At the Artz Centre, our acting department is committed to fostering your creative expression and storytelling abilities. We offer comprehensive acting classes for children and young people from year 3 to college and university. Over the past five years, we have observed a growing interest among young people in performing on stage, particularly in non-musical roles that delve into complex themes explored in plays. In response to this demand, we established Artz Acting.

Building upon the success of our thriving theatre community, Artz Acting provides weekly classes designed to equip young actors with confidence and enhance their expressive abilities in portraying characters and telling stories. For children and young people in years 3 to 7, we offer Junior Acting. This program, held on Mondays at Our Upholland Arts Centre from 5:15 pm to 7:15 pm, culminates in the annual production of an original play. Last year, they premiered “Ransom,” written by Mark Ashton, and will present their own captivating interpretation of “Romeo and Juliet” titled “Starcrossed” in 2025.

For young people in years 8 and above, we offer the National Theatre Connections program, ran in partnership with the National Theatre. Each year, we audition actors to perform in a new, original play produced and staged locally at our venue. Subsequently, the play is transferred to the Blackpool Grand Theatre, a renowned historic theatre space. Additionally, the National Theatre provides comprehensive coaching and mentoring throughout the process. For 2025, auditions for NT Connections commenced for the play “Normalised.” A poignant narrative that emphasises the significance of community and standing up for one’s friends and family. 

For those young people looking to receive industry-recognised qualifications in their training, we offer RSL Acting Exam classes. Each year, we guide a group of actors through rigorous training to prepare for a performing arts examination and receive a grade for their dedication. These classes are held in the autumn and winter seasons. We are proud to say that all candidates who have completed the RSL Acting Exam classes have achieved a 100% pass rate, with exceptional merits and distinctions across the board.

Performing a Shakespearean play can be daunting, especially for young actors. But at the Artz Centre, we’ve created a fun and accessible way to make Shakespeare engaging for actors. We believe that Shakespeare’s stories are our inheritance as performers, and we should be free to reimagine them in new ways. 

In 2023, we partnered with the Artz Dance Academy. Artz actors teamed up with dancers to create a dance-theatre reimagining of ‘The Tempest.’ It’s a Celtic ballet retelling of one of Shakespeare’s most supernatural stories. In 2024, we partnered with the Musical Theatre Department to create a musical retelling of ‘Twelfth Night.’ This vibrant jazz-funk musical told the story of Viola and the love triangle she gets thrown into when she crashes on the island of Illyria. With a rousing score by Shaina Taub, audiences were delighted by a feast of the eyes, a bright and colourful reimagining of a 400-year-old play.

 In 2025, we’re taking our Shakespearean work to the next level. We’re bringing ‘A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream’ to the stage, or should we say, to the forest? The play will be staged outside at the Beacon Country Park. Audiences will be guided by fairies through the park and woods as a story of love and mischief unfolds. 

We’re committed to making young actors feel like they belong on a Shakespearean stage, and we’ve designed a methodology and tools to make that happen.