New Acquisitions for HeadTheatre and Room at the Top Drama Academy

Ok so today being Saturday I abandoned all hope of sanity and calmness and went shopping downtown amongst the sales crazy general public. It was manic and stressful but considering some of the gems we found today in the shops it was well worth it. Despite always telling myself to take it easy when it comes to purchasing more books it seems I never listen. Here is a list of the new additions to the RTDA Library purchased today:

Romeo and Juliet - York Notes (always handy to have)

Romeo and Juliet - Cambridge School Shakespeare

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

Distinguished Company by John Gielgud (a beautiful hardcover copy)

A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

WHSmith GCSE Literature Guide to Macbeth

The Panizzi Lectures 1998 'Publishing Drama in Early Modern Europe' by Robert Chartier (this one looks fascinating)

The True Book About The Theatre by Anthony Read (as opposed to the Untrue book about Theatre)

and

The Actor and the Target by Declan Donnellan (I had to read this after rewatching his emotive scene when PJ gets blinded at the paintball course)

So yeah a great little haul today. Oh and of course I know Declan Donnellan and Declan Donnelly are not the same person I was just kidding, in all seriousness I saw the book in Waterstones the other day picked it up read the back and instantly wanted it so I am very happy with that purchase in particular.

Remember that on Monday RTDA and HeadTheatre will bring you chapter two of Approach to Theatre as we continue my homeschool education. Have a nice weekend.



RTDA Term 1: Initiation and book 1. Day 1

Term 1: Initiation and book 1. Day 1



So today I began my very first day of ‘Room at the Top Drama Academy’ with my initiation and general introduction to the facilities provided by this fine establishment. After looking round the room, which took all of two seconds, I picked up the first text book of my course. I should say right now that I have not sat down and written a curriculum for this project my books are chosen for their titles and perceived content. So with that in mind here is the first title:

Approach to Theatre For Student Producers by Frances Mackenzie

This is from Samuel French LTD and was printed in 1957. It cost 5 shillings brand new but according to the inner page it only cost me 99p. This book was published fifty three years ago and the author according to the book was principal of the British Drama League Training Department as well as being the writer of other such weighty tomes on the theatre as 'The Amateur Actor' and 'Little Plays of Pigwiggin'. Now my brief research on the British Drama League, from now on reffered to as BDL, has revealed that it was started in 1919 and ran as that until 1972 when it changed its name to the British Theatre Association. Now the BDL eventually dissolved in 1990 because of financial situations that I do not know about but its work in promoting a British Theatre Festival continues to this day in the form of the All-England Theatre Festival. So I am essentially reading a book that has no idea of the revolutionary changes to the theatre in the UK post 1950s for my first exploration into how to participate in our industry. I am also worried about the language in the book, having already read the first three to four pages it seems that the role of a theatre producer and director of theatre are the same thing. This may lead to some confusion for my simple country bumpkin brain but it is certainly an interesting look at the way jobs were referred to in our industry back then. Anyway more on that and chapter one tomorrow of this brilliant book including a simply brilliant story about Cake.

Introduction: The Project and its Beginnings

Introduction: The Project and its Beginnings



As a graduate of drama school who is looking for a position in the world of the Theatre but I have so far found barely any work in this age of austerity. I graduated in 2007 with an Upper Second Honors degree and since then I have wanted to study further to get my Masters degree but have never had the money. However what I have accumulated over the past 8 years is a mini library of books which hold a wealth of practical knowledge, theory and plays. I also have a few multimedia items in my library that I have managed to collect over that time which are fascinating. I was looking at this little collection and conjured up this idea about how I could study Drama at home from all these books and try to use the knowledge gleaned from them to improve myself. So here we are, I am going to see what I can learn from books bought from all over the world, out of print texts and some of the bog standard theatre books you find on every drama school’s reading list. First of all to give you a real understanding of how many books there are take a gander at this pic…

Yes this is a mountain of books but I bought them all meaning to read and study them and now I will. I do not know how long this project will take and I have no idea if studying at home can truly help a wannabe actor become better and learn the skills he needs to succeed but I am going to give it a damn good try.