Elective Allocations

Once students have worked through Associated Studies in their first year, they can then work within different departments on Elective Allocations during their second and third years.

One of the second year Stage Management pathway students, Eli, is currently working within the Costume department as a Costume Assistant for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.

Eli has this to say about her allocation:

“I’m currently working as a Costume Assistant. It’s great; I’ve been shopping two days in a row now!

It’s really interesting seeing inside another department, I feel it will help me as a Stage Manager, as I have an understanding for the time/ budget etc that the costume department need!”

First week back

Summer holidays already feel a while ago as we settle into the new academic year.

All Production Arts students in the Milton Court Studio to be welcomed back for the new year

On Monday, the first years all took part in the Treasure Hunt which this year included collecting a photo of Jon Armstrong’s face and finding out what happens in Red Door.

We had our Introduction to Stage Management session on Tuesday, with all Production Arts students finding out the basics of what Stage Managers do. We played several games about communication and attention to detail and had some group discussions about Stage Management in general.

Our first years have been busy getting to know each other outside of school, they all had dinner together in the Sundial Court courtyard earlier this week and then all went to see Heathers at the Theatre Royal Haymarket together on Tuesday evening.

We also had a meet and greet for Stage Management and Costume pathway students, for them to meet their buddies and get to recognise each other around school.

All three years of Stage Management and Costume pathway students

Our second and third year students are getting stuck into their new production roles, Mercury Fur and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot are in rehearsals and the rehearsals for Cosi fan Tutte will begin next Monday.

The Mercury Fur team putting together a child’s tricycle

All in all, a very successful and busy first week back!

Captioning at the Globe

Over the summer two of our second year students took part in a captioning event at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

May had this to say about their experience:

“Captioning is translating everything heard during a live performance into written words. After three days of training with Roz Chalmers at the Globe, Jenn and I both captioned two live performances in the San Wanamaker Playhouse of ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’. We both confronted the challenges of working in live performances, in terms of attempting to give a caption user the exact same experience as a non-user.  Of course lines were missed, skipped, added or forgotten but dealing with these issues are now something Jenn and I would face with confidence. Theatre should aim to be fully inclusive and to help that cause is something we are both very proud of”.

Happy new year!

Welcome to a new academic year at Guildhall!

Some dates for the diary this term include:

October: Mercury Fur opens on the 15th October in the Milton Court Studio, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot has its opening night in the Milton Court Theatre on the 22nd and, of course, it’s International Stage Management Day on the 10th October.

November: lots happening this month! Cosi Fan Tutte opens in Silk Street Theatre on the 5th and our Production Arts department Open Day will be taking place on the 8th – you can sign up to the mailing list to be notified when booking opens for this. It’s Captioning Awareness Week the 12th-18th, with Love Theatre Day taking place on the 14th. TheatreCraft is also happening this month, taking place on the 19th at the Waldorf Hilton Hotel in London – Guildhall will be at this event, which is a free careers event for those aged 16-30 who are interested in a career backstage. Then to end the month, Opera Scenes will open in the Milton Court Studio on the 29th and our production of Saturday, Sunday, Monday will open on the 30th in the Silk Street Theatre.

Then we will have our annual Christmas Festival in December to end the term on a nice festive note.