"THE DIANA KITE AWARD"
at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School

This Award has been set up in memory of Diana Kite, Assistant Secretary at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School 1987-2006, who died in 2016.

Diana was born in 1946 in Newbury Park, Essex. A bright and intelligent girl, she was awarded a scholarship to the prestigious Raines Foundation School in Stepney (founded in 1719 and one of the first schools in Old London).
This involved travel that most pupils and parents would baulk at these days: a long walk to the London Underground station at Newbury Park on the Central Line, change at Mile End for the District Line, alighting at Stepney Green and walking through war-damaged buildings and bomb sites.

So the daily journeys to school probably developed her easy attitude to travel and life in general; studying in an East End school developed her wonderful sense of humour - and the school trips to productions at the Old Vic in London fired her enthusiasm and life-long love for theatre (1960-1962 seasons including "Midsummer Night's Dream","Merchant of Venice", and in particular, the controversial 1961 Zeffirelli production of "Romeo and Juliet"with a very young Judi Dench and John Stride ).

Diana met John in 1963 and they married in 1966. They moved to Bristol in 1979.

Diana felt the need for a challenge and her life-long love of the theatre drew her to apply for a job in 1987 as an Assistant Secretary at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. It was a job that Diana really loved and she adored all the students that studied there during her time there.
She worked at the school for nearly 20 years until she retired in 2006, having made many close friends there.
Sadly, Diana died on 1st February 2016 during the School's anniversary year.
2016 would have seen Diana and John celebrating Diana's 70th birthday and their 50th wedding anniversary.

2016 is certainly a year for happy theatrical anniversaries: it's the 30th anniversary of the "Swan" theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon; it's the 40th anniversary of the Friends of the University of Bristol Theatre Collection; it's the Theatre Royal's 250th and it's 400 years since the death of Shakespeare's death (and it is the Supermarine Spitfire's 70th!) and Diana would have been very happy to be included in that august theatrical line-up.

"THE DIANA KITE AWARD" is an annual prize for an outstanding student and has been set up by John to celebrate Diana's life and her love of the theatre and particularly the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. It highlights the extraordinary wealth of creativity and talent at the school.

"THE DIANA KITE AWARD" is to be given annually to any student who shows 'exceptional creative flair' during their training and will be open to all students across the Theatre School (any course, any year).

Diana was always impressed by the wide range of work the students became involved in but this currently goes unrecognised at the Theatre School annual prizegiving. The annual award will be a cheque for £500 and this is being funded for a fixed period of twenty years - hopefully there may still be people around who will remember her.
Her family feels this award is a fitting way of remembering Diana, her time at the school and her love of theatre.

John presented the first Award at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Royal at a Theatre School prizegiving event on Friday 1 July. The award went to Joseph Flack, a final-year student on the Technical course, for his outstanding work in Sound.

Diana and John moved to Bristol in 1979 and enjoyed watching productions. They continued to follow the acting students' careers with interest after they had left. Here's a list of Acting Graduates from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School since 1984 - but it's not an official list, and records of students in other disciplines are not currently available for this site.

Acting Graduates 1984:
Estrid Barton, Lisa Bowerman, Andrew Black, Michael Brazier, Anji Carroll, Richard Coombs, Michael Corbidge, Ian Crowe, Stephen Dillane, Adam Dryer, Paul Duggan, Peter Forbes, Julia Ford, Alan Graham, Tom Griffin, Malcolm Hassall, Pippa Haywood, Brian Horstead, Antony Howes, David Hudson, Bryan Kennedy, Duncan Law, Peter Meakin, Guy Moore, Simon Nicholls, Geoffrey Owen, Corliss Preston, Kean Rand, Paul Rosewell, Susan Tordoff.

Acting Graduates 1985:
Angus Barnett, Robin Dalglish, Paul Lacoux, Thomas Tofel, Veronica Needa, Mike Cooper, Sharon Kennet, Kay Taylor, Peter Hellawell, Tony Wilkinson, Ian Keith-Smith, Tim Sabel, John Coulter, Patrick Miller, Sarah-Jane Holm, Karl James, Liz Rothschild, Simon Cook, Jason Hart, Neville Watchurst, Katherine New, Paul Rattigan, Jill Brassington, Shenagh Govan, Peter Leafe, Liza Hollander, Tim Williams, Naomi Wirthner.

