Seevic

BTEC Performing Arts students are putting together the last of the arrangements for their graduation show Back to the 80’s as they prepare to perform at the College for the final time in June.

The musical portrays experiences of students in the graduating class of fictional school William Ocean High and is set to the biggest hits of the 1980’s such as Footloose, Kids in America, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Walking on Sunshine.

Kyle Abdullah, 18, from Leigh-on-Sea will play the lead role of Corey Palmer Junior and John-Reece Blatchford, 19, from Canvey will play Corey Palmer Senior, he said: “I was extremely happy to get the part of Corey Senior as that was the part I auditioned for. This is definitely the best show we have done since I have been here, it’s the only show that has not been double casted, so the same people will play the same role in each production and it’s also the first time we have hired a professional set – which looks amazing.”

The students are hoping to put on five performances in total, two matinees, to which they will invite pupils from local schools and three evening performances for the public.

Vicky Tearle, 18, from Basildon who plays rebel cheerleader Kim Easton said: “We have invited all our friends, family and work colleagues to come and see the show. We chose the Back to the 80’s musical because we thought it would be lively and fun for us as well as the audience.”

The students had to go through two rounds of auditions to get their parts. The first round was singing and the second was dancing. When the parts were decided upon a casting list was put up in the Performing Arts area and the line-up was revealed. Danielle Stallard, 17, from Benfleet who is playing Candy Gibson said: “Everyone was really happy with the casting and thinks the right people were put in the right roles. We have all got into the roles so well and grown to really like the characters we are playing.”

As this is the graduation show Back to the 80’s will be the final performance that this set of students will put on at SEEVIC College. They will be assessed on their performance in the show and this will go towards their final grade. They have put a fantastic amount of effort into the production so far and have carried out numerous fund-raising events to raise money for the professional set that will be constructed in the SEEVIC College theatre. The set is based around the design of a Rubik’s Cube and comes complete with a life-size 1980’s style car.

All staff and students involved would like to see this show sell-out on all performances to give these students a well-deserved successful end to their time at SEEVIC College.