Bay drama, music pupils shine
THE Bay's dramatic arts and music pupils are among the country's most talented, with four of South Africa's 10 highest scoring candidates in the Trinity College examination coming from here – and all of them claiming either first or second places in their genre.
Trinity is the international exam board for performing arts and English language qualifications. These results and final places are from the 2013 examinations, only recently released from London.
Trinity Eastern Cape representative Dawn Spence said the region had every reason to be proud. "In the speech and drama department, Port Elizabeth boasted the highest marks in South Africa. Litha Hewitt-Coleman, a pupil of Robin Williams at Theodor Herzl School, earned 98% in his Grade 7 performance arts exam.
"Close behind Litha, with 96% and joint second in South Africa, were Gino-Lee Swanepoel (also at Theodor Herzl last year and a pupil of Williams) and Elandré Schwarz (Creative Noise Studio), both of whom did their Grade 8 musical theatre exams.
"In Trinity's music section, Hildegarde du Plessis, who was a pupil of Gustel Agenbag at Collegiate Girl's High School at the time, scored 97% for her Grade 8 piano exam – the second highest mark in South Africa."
These young stars are the recipients of the Trinity College exhibition awards for 2013. Each received a hand-inscribed certificate and a cash prize of £50 (about R870).
Spence said the achievements were all the more remarkable coming from the Bay's much smaller pool of candidate pupils compared to the bigger cities.
"Port Elizabeth is alive with talent and energy among the younger generation. We certainly never need to stand back from the rest of the country.
"The Pansaec [Performing Arts Network of SA's Eastern Cape branch] Youth Theatre Project, which played at the Savoy Theatre earlier this year, was a huge success," Spence said.
Well known in local theatre circles and a highly acclaimed director, Williams said she was proud of her past pupils' achievements.
Theodor Herzl's 2014 matrics achieved a 93% class aggregate in this year's dramatic arts practical final examination.