Acting Graduates 1986:
Ian Agrell, Abigail Bond, Martin Crocker, Jack Gillespie, Georgie Glen, Hakeem KaeKazim, Stefan Lander, Richard Leaf, Anne Leroux, Donalh MacNeil, Victor McGuire, Helena Michell, Jonathan Pembroke, Sean Pertwee, Polly Pleasance, Eve Purcell, Nina Ragnars, Dale Rapley, Kim Romer, Teddie Thompson, Anne Wittman.

Acting Graduates 1987:
David Arrow, Paul Bandey, Simon Beresford, Simon Bolton, Cathryn Bradshaw, Helga Brindle, Victoria Carling, Kathleen Christof, Rachel Fielding, Ross Harvey, Emma Healey, Sam James, Janet Lacey, Mark Laing, Nick Larsson, Damian Myerscough, Louise Plowright, Eric Potts, Ian Soundy, Evan Stillwater, Mark Strong, Simon Thomson, Beth Tuckey.

Acting Graduates 1988:
Pinky Amador, Mark Bannister, Amanda Brown, Flaminia Cinque, Julie Clare, Joanna Coburn, Maureen Flynn, Neal Foster, Jo-Anne Hewitt, Monette Lee, Caroline Loncq, Christopher Grimes, Robert Hands, Tim Hudson, Huw Kennair Jones, Francis Johnson, Nicholas McGaughey, Tricia Hitchcock, Tim Perrin, Richard Ryan, Philip B Smith, Darren Tunstall.

Acting Graduates 1989:
Jane Annesley, Neil Bett, Paul Connelly, Steven Deproost, Sally Geoghegan, Matthew Gibson, Christopher Hadfield, Clive Hayward, Robin Hodson, Francesca Hunt, Paul Kynman, Christopher Lamb, Matthew Lloyd-Davies, Dominic Mafham, Justine Midda, Antony Milne, Brian Mitchell, Brendan O'Hea, Niall Refoy, Joanna Riding, Rachel Spry, Adrian Scarborough, Marc Soloway.

Acting Graduates 1990:
David Birrell, Dominic Borrelli, Barny Clevely, Simon Corris, Hadrian Delacey, Christabelle Dilks, Vincent Franklin, Christopher Hanney, Simon Hart, Tom Hodgkins, Jacqueline Kington, Sarah Legg, Richard Long, Colin McCarlie, Frank Mannion, Colin Mantle, Claire Marchionne, Elizabeth Rees, Ruth Redman, Dominic Taylor, Sebastian Thomson.

Acting Graduates 1991:
Simon Armstrong, David Barker, Helen Baxendale, Michael Bell, Lucy Briers, Jonathan Cake, David Cary, Ray Coulthard, Simon Da Costa, Oliver Darley, Simon Day, David Hall, Andrew Jeffers, Judi Laister, Robin Lawrence, Roger May, Paul Panting, Dariel Pertwee, Jacqueline Phillips, John Sharian, David Skinner, Kate Stafford, Fiona Tong, Anthony Venditti, Olivia Williams, Saul-Justin Wynne.

Acting Graduates 1992:
Gavin Abbott, Nicole Arumugam, Caroline Ashley, Simone Bendix, Campbell Bridges, Jefferson Clode, Nicholas Corney, Peter Crouch, Max Digby, Dave Fishley, Michael Gunney, Richard James, Nicola Jeffries, Robert Laughlin, Claire Laurie, John Lewes, Jessica Lloyd, Nick Lucas, Brian McGovern, James Nair, Sara Markland, Christopher Maw, Alexander Nash, Sean O'Neill, Nigel Parkes-Davies, Peter Prentice, Nicholas Rowe, Katy Secombe, Oliver Senton, Carol Symes, Chloe Thomas, Harriet Wootliff.

