Inevitably the danger of jumping off the Good Ship Cinderella for these few days is that for better or worse I have had an unusual period of 72 hours all to myself to think and plan! I have loved every minute of it.
Today I want to talk about the teaching of drama and training in theatre. It does so critically.
Ok, so here it is from where I stand. No bones ok?
However much you might love listening to a Mozart piano concerto, you would never seriously sit in front of an Albert Hall audience and attempt to play it if you hadn't spent years practising your scales, your grade pieces and then developed, practised, had a good teacher and built your repertoire for hour after hour. (According to research its reckoned to take a minimum of 10,000 hours practice to master your discipline whatever it is!).
And of course as a young musician you have lots of opportunities to perform in concerts and to perform at all the levels as you move through your training. And this practice and exposure is a critical way in which you get those 10,000 hours under your belt, learn to get critical feedback and improve. That's it, simple choice, practise, practise, practise, or settle in front of the Xbox and don't expect to play at the Albert Hall.
I honestly suspect that there is probably no such thing as a magical appearance from nowhere of the finished article. (I don't think so anyway, apart from maybe the few savants and child prodigies that always hit the headlines)
Of course the journey to that point is a long one, and the encouragement through performance from the get go is vitally important. The role parents have to play in this is enormous, as much as it is for an Olympic athlete, footballer or horse rider.
These parents and teachers know 5am more than most of us. And this parental cultivation is indeed the marker for many between excellence and just good. This is why its been seen historically by the left as elitist, depending as it does on parent's financial, emotional and time investment in their child. Pushy parents and ability to pay are the staples of this world and many people find them distasteful for the most part. Of course this is until one of these kids becomes a super star in whatever discipline, and then we love the parents as well don't we? (I refer you to Judy Murray, seriously disliked and now loved - amazing what a gold medal can do!) And then we marvel at the dedication, sacrifices and commitment of the whole family.
You see its obvious isn't it - whether we like it or not we are all deeply attracted to excellence - aren't we? In spite of some of the embarrassing performers that pitch up on programmes like X factor, aren't we all truly captivated by the one who really has it, is excellent and makes it possible for all of us, especially the young to believe that anyone "live their dreams" ( So hate that phrase!) My fear always with this of course is that is is profoundly misleading. The fear is that this sets up an expectation that this can just happen overnight! Its untruthful. I hate it.
You see its obvious isn't it - whether we like it or not we are all deeply attracted to excellence - aren't we? In spite of some of the embarrassing performers that pitch up on programmes like X factor, aren't we all truly captivated by the one who really has it, is excellent and makes it possible for all of us, especially the young to believe that anyone "live their dreams" ( So hate that phrase!) My fear always with this of course is that is is profoundly misleading. The fear is that this sets up an expectation that this can just happen overnight! Its untruthful. I hate it.
So indeed what about the access to this excellence for the kid in care with the talent? They are inevitably disadvantaged because they lack the support however hard the local authorities work to equalise opportunity. And this is a really difficult one to tackle, not least with every decreasing public funding. How many kids are missing out simply because of the accident of birth? Hence the introduction in sport of academies of excellence etc. This is a bigger political and economic discussion than is the scope of this panto blog!
I can hear the liberals amongst you reach for the off switch at this point! For some people particularly those of us on the left this is heresy. By definition participation is often seen as everything, access and enjoyment and the release of imagination being the end result. And I DON'T disagree with this of course, to some degree. I have spent a career moving between ruthlessly pushing professional actors and acting students to tough levels of technical skills and at the same time with my team encouraging and facilitating the powerful learning and experience that comes from taking part in drama, regardless of skill or ability.
These things can actually sit side by side in drama as much as in football or any elite sport where participation is not enough to get to the top! And who said excellence shouldn't be an ambition for every child? I am convinced that we are letting them down if we don't believe in that potential.
And here you have my dilemma when it comes to drama teaching and theatre training. These two phrases get bandied about almost as if they were interchangeable. And worse still, and this makes my blood boil, there is a liberal adoption of the idea of drama that virtually all but dismisses the 'training' element of theatre.
I entirely appreciate the enthusiasm with which curriculum drama appeared on the education landscape in the sixties and seventies. The emphasis on drama as a valuable discipline for self expression, empathy, imagination, team building, confidence and much more and which offers an access point to other worlds through dramatic literature is clearly very important.
However I believe that to some degree we are failing our children by this over liberal attitude now seen as a fundamental truth that its great for everyone to have access and take part in drama for the benefit of their heart and soul. Of course thats true, but you know what, in my experience working with young people for over 25 years at any level of skill, they want to achieve excellence! They are not satisfied by being segregated into the also rans. Even if they have a keen appreciation for their own skills levels the vast majority do, they want to make something excellent in whatever form they are working.
The young women Natalie (Education Director at Arc) works with on our girls project - were not prepared to accept anything less than excellence in the film they made. Their confidence, ability and sense of achievement comes from making a piece of work that they are proud of! Of course its a no-brainer isn't it?
I haven't got time to go into any more detail here today about the importance of not throwing out the baby with the bath water when it comes to drama participation and acting training. They can live side by side and cross fertilise without dumming down.
The detail of how this early learning and training paradigm impacts on acting students and young professional actors is the subject of another blog later. But there's lots to say about it, not least as the actor's discipline is viewed as the laziest one and the one you can get away with. I dispute this to the bottom of my heart. More to follow when I have the stomach for it!
Back to Good Ship Cinderella this afternoon. Can't wait. I have missed it. But this has been a great time too.
Catch up soon!
These things can actually sit side by side in drama as much as in football or any elite sport where participation is not enough to get to the top! And who said excellence shouldn't be an ambition for every child? I am convinced that we are letting them down if we don't believe in that potential.
And here you have my dilemma when it comes to drama teaching and theatre training. These two phrases get bandied about almost as if they were interchangeable. And worse still, and this makes my blood boil, there is a liberal adoption of the idea of drama that virtually all but dismisses the 'training' element of theatre.
I entirely appreciate the enthusiasm with which curriculum drama appeared on the education landscape in the sixties and seventies. The emphasis on drama as a valuable discipline for self expression, empathy, imagination, team building, confidence and much more and which offers an access point to other worlds through dramatic literature is clearly very important.
However I believe that to some degree we are failing our children by this over liberal attitude now seen as a fundamental truth that its great for everyone to have access and take part in drama for the benefit of their heart and soul. Of course thats true, but you know what, in my experience working with young people for over 25 years at any level of skill, they want to achieve excellence! They are not satisfied by being segregated into the also rans. Even if they have a keen appreciation for their own skills levels the vast majority do, they want to make something excellent in whatever form they are working.
The young women Natalie (Education Director at Arc) works with on our girls project - were not prepared to accept anything less than excellence in the film they made. Their confidence, ability and sense of achievement comes from making a piece of work that they are proud of! Of course its a no-brainer isn't it?
I haven't got time to go into any more detail here today about the importance of not throwing out the baby with the bath water when it comes to drama participation and acting training. They can live side by side and cross fertilise without dumming down.
The detail of how this early learning and training paradigm impacts on acting students and young professional actors is the subject of another blog later. But there's lots to say about it, not least as the actor's discipline is viewed as the laziest one and the one you can get away with. I dispute this to the bottom of my heart. More to follow when I have the stomach for it!
Back to Good Ship Cinderella this afternoon. Can't wait. I have missed it. But this has been a great time too.
Catch up soon!
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