Scratch Slam 2025
Where has another year gone? Somehow, our annual Scratch Slam competition has come round again! In the Scratch Slam, our groups go head-to-head with a variety of performances following several weeks of rehearsal in our regular sessions. There are guest judges, prizes and it’s great fun for everyone involved! Definitely one of the highlights of the UYA calendar.
As usual, we held two Scratch Slams this year – one for our Under 12s and 12-16s Saturday groups, and one for both our Over 16s Thursday groups.
Our Over 16s were up first, and we were excited to be joined by our guest judge, Leicester born-and-bred actor, Mark Peachy. Mark trained at East 15, one of the top drama schools in the UK, and has worked for the past twenty years as a professional actor. He has a plethora of credits across the West End, TV and film and is an accomplished voiceover artist, so we were delighted to be able to offer our actors feedback from someone who has such a broad insight into the industry.
This year, Mark and Katie declared long-time UYA member Sariah Carter the best actor of the Scratch Slam, with prizes for the winning pieces going to Maddox, Nav and Emily for their fantastically creative interpretation of ‘The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar’, and Will, Henry, Jess and Fin for their hilarious scene from ‘A Comedy About a Bank Robbery’.
For the Saturday groups, Kieran was joined by UYA veteran and guest practitioner Grace Ford. Grace is currently on the BA Acting and Fight Performance Course at East 15 and fight directed four mini-action films with our students last summer.
The winners for the Under 12s were Millie, Esmé, Freya and Evelyn with a short, original new play, and Amy and Isla took the prize for the 12-16s with a piece from the ‘The Pageant’. The overall best actor award went to Phoebe who not only gave a brilliant performance in a devised piece but also gave the audience chills with her moving monologue from The Kitchen Sink by Tom Wells.
The standard was exceptionally high this year and the judges’ decisions were extremely difficult! Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who took part.
