The Stage/Bridge Theatre Training Company scholarship winners 2024
Paul ValeThis year, The Stage teamed up with the Bridge Theatre Training Company to offer training worth a total of £8,550. Paul Vale talks to the three winners of the 2024 scholarships
This year, the Bridge Theatre Training Company in association with The Stage offered part scholarships on either its two-year professional acting course or one-year postgraduate/experience acting course.
The auditions threw up some strong contenders for the prize, so in the end, three young performers will benefit from the award. Leila Wetton, Daniel Brindley and Loresa Leka will each receive £2,850 towards their training fees for the forthcoming year. In total, that’s an award to the value of £8,550.
Initially, the Camden-based school was offering two half scholarships but, as executive director Rebecca Sachdev explains: “In the end, we couldn’t separate three excellent candidates, so decided to share the award equally between them.”
Wetton, aged 21, from Bournemouth, has just completed her first year on the two-year professional acting course and has won the award to complete her final year.
“I was 18 when I started at the Bridge on a foundation year. I then took a year out, auditioning for other drama schools. But the Bridge is a really different environment compared to a drama school. It was as though the teachers were your colleagues. It was just the passion they had for the school and the passion they had to watch us do well. That, for me, felt very personal. I really liked it for that reason.”
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London-based Daniel Brindley, aged 28, is starting the one-year postgraduate/ experience acting course and is looking forward to building on his acting skills, following training at the University for the Creative Arts. “The main reason I chose the Bridge is that the course is really good,” he says. “It covered everything I would’ve wanted to cover. It’s got a great reputation and lots of its previous students are doing lots of interesting things. But on top of that, the fees are much more reasonable than a lot of other drama schools. And you don’t have to pay for the audition.” Like Wetton, Loresa Leka, aged 19, from Ashford, Kent is also starting her second year on the two-year professional acting course. “It’s everything that I’d hoped for in an acting training course,” Leka enthuses. “I struggled a bit beforehand looking for a training course or wondering whether I should go to university. When the Bridge came up, I just thought: ‘This is the one for me.’ There’s a comprehensive kind of training, and this year, I’ll be doing two public performances plus my showcase.”
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