College students get to work on EVITA!

TECHNICAL THEATRE students at South Devon College have returned from overseas work experience with world renowned, award-winning play EVITA!

The show charts the life of Eva Peron, wife of former Argentine dictator Juan Peron, and has more than 20 major awards to its credit, including the Oscar winning film version starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.

Six learners at the College, Technical Theatre Apprentices, were invited to work with the EVITA production crew over three days in Dusseldorf, Germany as part of their production. The students initially shadowed technicians to learn more about the lighting and sound aspects of theatre production, before being given the opportunity to put their skills into practice and work backstage on an actual show. College Technical Theatre Apprentice Tom Durman, (18, from Newton Abbot), described it as an “amazing experience”.

“I found the time spent with the crew and cast of Evita a lot of use and definitely a worthwhile trip,” said Tom, “We were able to get involved with different areas of the set up including rigging, sound checks, stage management and focussing of lights. The crew took a lot of time out to talk to us about what they were doing along with how they got to where they are and what touring is really like. Going to somewhere like Dusseldorf to see how the crew and cast work to prepare for the show was an amazing experience and something I would definitely do again.”

For more information on Technical Theatre or Music and Performing Arts courses at South Devon College call free on 08000 380 123 or visit www.southdevon.ac.uk.

For more information visit http://www.southdevon.ac.uk/