Acting Graduates 1993:
Pal Aron, James Barriscale, Sam Bond, Graham Breeze, Sharon Broady, Mark Delaney, Sarah Edmunds, Andrew Fraser, Phillip Gates, Gilly Gilchrist, Sophie Goodchild, Katherine Grice, Richard Hansell, Tracy Hostmyer, Christie Jennings, Caroline Lennon, Martin B Nathan, Simon Nelson, Benjamin Pullen, Ian Sanders, Jennifer Scott-Malden, Nicola Smythe, Ali De Souza, Tony Spooner, Christopher Staines, Ray Stevenson, Giles Tomlin, Ingrid Wiseman, Paul Wright.

Acting Graduates 1994:
Jonathan Bonner, Dominic Brunt, Charlotte Collingwood, Danny Dryer, Richard Fleming, David Forrester, Martin Scott Gilmore, Gilbert Halcrow, Brad Hall, Matthew Hewitt, Simon Hirst, Mark Hubbard, Aled Jones, Guy Lankester, Jennifer Luckraft, Damian Lunn, Amy Marston, Damian Matthews, Mauro Montuschi, Mark Negus-Bullock, Rachael Oldfield, Rachel Pierman, Christopher Punter, Anna Rose, Rikke Steffensen, Richard Wellings-Thomas, Simon West, Penelope Woodman.

Acting Graduates 1995:
Eugene Ambrose, Richard Bacon, Nicola Barber, Gaynor Barrett, Mark Beardsmore, Julian Chaloner, Gary Curran, Giovanni Del Vecchio, Vernon Douglas, Joshua Feinstein, Tom Goodman Hill, Glenn Holderness, Robert Holmes, Penny Krinski, Satara Lester, Clare McCarron, Andrea McCulloch, Lindsey Mack, Christopher Mellows, Joanne Mitchell, Marta Nordal, Ben Oldfield, Rupert Procter, Marilla Robson, Anne Simensen, Alisdair Simpson, Victoria Smurfit, Sevan Stephan, Cecilia Waldensten, Michael Warburton, Lara J West, Simon Westwood, Tim Stedman.

Acting Graduates 1996:
Martin Armstrong, John De Barham, Lucy Black, Cornelius Booth, Claire Bullus, Charles Cartmell, Daniel Cassiel, Marc Delafield, Leonie Dodd, Christopher Donnelly, Ian Drysdale, Damian Gaskin, Andy Killick, James Kingdon, Syreeta Kumar, Alexandra Lilley, Jerry Lindop, Dean Loxton, Anna Mountford, Keith Murray, Darren Ormandy, Abigail Roberts, Neville Robinson, Peter Townsend, Thomas Verrall, Amanda Villamayor, Jeremy Webb.

Acting Graduates 1997:
Mark Barton Hill, Matthew Bearne, Graham Bill, Saul Cambridge, Richard Coyle, Nicola Dewdney, Oded Fehr, John Ficarra, Robert Flowers, Mali Harries, Martin Hearn, Tamera Howard, Andrew Johnston, Belinda Kelly, Stash Kirkbride, Angie Kitto, Dean Lennox Kelly, Phoebe McEnery Beacham, Tom Mullion, Trish Ng, Siobhan O'Carroll, Richard Parkin, Patrick Poletti, Alun Raglan, Sarah Rice, Barry Satchwell Smith, Deborah Steel, Anna Steward, Christopher Turner, Matthew Watkin, Pauline Whitaker.

Acting Graduates 1998:
Alex Avery, William Bateman, Dean Burgin, Stuart Crossman, Misri Dey, Tilly Gaunt, David Howard, Raza Jaffrey, Jennifer Jellicorse, Melvinder Kanth, Marshall Lancaster, Kenneth Lanceley, John Mackay, Simon McCoy, Polly Nayler, Peter Nolan, Ita O'Brien, JeanMarc Perret, David Pomerantz, Nicholas Rawlinson, David Rolston, Gyuri Sarossy, Osnat Schmool, Tom Sherman, Edward Sinclair, Salvatore Sorce, Cassandra Sperry, Laura Whittard.

