate to Macmillan Cancer Support in Joe’s memory, please click here to make a donation online directly to the charity.
The next MonologueSlam UK will be on Monday 2nd March 2015, with auditions on Saturday 31st January. Make sure you sign up to our mailing list and you’ll find out first when the auditions are available to book and come and take the MonologueSlam UK challenge!
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