Oliver’s performing arts dream has come true!

A 16-year-old student from Louth has a lot to celebrate at the moment after recently securing a place at one of the UK’s most prestigious performing arts schools.
Oliver Croft (right) on stage.Oliver Croft (right) on stage.
Oliver Croft (right) on stage.

Oliver Croft, currently a pupil at King Edward VI Grammar School, will be heading to Hertfordshire this autumn to study at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts, whose glittering alumni include Lily James (Disney’s Cinderella and star of Mamma Mia 2! Here We Go Again) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the Last Jedi, and Murder on the Orient Express).

Oliver discovered his passion for performing at the tender age of five when he started attended the local Stagecoach weekend performing arts school.

He now attends Class Act in Cleethorpes and has performed in more than 20 original stage productions.

Oliver Croft.Oliver Croft.
Oliver Croft.

He has also performed at the Cleethorpes Festival of Music and Words, and has won many trophies including most promising actor in Shakespeare.

Oliver said: “I am extremely proud of myself for achieving my goal of getting in to Tring Park as I have worked very hard on my pieces and it is the icing on the cake when hard work pays off.”

Oliver’s parents Gary and Lydia are equally proud and said: “We are thrilled to bits that Oliver has been accepted at Tring after auditioning last year and we are hoping it will open many doors of opportunities.”

As well as Daisy Ridley and Lily James, Tring Park School’s alumni includes director and choreographer Drew McOnie, who won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for his work on In the Heights.

Drew has also directed Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom in the West End, and King Kong on Broadway;

Then there is also Jessica Brown-Findlay (Downton Abbey); former X Factor star Ella Henderson; and Thandie Newton (Crash, Mission: Impossible II; Westworld; and the Line of Duty).