The Other Side of the Street

We are now over halfway through our rehearsal period for The Other Side of the Street, the original musical written and produced by the Mousetrap team (Steve, Sue and Patrick) in consultation with and specially for our students.

It’s already been a hugely exciting, productive time and the students had a wonderful session on Wednesday with a singer and actor who is currently starring in Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre as Ramses. Liam Tamne took time to come in and share his experiences of growing up where he did, and how he worked at and fashioned his journey to where he is today. It was a genuinely powerful and, in many ways, transformative couple of hours because Liam was so generous and honest and wise. He also sang for our students and talked through the demands of managing your voice and energy during a run. Afterwards, our students performed some of the work-in-progress. Liam was a lovely, perceptive and supportive advisor, instilling in our students further confidence and drive.

St Augustine’s young actor-singers had this to say about him:

I thought when Liam Tamne came that it would be a lot more daunting. I thought he might be super critical, but he was the opposite. He was more open about his experience to us than I thought he'd be and I felt more comfortable performing because of the talk we had at the beginning. (Year 8)

Yesterday I learned that whatever your dreams are or whatever you want to accomplish, you have to work for it. Things aren’t handed to you; you have to work hard to achieve it. I have also learned that if you stay in your comfort zone you aren’t going to be learning how to improve and are just going to keep doing the same thing over and over again. (Year 9)

I really enjoyed meeting Liam and was also very pleased. I was shocked to find out how many plays he was/is in. It all amazed me because he started off with almost nothing and now he has met many celebrities (including Dove Cameron, one of my favourites). I am an extremely shy person and I volunteered for this musical only to boost my confidence a little. Liam taught me that on stage I am not me, I am my character. I am now going to give it my all, sing my heart out. I’m going to be the best I can. (Year 8)

And Liam himself captures what it really is all about here...