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WELCOME TO THE AUTUMN NEWSLETTER! The dreadful luck we had with the Summer weather seemed to extend to our Directors over the last couple of months, seeing no fewer than six of us being hospitalised. Mercifully all are home and either back to "normal" or on the mend, and I'm sure you'll extend your best wishes for recovery and/or no reoccurrence to Brian, Elizabeth, Miranda, Derren, Linda.....and me! Miranda would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience this summer whilst she had to be absent from the office, which was left in the more than capable hands of Amy Greaves - thank you Amy. Another randomly selected batch of stamped addressed envelopes are enclosed for 12 of you.............and I am eagerly awaiting articles, comments, feedback or announcements, however long or short, from any and all of you! Please don't waste the stamps we send you, share your thoughts. If you would rather speak to me direct or leave a message, you can call me at any time on 07969 062597. You will all find enclosed the new fees list; please keep it somewhere safe and be sure to update your records. Here's to a happy and - more importantly healthy - Autumn term!
Kim Ismay
WEBSITE CORNER This edition's discovery continues my quest to bring you as much free access to plays, poetry and literature as I can! I was both enchanted and excited to discover www.thefreelibrary.com which is exactly what it claims to be. Since 2003, The Free Library has offered free, full-text versions of classic literary works from hundreds of celebrated authors, whose biographies, images, and even a comprehensive list of famous quotations can also be found on the site. Recently, The Free Library has been expanded to include a massive collection of periodicals from hundreds of leading publications covering Business and Industry, Communications, Entertainment, Health, Humanities, Law, Government, Politics, Recreation and Leisure, Science and Technology, and Social Sciences. This collection includes millions of articles dating back to 1984 as well as newly-published articles that are added to the site daily. For example, typing in "Shakespeare" and selecting "literature" as your search criterion will bring up a list of his plays which can then be accessed scene by scene. By selecting "periodicals" as your search criterion, you will have access to a wealth of commentaries, articles etc. from across the world. You can search by subject, author or keyword, just as you can at your local library. The collection tends to be weighted towards the classics; more modern poets may be missing from their massive archive, but the amount of supporting and accompanying material will make this site invaluable for your students' school work as well as interesting background reading and study for their New Era examinations.
CONFERENCE 2009 Our 2009 Conference has been confirmed for Saturday 12th September 2009, and has a new venue which we hope the majority of you will find convenient. The Croydon Park Hotel is easily accessible from both Gatwick and Victoria, and the North of England is equally well served as First Capital Connect trains stop there too, with less than a 30 minute journey from King's Cross. The hotel is less than a 5 minute walk from the station, or if you prefer to drive, there is car parking available. Should a sufficient number of delegates wish to stay overnight, New Era will be able to arrange a discounted room rate. For more details on the venue you can visit the hotel's website: www.croydonparkhotel.com The Speakers will be announced nearer the time, although we can reveal that there will be a Syllabus session, as we hope our new syllabus will be out by then. We will also be launching our new Musical Theatre syllabus, accompanied by an exciting workshop. The cost of the 2009 Conference is £67.50 for teachers and conference delegates, with a reduced cost of £61.75 for anyone booking and paying in full before 12th March 2009. There is also a discount for students; please contact the office for details.
JOIN US AT OUR CONFERENCE BECAUSE …………… Just in case any of you need a little more encouragement to join us at our Conference, printed below is an article I wrote about the multi talented Scott Eck after his first visit to my school. The article speaks for itself. However, I would just like to add that since the wonderful introduction to Scott’s work recorded below, I have been lucky enough to work with him on several occasions since, and still marvel at his energy and dynamic imparting skills. When I ran a course for IAPS Drama Teachers last year Scott was one of the presenters, and for the first time worked with the Teachers as actors – it was quite simply brilliant! And just to convince you that you should not miss this opportunity ……………… A SHAKESPEAREAN FEAST! I wonder how many of you have come across “Shakespeare and Company”. How grateful I am to our former Director of Studies, Alison Fleming, for bringing them to my attention. So if you have not yet heard of them, then let me enlighten you. Shakespeare and Company is run by husband and wife team Scott Eck and Dina Rawson, who are prepared to travel anywhere in the United Kingdom to present their highly creative interactive workshops for students of all ages. Scott, a trained Improvisational Educator will deliver a unique, hands-on workshop that will stimulate and motivate your students. Scott creates an environment that builds confidence and encourages individual creativity. Scott tries to ensure that every student is given a role, and even the quiet, less confident students participate on an appropriate level. Dina, is known as the “Costume Lady”, and she provides a trunk full of colourful, exciting costumes and props which add a further dimension to the student’s learning. She is also the General Manager and administrator of company. Scott spent 12 years as a University Professor, and also over 25 years touring North America with his interactive theatre workshops. Amongst the programmes Scott has created are Improvisation, Play Analysis, Characterisation, Acting Shakespeare, Playwriting, Speech and Performance Theory. He is also delighted to receive requests to create a workshop around a literary character or text of your choosing. He currently offers interactive workshops on a range of Shakespeare Plays, Shakespeare’s Life, Works by Oscar Wilde or Charles Dickens and the Arthurian Legend. Shakespeare and Company recently spent the most riveting day at our school, so I feel I can therefore highly recommend Scott’s lively, innovative method of learning as education of the highest quality. In the morning he presented an interactive exploration of the plot for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with our Year 7 with a combination of Shakespearean dialogue and teenage vernacular that they both responded to and understood. Mixed with costumes, props, techniques, action and humour they could not wait to be picked for a role and loved the whole session. During the afternoon our Year 8 participated in Scott’s “Romeo and Juliet” with an equally enthusiastic response. Having been lucky enough to observe both sessions, I was able to identify some of the techniques Scott used to encourage a less confident student, or channel a slightly disruptive student. We were also able to observe his incredible improvisational skills, as our collaborative playwrights banished “Romeo” to “Tricky”! Suddenly two characters called “Micky” and “Dicky” were created, the advent of whom did not detract from the class’s understanding of the plot, but also provided two cameo roles for the students! As a result of this exciting day our Year 7 and 8 pupils are absolutely “buzzing” about their texts, and feel they have been privileged to understand Shakespeare in the light of performing (Halleluiah!). Through his sheer energy, presence and improvisational skills Scott enthused and educated our students. It really was as Shakespeare and Company claim on their flyer, “Learning Come to Life!” To contact: Dina Rawson General Manager Shakespeare and Company 2a, Stamford Road Bournemouth Dorset BH6 5DP Tel/Fax 01202 430307 www.shakespeareandco.co.uk Linda Cardigan
CONDOLENCES I am sure that you will all join the Directors of New Era in extending our heartfelt condolences to Carole Best, who sadly lost her husband in July. Our thoughts and prayers are with her at this difficult time.
