March 2011

For immediate release

Leeds Met performers in spectacular live BBC event

Students and staff from Leeds Metropolitan University will appear live on
BBC3 this month as extras in a performance of Frankenstein’s Wedding...
Live in Leeds.

Rebekka Kill, Subject Group Leader for Film, TV and Performing Arts, Gillian
Dyson, Senior Lecturer in Performing Arts and students Amy Lord (a
postgraduate student in Creative Enterprise), Holly Johnson, Emma Fawcus,
and Jessica Sweet (BA (Hons) Art, Event, Performance) and Louise Hill and
Hannah Butterfield (BA (Hons) Contemporary Performance Practices) will be
appearing as wedding guests within the inner 50 guests out of a total of 12000
people at the event.

Rebekka said: “We have been talking to the BBC since July and about two
weeks ago I was put in touch with Derek Ritchie, who is the second Assistant
Director, to discuss a selection of staff and students being in the inner 50
guests (or "supporting artists"/extras) because we could provide people with
performance skills who are gregarious, confident and able to take direction.
We then invited Performance Arts students from all of our courses to auditions
in Millennium Square.”

The chosen eight will now form part of the wedding congregation within
Kirkstall Abbey which totals 200 people. Additionally, as part of the inner 50
guests, they will act as supporting artists who lead 2000 guests in a dance
which they have all learnt through attending a dance workshop run by
Phoenix Dance. In total there will be an audience of 12000 people attending
on the day.

Holly Johnson, a third year BA (Hons) Art, Event, Performance student who is
taking part, commented: “We were invited to audition for the part and
performed a bit of the dance routine that is on the BBC website, attracting lots
of stares from the children who were having their skating lessons on the
Millennium Square Ice Rink at the time. I am really looking forward to seeing
what will take place on the night.

“I think that Frankenstein's Wedding has been a fantastic opportunity for the
people of Leeds to get together, dance, perform and have fun. It's shaping up
to be a fantastic inclusive event, and I cannot wait until next Saturday - let's
just hope it doesn't rain!”

As well as taking part in the wedding dance and leading the congregation, the
group, in costume and make-up, will do toasts with fake champagne, dance to
‘I Predict a Riot’, attend the wedding ceremony, make an archway for the
couple and much more.

Rebekka added: "This is an amazing opportunity to be a part of a high profile

BBC production. We are really excited about being supporting artists in
Frankenstein's Wedding as this kind of professional experience is like gold
dust."

The group will now rehearse at Kirkstall Abbey on the evenings of 16, 17 and
18 March with an all-day dress rehearsal on the day itself. Frankenstein’s
Wedding… Live in Leeds will be screened live on BBC3 on Saturday 19
March. It is set to be a bold reimagining of Mary Shelley's much-loved
masterpiece, Frankenstein. Set against the gothic magnificence of Kirkstall
Abbey in the city, this one-of-a kind performance will bring the passion,
emotion and horror from the classic tale to a live audience.
Ends
For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the News and Media
team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors:

 Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and over 300,000

associate students through its partnerships with 24 colleges.
 The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment
Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in
the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*.
 The University’s award-winning learning environments include the
iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best Commercial Property
Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards; Broadcasting
Place, winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building
category and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation.
Broadcasting Place was also voted the best tall building in the world in
2010.
 Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have
been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.
 The University is home to The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence for
sport and disability sport and is 2nd in the British University and
Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings.