DRAMA
With a plethora of sparkling productions and the introduction of a Dancer in Residence to the teaching team, Drama continues to go from strength to strength at the College. Here, Kathryn Norton-Smith celebrates the year’s successes, adding that, when it comes to theatre, teamwork and collaboration are as important as individual success Riding high
T his year in the Edward Alleyn Theatre, the dramatic tightrope has been trod with flair, fearlessness, and thrilling ambition, as boys (and girls) have juggled theatrical commitments together with ever- increasing academic pressures plus a myriad of other co- curricular undertakings. One of the joys and privileges of working creatively with young people is that they don’t know what they can’t do, so you can develop skills and take them way beyond the conventional and the familiar. This has been notable this year through the boys’ contact with our Dancer in Residence, Catherine Ibbotson, in the Upper, Middle, Lower and Junior Schools — in lessons, and in the rehearsal room, which has resulted in a rich new physical vocabulary for boys and dynamic performance work. With upwards of 100 boys auditioning for some productions, record numbers participating in House Drama and ever larger cohorts of Upper School boys opting for Drama and Theatre as an academic A level or A level plus course, there is an ongoing balancing act between meeting high expectation and offering opportunity to as many
as possible. Boys are increasingly aware of the value and lasting worth of ensemble playing, and counting up your lines is becoming a thing of the past. There is a hard-wired recognition that the assistant stage manager balancing in the gantry dropping debris to enhance a stunning visual set piece is as valued as the actor standing centre-stage in the special with their chin up catching the light (and the glory). To echo Joseph Giles’ editorial about the many demands and pressures facing those boys at Dulwich who are ambitious to excel but wish to be involved in everything, putting on a production is a high-wire balancing act, and rarely do we manage to have an entire company at the same time in the Edward Alleyn Theatre before the opening night. But there is no drama without conflict — no laughter, tears or provocation without resolution. It’s the very stuff of play-making.
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