Cast interview with MAPA students ahead of their Final Major Project
Mon 18 May 2026This production marks the end of the second cohort of MAPA, created by the East Kent Colleges Group and the Marlowe Theatre to co-deliver an industry-standard learning journey for young people studying for a UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma in Performing Arts and Technology.
Nora: A Doll’s House is the culmination of all the hard work that these young people have put in over the last two years, during which they have had the opportunity to work with professional creatives and gain an authentic ensemble production experience.
Speaking about his time with MAPA, William says: “I know a lot of people who do drama in different schools and colleges, and I feel like we get a lot more opportunities in MAPA. We work with practitioners, playwrights like Alecky Blythe who came in to help us do our verbatim storytelling performance, and learn about things like puppetry. I think the opportunities we’ve had through the two years are a lot greater and have opened doors to different pathways as well as acting.”
“Some of my favourite memories are the things we’ve done, like learning about the commedia dell‘arte with the Commedia mask. Even if we don’t explore it fully and we don’t go into depth, we’ve got a starting basis for this and blocks that we can climb on.”
Evie adds: “When I was at auditions for drama schools, they were saying we would do things like combat fighting there for a qualification. Other people in those auditions haven’t had experience in those things, so I think I’m really lucky to get a head start.”
Studying at both EKC Canterbury College and the Marlowe Theatre during the MAPA course, students are taught by course tutor Sarah Davies and course producer Glenn Tillin. As well as learning from Sarah (who has worked as a professional improv actor and producer) and Glenn (who spent 20 years working as an actor, director and musician) the students work with professional creatives as part of the process.
“I think working with these professionals is such a good eye opener. There are so many different styles of theatre out there that I’d never even heard of,” says William.
Evie says: “We’re very lucky that we get to meet all these people. We met Maddy Hill (EastEnders) and she did a mock audition process with us, so we knew how that would be. She is on the panel for Rose Bruford college, where a lot of us wanted to audition.”
The cohort have previously used the playtext of Nora: A Doll’s House for their first ever project with MAPA, working on selected scenes and showing a clear enthusiasm for the material and its themes of feminism and the expectations placed on women in different historical contexts (spanning timeframes of 1918, 1968, and 2018).
Performing it as a fully staged production for their final major project feels like a full circle moment for Evie (who plays Nora 3) and William (who plays Thomas 1).
“I think the cool thing is that we did Nora for our first ever MAPA project. I don’t think any of us were expecting it to be the last performance too! It’s been really good to look back and see how much we’ve improved as actors and how Glenn and Sarah have helped us throughout the whole process,” says Evie.
“Before we came here, I did not write on my script once. Now, if you looked at my script for Nora it’s covered in loads of writing. I think that’s definitely helped with a lot more of the analysing parts.”
“There are so many new methods I’ve learned and developed,” adds William.
“I feel like some of the biggest changes were that every movement I make now actually has a purpose. Glenn said in the first year ‘acting is reacting’ and I didn’t know what that meant, but now I feel like I’m constantly in character on stage.”
For this final performance, students have collaborated with professional creatives, as well as the technical team at the Marlowe Theatre, with tickets on sale to the general public.
“It’s made it real with all the lighting design, costume design, all of the external professionals coming in. It feels professional, even though we‘re still in training. Everyone is going to take things more seriously. Anyone could come and watch this, you don’t know who’s in the audience,” says Evie.
Looking ahead to the future, William has accepted an unconditional offer to study at Performers College in Brighton and plans to pursue acting, with hopes of one day opening his own theatre. After her gap year (during which she’ll be touring with a band to support them with photography), Evie has plans to apply to drama school and pursue a musical theatre career, and to later complete a Masters degree in teaching.
Both feel that the experience they had with MAPA will help them with their future plans.
“I want to teach students like Glenn and Sarah, so it’s cool to see their methods. I write down everything they say just so I can take that with me into the future and give future students the best opportunity” says Evie.
“It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had acting. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the two years,” says William.
Nora: A Doll’s House will be performed on Friday 5 and Saturday 6 June. Find out more information or to book tickets.