The world’s a stage for Stephen

The bright lights of London’s West End beckon for University of Teesside BA (Hons) English Studies graduate Stephen Uppal.

For Stephen, 23, from Middlesbrough, has beaten off strong competition to gain a place on a three-year course at the prestigious Arts Educational Institute in Chiswick, London. The Diploma in Musical Theatre course started in September, and combines theatre acting, dance and singing. Stephen will spend his final year performing on stage in London’s theatre land. He is following in the prestigious footsteps of Pop Idol winner Will Young, one of the Institute’s former students.

The course audition was a strenuous experience, with hopefuls competing for 40 places, allocated to 20 boys and 20 girls. There were 400 applications for the 40 places. Stephen’s audition process started at 12 noon and finished at 7pm. The audition started with ballet and jazz dancing, followed by two acting pieces, one from Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ and the other from Willy Russell’s musical ‘Blood Brothers’, in front of a former West End Director. For the singing section Stephen performed a piece from ‘Miss Saigon’ and Ronan Keating’s 2000 chart-topper ‘Life is a Roller Coaster’. At the end of the day a panel of three interviewed Stephen.

Away from performing, Stephen has enjoyed his University course. He added: “The degree gives me a back up to fall back on if I don’t work in the Arts, I might go into teaching or journalism. I’ve really enjoyed studying Shakespeare, Romantic poets, Victorian Literature and a module on Second World War writing, where we looked at Agatha Christie and Graham Greene. The Lecturers are very enthusiastic and organised and the University’s Learning Resource Centre is really good, it’s been my second home. For now, I’m really looking forward to performing, something I absolutely love. My mother H.Kaur is very happy for me, she’s always been behind me 110 per cent.”

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