Acting Graduates 1999:
Adam Booth, Camilla Bullus, Michelle Bunyan, Sophie Clarke, Olivia Colman, Jenny Coverack, Paul Currier, Grant Davison, Alexander Dunbar, Ian Duncan, Esther Ruth Elliott, Tom Espiner, Cameron Fitch, Rhys Harris, Oliver Hume, Elizabeth Hurran, Lisa Kay, Ryan Kelly, Daniel Kerr, Mark Lennock, Alexander MacLaren, Edward Marsden, Alan Milne, Adam Penny, Stephen Perring, Andrew Pointon, Simon Snashall, Laura Strachan, David Thomas, Rupert Ward Lewis, Anthony Young.

Acting Graduates 2000:
Helen Ayres, Timothy Davenport, Adam Davy, Sarah Desmond, Rosie Ede, Gwyn Evans, Richard Frame, Gabriella Gabbitas, Abraham Goldfarb, Naomie Harris, Emma Jerrold, Mark McCallum, Stuart Major, Lara Marland, Mark Meadows, Johanne Murdock, Natham Naylor, Richard Neale, Sarah Pearman, Robert Pheby, Bryan Pilkington, Andrew Pollack, Lowri Pritchard, Ben De Sausmarez, Rob Temple, Will Thorp, Alan Watson, Nicholas Wilkes, Anatol Yusef.

Acting Graduates 2001:
Jamie Ballard, Ben Bennett, Philip Buck, Emma Butcher, Emma Buter, Rebecca Chapman, Jamie Chapman, Giles Coneely, Liam Evans-Ford, Jonathan Forbes, Sophie Goulet, Sarah Groarke, Derek Hagen, Sean Hagerty, Mark Hesketh, Daren Elliott Holmes, Katherine Kerrow, Joseph Mawle, Rhodri Wyn Miles, Rebecca Mordan, Patrick Myles, Mark Puddle, Richard Robson, Badria Timimi, Nicole Tongue, Andrew Watson, Connor Williams, Glyn Williams, Jade Willis, Dan Winter.

Acting Graduates 2002:
Devon Black, Erin Brodie, Paul Critoph, Adam Dodd, Daisy Douglas, Matthew Douglas, Michelle Frost, Grainne Gillis, James Gillmoore, Bruce Godfree, Christopher Harper, Andrea Harris, James Howard, Emmanuel Ighodaro, Helen Kirkpatrick, Oliver Le Sueur, Nigel Lister, Andrew McBean, Alan Park, Andrew Piper, Kirris J Riviere, Simon Tcherniak, Bennet Thorpe, Laila Vakil, Mark Wainwright, Ritchie Zealand.

Acting Graduates 2003:
Nicholas Atkinson, Heather Cose, Oliver de la Fosse, James Gitsham, Jason Haigh, Freddie Huntington, Jonny Hynes, Nicholas Kessler, Katherine Kingsley, Carla Lang, Lydia Leonard, Caroline Lord, Andrew Macklin, David McCusker, Sarah McNeale, Matthew Mustafic, Chris Nayak, Marianne Oldham, Samantha Parry, Iain Potter, Charlotte Reeder, Jenna Renshaw, David Ricardo-Pearce, Poppy Roberts, Samuel Roukin, Matt Ryan, Phil Sealey, Simon Spencer-Hyde, Sarah Strachan, Ben Tolley, Crispin Willis, Jack Whitam.

Acting Graduates 2004:
Jennifer Bidall, Ian Bonar, Marie Carter, John-James Cawood, Gail Clayton, Richard Corgan, Hayley Doherty, Alix Dunmore, Jonathan Edgley, Adam Farr, Robert Godfrey, Andre Gottshalk, Jonathan Gunning, Daingerfield Henley, Nicholas Howden, Samantha Lawson, Christina Lecker, Geoffrey Lumb, Niall Macgregor, Bruce McNeal, Steven Miller, Alan Morrissey, Dorothea Myer-Bennett, Patrick O'Donnell, Hugh Osborne, Barrie Palmer, Laura Sanchez, Harry Smith, Adam Stone, Aonghus Weber, Rebecca Wingate, Alexander Woolnough, Lindsay York-Jones.

