What does a devising process look like? How does a theatre company get from a fledgling idea, to a fully staged devised production? Who’s involved? And how did they get there? The Paper Birds’ new digital creative careers resource, Navigate, aims to demystify devising, and more… Those of us who work in drama education have all got one thing in common; preserving our subject and promoting it to the young people we work with. Dwindling uptake since the devaluation of ‘soft’ subjects like ours has been ricocheting through the industry for years, coupled with the effect the pandemic brought upon ..read more

The English Speaking Union ran their Performing Shakespeare Grand Final in June, and ODUK Co-Founder Karen Latto wrote this blog on how the event went and how you can enter your school into next year’s competition. On Friday the 23rd of June students gathered at the Globe Theatre in London ahead of the ESU’s Performing Shakespeare grand final. This competition is for 11 to 14 year olds (year 7 to 9 – key stage 3) and is an annual event open to all schools in England and Wales. The competition runs in stages, starting as a competition in your own school. Students prepare a monologue or duologue ..read more

I’ve had the privilege and pleasure of representing Open Drama UK at The National Theatre’s Drama Teachers Conference over the last two days. After two years of disruption due to COVID-19, it was thrilling to be welcomed in person to the National Theatre for the conference. The purpose of the two-day conference was to bring together drama experts and practitioners to inspire, inform, and upskill, and this aim was certainly met. Workshops were led by theatre companies such as Gecko, Lung, Paper Birds, and Vamos Theatre, as well as theatre practitioners and industry professionals. Working with ..read more

What a great title for a conference that was both inspirational and shed fresh light on why we chose to be drama teachers in the first place. The venue was excellent for this conference and the Mast staff were friendly and accommodating. I particularly liked the way we had the same person assigned to a group so we never needed to worry about where to go next, and seeing they obviously enjoyed the sessions too. The highlight of the day for me were the two practical sessions. From the moment we entered the studio for the Frantic Assembly workshop the tension and excitement were palpable. It was ..read more

Getting Ready for Drama School Training – Top Tips to help support students in their next step! Here at Fourth Monkey, we love meeting new actors and artists when they walk through our doors to start their drama school training – it is exciting to watch them evolve as an ensemble member and an individual performer, discover new creative practices and techniques, and explore where these skills could take them in the future!  We want to help teachers and students alike know what to expect from drama school training, so that new students can make the most of the opportunities ahead of them a ..read more

While many of us think that the Pandemic has made us change elements of our teaching – possible forever, possibly for good – one of the challenges of keeping Drama alive with young people was trying to produce performance working remotely. Some of the work that was produced was amazing, asking students to access technology that they knew to create original and exciting theatre. On the other hand, some students were unable to feel confident in this format and so no performance work could be produced. This is why this book is one of the most remarkable things I’ve read. Nick Bilborough and the H ..read more

The lack of any official KS3 National Curriculum is both a blessing and a curse for Drama teachers, forever allowing us to spread our creative wings in devising something engaging for our students whilst also hampering us with the constant worry that we have nothing official to measure it against. How do we know what we are teaching is coherent, valid, or indeed interesting? Luckily for us, we have a wonderful new aid in Keith Burt’s The Drama Teacher’s Handbook; a concise and accessible guide that offers a wealth of pedagogical theory, practical tips and a welcome emphasis on self-reflection ..read more

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