WILLIAM’S ROLE

FORMER St Christopher’s School student William Bradley spent the summer treading the boards of one of the UK’s most prestigious theatres performing in front of thousands of musical lovers.

He won the role of a main character in ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ by playwright Shepherd Mead over three days at the Lowry Theatre in Manchester.

William, 19, whose family live in Qurayyah, grew up in Bahrain and recently moved to the UK to study Drama at Manchester Metropolitan University.

He jumped at the chance to appear in the play about the young, ambitious J. Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book of the same name as the play’s title, rises from humble window washer to chairman of the board. He said: “The auditions were held at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in East London. They consisted of three-part audition workshops in acting, vocals and dance, followed by a recall.

“Everyone was friendly but I struggled a bit with the dance as there was limited dance experience available in Bahrain … but they must have liked my acting enough to offer me the part! I secured the role of Peterson. He is one of the business executives in the office and I had my own secretary!

“I usually consider myself  a ‘method actor’, you actually ‘believe’ you are the role/character and transform yourself, but in this case I had no experience of being a business executive and researching the role was also tricky, so it was a challenge from that point of view.

“The message from the play was that if you keep your wits about you and watch out for opportunities in life, networking can be useful, as long as it doesn’t go too far!”

William certainly knows about opportunities and says his time at the Lowry was a great chance to do some networking of his own.

“Performing at The Lowry Theatre on Salford Quays in Manchester was an amazing experience. It offered a great insight into professional theatre and the opportunity to perform in a top venue with packed audiences every show was amazing.”

 “This play was the biggest moment for me as an actor to date, because of the high standard of The Company Music Theatre’s director Tom O’Brien, musical director, Dan Swana, choreographer Lee Crowley and vocal coach Thomas Coltman.”

The show received positive reviews with What’s On Stage critic Craig Hepworth saying: “I was amazed by the sheer talent both on and off the stage.”

The talented British teenager credits part of his success to growing up in the kingdom. He said: “If I hadn’t lived in Bahrain I think I would still enjoy acting but it may not have been so easy for me in the UK to develop in the same way because of the people that helped me in Bahrain.

“I was very lucky growing up in Bahrain, the timing was fortunate for me because of the people who were around to help me. I met Antony Thomas, head of drama at St. Christopher’s School, he helped me a lot, and also Mrs Beck.

“I was also able to obtain LAMDA certificates, which had not been possible in Bahrain before and, thanks to Ruqaya Aamer, through this I gained valuable UCAS points towards my university entry.”

William’s first play was in school during a drama festival at the age of 12.  He devised a piece with the title ‘Around the World in Six Minutes’ and for the performance he was dressed in a sumo-wrestler suit.

He also took part in school plays including Les Miserables and Guys and Dolls which received rave reviews and attracted full houses.

Parents Don, 60, a chartered surveyor, and Carol, 54, and sisters Laura 24 and Kim 22 are very proud of William’s success to date. They have lived in Bahrain since their son was a one year old and travelled to England to watch him perform.

Carol said: “We are very proud of Will and his achievements so far. It’s a big change going to live in the UK having grown up in Bahrain, lots of challenges to face.

However, Will had a great experience rehearsing and performing the show, he met many interesting people, and many other very talented young people, it was refreshing that they were all really friendly and dedicated to achieving their very best. We loved watching the show!”

As for the future, William is resolute that he will continue acting but for now, he is returning to university to concentrate on his second year of study.

He said: “Acting is the only thing I really want to do, but I am very open to gaining more life experience with other work, to enable me to become a better actor. I am joining the Officers’ Training Corps, part of the British Territorial Army, this year to gain some British Army experience.”