Blindness no obstacle to acting pair

Sunday 14 September 1997 23:02 BST

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Two aspiring actors are this week preparing to start at one of Britain's most prestigious drama colleges even though one is blind and the other can barely see.

Ryan Kelly and Jaimie Purvis fought off competition from 3,000 sighted actors to win two of 30 places in this year's intake at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

The pair - believed to be the first drama students with such serious sight problems - hope they are blazing a trail that will encourage more blind people to take to the stage. Jaimie, 20, from Port Talbot in West Glamorgan, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Oscar-winning fellow-Welshman Sir Anthony Hopkins.

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Blindness no obstacle to acting pair

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