The following is an edited version of an article which appeared in "Source" magazine. "SHOWBIZ KIDS" Perhaps cheerful, old-fashioned musicals are a bit like skirt lengths - a useful barometer of how upbeat a nation is feeling. That would explain why West End theatres have been ringing to the sound of musicals for a while now, the audiences attracted by the lure of familiar songs, heart-warming stories and fond, recession-proof memories of childhood trips to see a show. But The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, The Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Oliver! have another important thing in common - they're packed with child performers crucial to the success of the show. Never have so many children held down such high-profile roles as today. Children's casting director Jo Hawes has just finalised the casting of 130 child performers for Cameron Mackintosh's Oliver! (which premiers on 12th December) - that's three teams of 30 and two teams of 20, including three Artful Dodgers. Children can only perform for six months at a time, so in a long-running show she'll be looking for new mini Von Trapps at least twice a year, and has been recasting the children in Les Miserables every few months for over a decade. She has queues of children keen to take part - more than 1,000 attended the open audition for The Sound of Music - and this is not simply down to stage-struck parents. Children today don't want to grow up to be nurses or train drivers; they dream of being famous, of singing, dancing and acting and having their names up in lights. They watch Britain's Got Talent and the search-for-Nancy BBC show I'd Do Anything and see youngsters winning their chance to perform at the Royal Variety Performance or play Oliver in Drury Lane. The process of actually getting a child onto the West End stage can be a long and gruelling process. They need to be talented actors, singers and dancers, but they also need bags of confidence to hold their own on stage. (No problem for anyone taught by our New Era teachers! -Ed.) As a general requirement, they have to look childlike but be old enough to take direction, so tend to be between six and 13 years old, after which voices break and bodies change. They must be fairly self-sufficient and independent too, as parents are banned from auditions and from backstage so the children are catapulted into an adult professional world where they can test and stretch themselves, learning important life lessons about discipline, team work, patience and concentration along the way. Yet life as a child performer is a hard slog too, and not only because of learning the lines, music and choreography. Children have to fit schooling around their very full rehearsal and performance schedules - they often leave the theatre at 10pm and must be in school by 9am the next morning. Other extra-curricular activities are put on hold for the duration, and holidays or weekends away are a strict no-no - even children as young as six can be expected to go on stage at a few hours' notice if someone falls ill. Those with larger parts such as the Olivers and the Dodgers, may be put up in a London flat with a professional chaperone and tutor and hardly see their families. And they won't get rich - the current going rate starts at £11 for a four-hour rehearsal and £22 per performance. Jane Phillimore
TEACHERS PLEASE NOTE........ Jo Hawes is always looking for talented children between the ages of 5 and 13 who can act, sing dance and be confident and full of character. She sends out her requirements and casting breakdowns to agents, but she tries to see as many new children as possible for each new show, both by appointment and at open auditions. The director and the musical director make the final casting decisions, then Jo does the contracts, licensing (all children need special licenses to work, and each council has its own rules and vagaries!) and scheduling. She usually casts three teams who work on a rota. Contact Jo at jo.hawes@virgin.net Some schools will not allow children time off to work. Please ensure you check FIRST whether or not they will before submitting a child for audition.......it's no good hoping for the best, as this will waste both your time and the production's time and disappoint and distress the child. ***WIN*** Four tickets for the Gala Preview Evening of Oliver! on 13th January 2009, including programmes and drinks. Visit www.greenbee.com/oliver to enter and for terms and conditions. Closing date: 31st October 2008.
CONGRATULATIONS Since the last newsletter, the following students have passed their diplomas: Victoria Patterson, A.N.E.A. Speech Training (Teacher: Bernadette McSwiggan) Lara Keery, L.N.E.A. Speech and Drama (Teacher: Marie Campbell) Emily Parker, A.N.E.A. Acting (Teacher: Joy Sander) Emma Filby, A.N.E.A. Acting (Teacher: Claire Jones)
And CONGRATULATIONS to Roz Sheridan in Newry who is engaged to be married in May 2009. |
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