Horsham student picked for Globe Shakespeare festival

Current RADA student Laurence Stagg was one of just 38 UK drama students invited to take part in the Sam Wanamaker Festival, staged by Globe Education to celebrate young acting talent.

The students performed a showcase of Shakesperian scenes on the Globe stage to an audience of agents and Shakespeare enthusiasts.

Laurence, 22, from Horsham, said: “I didn’t expect to be picked to do it. It’s a really exciting opportunity to be on that stage.”

After being selected by his tutors Laurence worked with a partner on a scene from Macbeth.

He said: “I think the thing that is brilliant about Shakespeare is that it’s not intellectual. At the root of what he’s writing is humanity.”

Laurence was bitten by the acting bug when he was a pupil at Tanbridge House School in Horsham. Despite not being particularly interested in theatre, aged 15 he took a part in the school play, Sweeney Todd, because his friends were involved. From then on he was hooked on acting.

He said: “I sort of found a love for it. I just knew that’s what I had to do.”

Laurence also attributes his acting success to his time with the West Sussex County Youth Theatre.

He said: “I owe so much to them for giving me opportunities to perform.

“I wouldn’t have got into RADA if it wasn’t for them.”

Past festival participants include BAFTA-nominated Andrew Garfield and Michelle Dockery, best known as Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey.