I love all forms of movement, as I mentioned in previous posts, and try to incorporate movement as early as possible into the drama curriculum so students experiences of it are fun, challenging and enjoyable.

When I mentioned this week to the second years that they are starting dance/drama their faces dropped and the boys were shouting… nnnnooooooooo!!!!!! This is the normal response!

Having taught it for the past 3 years it doesn’t come as a surprise, however by the end of the first lesson EVERYONE was fully engaged and had created a wonderful piece of dance/drama as a class.

I don’t teach it as ‘dance’; we don’t do tap, ballet or Jazz and we don’t need to! I explain that dance/drama is a form of communication that the meaning is created through our bodies and movement, unlike in Drama where it is mainly verbal.

We watched a clip from the National Theatre of Scotland’s award winning play ‘Black Watch‘ which showed a movement sequence that communicated the anger the young soldiers were feeling. This really represented what we were trying to achieve. We use gymnastics, balance, movement, gesture to create our meaning, the faces were beginning to change!

Last year I had an incredible group of boys who created a dance/drama piece about football violence which included a slow motion football match and lifting people as well as the class who used dance/drama to tell the story of 9/11 and the attacks on London.

In today’s 2nd year class the boys again outshone the girls by being daring in what they created. THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! The theme was city life to Speedway by the Prodigy. I had boys lifting one another, someone jumping over shoulders and going into a forward roll. The linking of the piece by movement really showed everyone how interesting this form of drama can be. The last words from the class… ‘are we doing this next week as we really want to!’

A message to Drama teachers… don’t be scared to try something outside your box!

The S2 students are about to do a unit in Drama called JO which looks at why a boy ran away from home. By using Theatre in Education we try to ask students to put themselves into the characters shoes. Theatre-in-Education (or TIE or Diadactic theatre) is a medium of theatre for exploring various issues with young people.

In recent weeks the channel four soap Hollyoaks has been airing a storyline which I think they have handled with great care and consideration and the acting has been first rate. It is said that Eating disorders will affect one in four of us during our life times.

An eating disorder is a complex compulsion to eat, or not eat, in a way which disturbs physical and mental health. The character of Hannah has been battling with Anorexia Nervosa due to wanting to fit in with her peers.

From a personal point of view whilst at school and at Drama school I was always aware of my weight and the way I felt bigger than the ‘normal’ boys within my year. The overwhelming need in dance class to stay at the back of the studio so I couldn’t see myself in the mirror; the need to comfort eat when things were getting too hard and then making myself sick as I felt guilty. It has only been since I left Drama school that I have accepted my body for what it is, realizing that every person on this earth is different (albeit the media have a different attitude). Although I was never diagnosed with Bulimia or any osrt of eating disorder, as my reaction to food wasn’t continous, I was definitely suffering from some sort of ‘eating disorder’ in realtion to the media pressure of fitting in and the way I used food as comfort. I’m not embarassed in saying this as i’ve never regretted anything I have done. As an actor you must bring elements of the personal to your work.

Eating disorders are becoming more and more common amongst young men and women who are trying to fit into the daily lives of stereotypes and the perfect body. The media representation of both men and women and the discussion of eating disorders within schools need to be addressed. I know there is a push to be healthy eaters but what about teaching how to accept your body for the way it is?

I think Hollyoaks have dealt with the topic amazingly and I now want to readdress the TIE unit I do in S2 to look at eating disorders, either from under eating or from over eating but also looking at how everyone is a different shape, size etc and we do not need to fit into what the media says a ‘woman’ or a ‘man’ should look like. The unit will look at a central character and possibility the small things that have made look at their body and their food.

Which teachers discuss this topic in their curriculum?  

As well as being a drama teacher I am also a theatre practitioner and am founding member of random ACT theatre company. 

My passion is Directing and i’ve kept this quiet but have been nominated for a  national theatre award ran by the Arches theatre for stage Directors. This is all very exciting and probably won’t get the award as there is some amazing people up for it to. The work I do as a practitioner really enhances the work I do in the classroom.

Our next project is a theatre double bill entitled ‘Confined’. I’m directing Isabel Wrights ‘The Waiting Room’. This is an exciting time for random ACT as we have joined forces with new state of the art performing arts venue to be their in-house theatre company. The Music Box is a state of the art performance space at Stevenson College.

 Details below… really hope you can make it.

random ACT theatre company
presents

CONFINED
‘what would you do?’

‘Waiting Room’ by Isabel Wright and ‘Iron’ by Rona Munro

25th to 27th October 2007

The Music Box (Stevenson College), Edinburgh
7.30pm

random ACT theatre company starts off it’s new season with a Scottish theatre double bill.

We are proud to be staging this exciting double bill at The Music Box, a brand new, state-of-the-art, music and performing arts centre at Stevenson College.

Waiting Room by Isabel Wright and directed by John Naples-Campbell. The play is based on two women, confined in a classroom as they try to survive their war torn country Marah is driven by the injustices she has witnessed and searches for facts to make sense of her world. Her daughter-in-law Naomi is haunted by nightmares but dreams of a brighter future. The relationship between the two women is riddled with love and hate.

Iron by Rona Munro and directed by Kerry Macbean. Fay is serving a life sentence for murdering her husband with a kitchen knife. Her daughter Josie, who was 11 at the time and who has not seen her mother for 15 years, decides one day to visit. That, her subsequent visits, and the relationship between mother and daughter that develops within the pressurised confined environment of a room under constant surveillance makes for gripping viewing.

random ACT theatre company facilitates the work of writers who base their work on gender theories or gender issues. Our work is not only based on writers in Scotland but also across the world. We always aim to make our productions enlightening, intimate and touching.

Still in our early stages we have proven to critics and public that we are dynamic and engaging in all our work, finding new ways to engage audiences and actors by telling new and classic stories.

John Naples-Campbell is a graduate from Queen Margaret University College. Since graduating he has worked continually in theatre and Drama and directed the Scottish Premier of the award winning play ‘The Women of Lockerbie’.
Kerry MacBean graduated from Bretton Hall College, since graduating Kerry has been involved in Theatre in Education and Drama in Education.

Tickets: £7/£5 (conc)

School groups: For every ten seats one teacher goes free and every school will receive a resource pack including script extracts etc for those interest in using the texts for Higher Still courses. To book a post show discussion with cast and crew please state when phoning or emailing.

For ticket information/booking or for more details please contact  randomacttheatre at hotmail.co.uk or call 07949 678 312

‘(what you) will see is an expertly staged and highly disciplined performance, directed with real flair by John Naples-Campbell’ The Times.(Women of Lockerbie)

‘outstanding performances’ Scottish Theatre (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)

Well although this week was meant to be a time of relaxing and catching up with people I found some time to do some CPD and what a time I had. East Lothian council is an amazing region to work in however there is no CPD for drama at all and we aren’t allowed at present, although I am working on this, to have a subject support group due to lack of numbers so all our subject CPD is out with the region.During my time at Drama school I loved the module in Stage Combat and have used the skills ever since so it made sense to ‘brush’ up. A lot of students, mainly boys, want to include fighting into their scenes and I teach a unit on this in S2.  Stage Combat is very hard work and takes a lot of work but it is so much fun! So the course took the whole day and covered the following areas…Unarmed

It’s always interesting to see how staff perceive a subject in a school, many think drama is a mikey mouse subject, which I’ve touched upon in other posts. Here’s where I stand about the whole issue… Peter Brook said…

I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.  

  So imagine that the empty space is our classroom, someone else watching him is our student and bingo theatre has been created. We spontaneously improvise every lesson; we entertain to keep the students interested. A teacher is an actor, and one of the best around!  Bit of a pointless post but felt the need to share my view on how drama connects with everyone

I was just planning my lesson for my S1 challenge class tomorrow and a blog came to mind.

I’m first and foremost a Drama teacher however I also tell my students to think outside the box when creating work. I always tend to use music in my productions and my SG class last year created an amazing piece of verbatim theatre based on 9/11 and 7/7. The piece used multi-media, music. mask work and dance to communicate meaning and I was very proud of them.

I am very passionate about media (film and TV) and think media is a very interesting form to create meaning from. Most students these days are well connected with film, TV and the internet. When discussing Media with my classes it is amazing to see what students are into and what they engage with.

I was honored to be involved in a film contest last year called KWN. KWN enabled students to work as news teams to create a news item about social responsibility. My students worked very hard to create this piece and to our shock and surprise we became Award Winners! Lockerbie told the story of some of the people in the town who helped the night of crash and was filmed and edited by S2 and S3 students, with help from me. This was a huge learning curve for all students involved.

Being at Knox now for just over a month and a half I don’t think a week has went passed that a student has not had a DV Camera in their hand and creating some sort of film. From Zombie brides to Cannibal eating students, from a documentary about school dress code to a documentary about social groups… does Knox have the next Steven Spielberg? I think I need a break!

