Month: July 2015

Many thanks to you all for your very generous contributions to the leaving collections from this year’s astonishing array of concerts. The grand total (nearly four grand!) was a wonderful £3898.75.

Colour and movement, agony and ecstasy: the classic mixture of Shakespeare, Year 9, Williams and Mayes.  Under a perfect sky in the heart of Suffolk a happy audience was transported to Italy and beguiled by love, loss, laughter, a hint of cross-dressing, a remarkably docile dog, and, in the end, a happy ending (of course).  That clever playwright – he wasn’t just sonnets and tragedy, murder and woe… thank goodness… and once again the Chapel Lawn was able to celebrate one of his comedies full of honourable intensity, misguided enthusiasm, hapless idiocy, and honest love (not always honestly bestowed, it has to be said…).

Many congratulations: to a cast brilliantly attuned to the nuances of its task and expertly in character whether in front, to the side or behind its audience; to the technical team which made light of gradient, grass and gremlins, and which bedecked both set and actors quite beautifully with an impressive eye for design; and, as ever, to our marvellous directorial duet.

• Go to watch high quality theatre as often as possible. We would highly recommend the following theatres:
  • The Barbican (London)
  • The National Theatre (London)
  • The Old and Young Vic (London)
  • Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (London)
  • Battersea Arts Centre (London)
  • Lyric Hammersmith (London)
  • Theatre Royal Haymarket (London)
  • The Theatre Royal (Bury St. Edmunds)
  • The New Wolsey Theatre (Ipswich)
  • The Mercury Theatre (Colchester)
  • Cambridge Arts Centre (Cambridge)

Many theatres offer discount rates for students and some support the ‘Pay what you can’ initiative, so it is well worth making enquires about discounted rates available.
It would also be extremely beneficial to attend workshops and ‘talk-backs’ so always enquire about the extra opportunities that are on offer when booking your tickets.

• Wider reading is always extremely beneficial in developing your subject knowledge. We would suggest the following texts:
  • ‘The Theatre and its Double’- Antonin Artaud
  • ‘Brecht on Theatre’- Bertolt Brecht
  • ‘An Actor Prepares’- Constantin Stanislavski
  • ‘The Empty Space’- Peter Brook
  • ‘Towards a Poor Theatre’- Jerzy Grotowski
  • ‘Poetics’- Aristotle
  • ‘Complicite- Rehearsal Notes’- Complicite
  • ‘The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre’- Frantic Assembly
  • ‘Commedia dell’Arte- An Actor’s Handbook’- John Rudlin
  • ‘A Doll’s House- York Notes Advanced’- York Notes
• We would recommend that you take advantage of ‘National Theatre Live’, which broadcasts live theatre to cinemas around the world. Many local cinemas are involved in this scheme.
• Subscribe and watch the ‘Sky Arts’ channel.
• Make the most of our new ‘Digital Theatre’ package. Try to log-on every month and watch at least one new performance and take time to peruse the fantastic added extras. Take time to then review the show using either the drama forum page on Fronter or in your drama journals. Make sure you talk to Gemma (gmayes@woodbridgeschool.org.uk) or Johnny (jwilliams@woodbridgeschool.org.uk) about what you have seen as we love to hear your views about what you watch!