Students take Stardust to Romania

Edinburgh College acting students are stars in Romania

Edinburgh College acting students brought a sprinkling of stardust to Romania as they performed to a sell-out crowd at one of the country’s prestigious national theatres.

Twenty-one students from the HND Acting and Performance course travelled to Romania to perform a show and take part in workshops and theatre tours, and watch performances by their Romanian contemporaries.

The students were visiting the country to present their show We are Made of Stardust at the National Theatre in Târgu Mureș, where they played to a full house and received a five-minute standing ovation. The students previously performed this show at the college’s Performing Arts Studio Scotland in Granton.

We are Made of Stardust was originally developed in Romania by college lecturer Scott Johnston, who has been travelling to the country for 22 years. Scott worked with the first youth theatre based at the National Theatre Târgu Mureș to develop the show, before developing a new version with his Edinburgh College students.

He said: “This was a hugely exciting opportunity for our students to perform on a prestigious stage and share their experience with Romanian actors. The students organised a Scottish theme night, attended Romanian and Hungarian nights and saw five productions at the national theatre and other venues.”

To help his students put their own stamp on the production, Scott used a technique he developed called bookends devising. He said: “Simply put, this means that I have written and designed the beginning and end 10 minutes of the production. The cast along with me devise and write the piece in between. The show I will take to Romania has exactly the same beginning and ending as the one I made here at college.”

In 2010 the University of the Arts in Târgu Mureș awarded Scott the university medal for developing artistic and academic work at the university – the first Briton to be awarded this honour. Last year, supported by the college, he completed a Masters in Stage Directing at the University. He has worked throughout Romania and done workshops and directed plays in many of the major theatres. He has also directed international professional co-productions for Romanian and Scottish companies including Stellar Quines and Cumbernauld theatre.

Students from the college’s performing arts courses will be taking part in performances as part of the college’s Let’s Glow festival throughout May and June. Let’s Glow is a celebration of the college’s creative students, featuring performance and exhibitions covering everything from music, theatre and dance to photography, film, art animation, textiles and design. The full programme of events can be found at www.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/letsglow

To find out more about performing arts courses at Edinburgh College, which include dance, musical theatre, acting, technical theatre, textiles and make-up courses visitwww.edinburghcollege.ac.uk/courses