Acting Graduates 2005:
Craig Anthony, Amelia Bamford, Sarah Bedi, Graham Boland, Natasha Broomfield, Kate Bunten, Fraser Burroughs, David Constant, Gabriel Fleary, Max Gell, John Gillespie, Edward Glass, Oliver J Hembrough, Sophie Holden, Nick Jesper, Andrew Keane, Benjamin Kidd, Sophie Ladds, Julia Meadwell, Phil Mulryne, Paul Mundell, Rebecca Ramsden, Nick Richards, Hazel Ross, Matthew Stathers, Oliver Stoney, Rhys Swinburn, Ian Webster, Alistair Wilkinson.
Overseas Acting Graduates: Alejandra Ambrosi, Nick Daniele, Rebecca Giger, Rebecca Hanson, Alexander Harvey, Daniel Mark Jacobi , Jeronimo Best de Lara, Domingos de Souza Leao, Leah McLennan, Shai Metuki, Andrea Paquin, Heidi Wermuth.

Acting Graduates 2006:
Ben Addis, Natalie Ball, Canice Bannon, Victoria Boreham, Morgan Brind, Oliver Farnworth, Joshua Golding, Darren Hill, Mark Jackson, Peter Kenworthy, Robin Lawrence, Elinor Lawless, Ben Mansfield, Rosanna Miles, Matthew Odell, Ceire O'Donoghue, Morgan Philpott, Joseph Pitcher, Hannah Robertson, Mark Ross, Nick Shorney, Dan Starkey, Ian Stopford, Hannah Summers, Sam Swainsbury, Fabio Tassone, Morgan Thrift, Jane Warwick.
Overseas Acting Graduates: Stephanie Chen, Heather Dann, Dana Ferguson, Branca Marques Ferraz, Keelin Fleming, Olinda Larralde, Rory Mann, Byron Mondahl, Sive O'Neill, Barbara Van Shaick, Hakan Silahsizoglu.

Acting Graduates 2007:
Matthew Barber, Peter Basham, Sandy Batchelor, Laura Carmichael, Emma Clifford, Sergio Covino, David Edenfield, Jessica Ellerby, Adam Ewan, Benjamin Humphrey, Paul Jellis, Neil Jennings, Angus King, Anil Kumar, Jonathan LeBillon, Michelle Lukes, Selina MacDonald, Tom Micklem, Oliver Millingham, Emily O'Connor, David Oakes, Notzarina Reevers, Adam Sopp, Eoin Slattery, Nick Whitley.
Overseas Acting Graduates: Helen Cashin, Andrea Deck, Alec Drake, Lorrie Fargo, George C Francis, Laurence Fuller, Laura Herren, Kat Lanteigne, Gerardo Macias, Miriam Neuman, Powder Thompson, Caleb Williamson.

Acting Graduates 2008:
Ben Ashton, Vlach Aston, Oliver Bevan, Paul Brendan, Kelsey Brookfield, TobyW Davies, Rob Delaney, Thomas Eyre, Marc Geoffrey, Adrian Grove, Oli Hounsell, Philippa Howard, Ffion Jolly, Rosanna Marks, Joe Marsh, Simon Mathis, Laura Matthews, Dani McCallum, Deidre Mullins, Geoffrey Newland, Anne-Marie Piazza, Theone Rashleigh, Stella Ross, Philip Sarson, Basher Savage, Matt Simandl.
Overseas Acting Graduates: Ellen Cribbs, Hilary Catherine Gillespie, Joey Ibanez, Yukiko Ikezawa, Emily Joshi Powell, Nadia Nikita, RoseMaria Russo, Maya Sarao, Stephanie Senior, Kate Whitton Siepert.

You can read more about the Theatre School in Shirley Brown's excellent definitive work
Bristol Old Vic Theatre School - the first 50 years

You can contact John «by email and you can link to the
# The Bristol Old Vic Theatre School website here.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School is keen to maintain contact with any ex-students. If you attended the School or you have information about the recent work of an ex-student we know the school would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Felicity Hazell on 0117 973 3535 ext 253 or
# felicity.hazell@oldvic.ac.uk

If you want to become a Friend of the Bristol Old Vic, contact
#"Friends of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School"

The University of Bristol has an excellent on-line archive of actors and plays and is well worth a visit at
# The University of Bristol Theatre Collection.