Pupil picked out by RSC

A Canterbury Academy pupil has beaten 180 others to win a place on a course for young actors run by the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company.

Just 20 children in the country were chosen for the new scheme

Olivia Laing, a Year 8 pupil at the school in Knight Avenue, will work over the next academic year with RSC actors and directors towards a showcase finale.

She will spend a number of weekends in Stratford-uponAvon for the programme.

Olivia previously attended Luddenham Primary in Faversham, where she first experienced Shakespeare.

She acted in the Canterbury Academy’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Marlowe and was subsequently selected to perform in The Dream at the RSC’S Swan Theatre in High Wycombe, where her character, Bottom, was described as being played with “infectious enthusiasm, energy and confidence”.

Young actor Olivia Laing