Final-year students on East 15’s unique course, BA Specialist Performance Skills (Stage Combat), have performed their first-ever showcase.

The showcase, in atmospheric St Paul’s Church (also known as The Actors’ Church in Covent Garden) allowed students to show their full range of stage combat skills, as well as strong acting abilities and training.

Scenes performed include a devised drama based on the edgy Brit-flick works of Danny Boyle and Shane Meadows, a costumed drama of classic literary works and a specialist performance set that required students to play anthropomorphic creatures inspired by Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. Students made full use of the open space provided by St Paul’s Church, which included somersaulting over the altar and climbing the pulpit!

BA Specialist Performance Skills (Stage Combat) is the only full-time course of its type in Europe. The demanding course focuses on training actors through a variety of advanced physical skills: stage combat, gymnastics, Laban, horse-riding, martial arts, tumbling, animal and mask work, dance, fencing and more. It aims to create a performer who is emotionally connected, focused, disciplined and can use his/her voice and body as a tool of expression – and is also highly adept in a range of physical disciplines.

During their training the students have also performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, The Blue Elephant Theatre, Covent Garden Market and Heaven nightclub. This one-off showcase was a great chance for industry guests and the press to see them demonstrate a range of their skills, in one location, in a short space of time.