I’m very excited about our filiming tomorrow and thinking… mmmm curriculum for excellence anyone?

Well I was talking to a few friends about the Standard Grade (SG) course and how exciting I thought it was and we then began to discuss the Scottish Government thinking of getting rid of it and replacing them with Intermediate One and Intermediate Two courses… mmm having taught both courses i’m thinking it’s not a good idea. The debate also rose on TES and I feel it will be debated further before they make any decisions.

The Standard Grade is designed for pupils to sit over two years and gives students the flexibility to experience many aspects of theatre that suits them. It is marked on three areas; Creating, Presenting and Knowledge and Understanding. At the end of the two years students sit two exams; an acting exam (Creating and Presenting) and a written paper (Knowledge and Understanding). The course can be differentiated to suit the needs of the students with high learning outcomes based on improvisation. In SG Drama we aim to enable students to achieve the best grades they can. Students look at characterisation, theatre arts, various genres of theatre, script writing, play reading, improvisation etc.

The Intermediate Courses are split into three areas; Devising, Theatre Arts and Theatre Production. In Int One students are asked to devise their own piece for the final unit whereas in Int Two the students are asked to take on various roles to create a production for the final unit. The problem with the higher still courses is that they do not meet the right needs for those wanting to Higher Drama. I had a girl last year who chose to do make-up for her final exam and she done very well in it yet in Higher they must do acting so what about the skills she learnt in Int Two, how can thse be transfered? Saying this… the Int 2 course enables students who may not enjoy acting to take on various roles such as Lighting, sound, make-up, directing, set etc

Another issue is that the Int Two course is very reliant on people who can read scripts, a lot of my students in my previous school found it hard to be fluent readers yet in the SG course achieved excellent credit passes as they had to create their own pieces and although we studied some script owrk I did not have to assess them on it.

If the Scottish Government were to get rid of SG then they really have to make sure that the Higher Still courses enable students to carry on transferable skills throughout their school career, they must also take into consideration students who may have achieved an excellent grade at SG but may only have passed the Higher Still courses due to reading and writing levels. What do you think?

Well the S1 are coming to the end of their first unit in Drama. ‘Self-Control and Making it real’ is, for me, the most important unit in every drama course.

This is the unit that builds the stepping stones to not only creating a realistic piece of theatre but the confidence and skills needed in everyday life; skills such as communication, focus, concentration, team work and the ability to trust one another. It is funny at how many people think Drama is an ‘easy’ subject. It is always interesting to see people’s reactions (teachers included) when you say you’re a Teacher of Drama… the looks of ‘oh one of those’ or ‘don’t mind them… they’re from Glasgow’ comes across their face or over their eyes as they sip their coffee and I take a drink of my diet coke as I leap in the air and shout FAME! For me it was my Drama Teacher at school, Firrhill High School, that believed in what I was doing and gave me the confidence to not only go on and pursue my passion but also helped me gain my first job at Mothercare world. She taught me skills that I still use to this day. I will never forget my Miss Brodie… Mrs Chetty! When I left Max High I was upset as I knew I had inspired many students and I was so happy when my results came through to see my SG class all achieved credit/general.

Drama has the capacity to engage, discuss, critise, cry, laugh, argue, create and communicate about the world that is going on around us. It can be funny, it can sad, it can meaningful but most of all it can never be wrong!

I was talking to a fellow maths teacher today… I mentioned that in my previous school we had a lot of pre-level A students to which she replied ‘oh that’s ok for drama?’. I wonder what she meant by that, I’m still trying to figure it out. I wonder if she would still say it if she knew that the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Medicine would like each student to have Higher Drama as one of their subjects.  

In this unit my students have been statues, created a hospital disaster, been on holiday, robbed a house, found a robber in a house, created to music and learned valuable life long skills… whilst all the time keeping it real and applying self-control phew… all that in six weeks… and never once have we shouted FAME or been trees… Rock on!

Well my weekend was spent going to the theatre and rehearsing. Friday I went to see the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Rupture (review in no business like page) and Saturday I went to see Algebra of Freedom by 7:84.

Both very different, both had some excellent touches but both left me wanting more! Find out why on the relevant page.

About to start full rehearsals for the full play ‘In Holland Stands a House’. The sixth year, not having done drama before, are excited, as am I. We are going to be quite experimental with the production and seeing certain movement from Rupture I want to focus on movement for the first rehearsal. The use of gesture can be very powerful in any production and I feel using music adds a certain something to a piece.

The students at Knox at very creative and I’m sure they will come up with some amazing movement for the opening. Rehearsals begin…