Rose Bruford College Student Among 2023 Lilian Baylis Award Winners

Rose Bruford College student Harry Simkins is one of the winners of the 2023 Lilian Baylis Award. Presented at the Old Vic on Thursday 1st June by actor Luke Norris (The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre; Poldark, BBC One), these awards are granted to promising drama students at the end of their second year to ease the financial pressures in their final year of study. Each student is recommended for the award by their drama school.

Harry Simkins, a student on Rose Bruford South West’s BA Professional Acting course says, I feel very lucky and honoured to be nominated by my peers and to also be one of the winners of this award. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that, and I’m grateful to Lilian Baylis and Rose Bruford College for the support this will provide during the rest of my training.

Acting Principal of Rose Bruford College Mary Oliver also comments, Rose Bruford College is so grateful to be an ongoing recipient of the Lilian Baylis Awards, which recognises the continuous need to support our students, both in the pursuit of their dreams and in helping to maintain the exceptional talent base in the UK and globally.

The awards are dedicated to the memory of Lilian Baylis (1874-1937), who ran The Old Vic Theatre from 1912 until her death. Lilian Baylis was committed to ensuring that The Old Vic productions, most famously of Shakespeare, were of the highest quality and that the doors were open to many who could not afford the more established theatres. Baylis was an important figure developing The Old Vic National Theatre; Sadler’s Wells Opera, which became the English National Opera; Sadler’s Wells Ballet, which became Birmingham Royal Ballet; and the Royal Ballet School.

All winning and nominated students must have demonstrated all three of the following criteria:

• Promise: The student shows promise which suggests the potential to make a significant contribution to the development of theatre.
• Hardship: The completion of the student’s course is in jeopardy without additional finance.
• Study: Students should have completed two years of a three-year course.