Royal performance beckons for Hampton School actor (From Your Local Guardian)

Royal performance beckons for Hampton School actor

10:30am Saturday 14th July 2012 in Richmond By Paul Teed

A talented teenager is set to perform in front of royalty this month.

Louis Watkins, a student at Hampton School, will be in the National Youth Music Theatre’s the Dreaming, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, at the Rose Theatre, in Kingston.

The opening night will be attended by the Earl of Wessex.

The production will feature many young performers from the area and will run for five nights.

Louis, who will be in the chorus and playing the part of Boules the butler, has already acted in operas at Glynebourne, the English National Opera and the Royal Festival Hall, despite being only 15-years-old.

This Easter he performed with comedian Matt Lucas at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.

Louis says he has enjoyed working with the cast and is looking forward to the opening night.

The National Youth Music Theatre will return to the International Youth Arts Festival, in Kingston, to stage the play.

The music in the Dreaming is by Howard Goodall and the libretto is by Charles Hart.

Half of the 44-strong cast, who are all aged between 11 and 20, are from the area and the others are from as far afield as Cork, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Wiltshire.

The Dreaming, the Rose Theatre, Kingston, opening night on Tuesday, July 17. For box office details, visit iyafestival.org.uk.