DRAMA FEATURE | Secondary School
Drama at St Paul’s “All the world is a stage” for students at St Paul’s. St Paul’s is well known for its comprehensive Drama coaching, support and professional productions which engage students across both the Junior and Secondary Schools. From providing solid foundations and fostering raw talent in the Junior School, through to dedicated study and professional tutelage in the Secondary School, students are encouraged to challenge themselves and express their creativity. However, 2021 made it difficult to showcase the performance arts and teachers, tutors and students have investigated other innovative ways to practice and perform.
In the Secondary School Jacqueline Tuting, Drama Coordinator
“This year we, like many artists, we have been incredibly adaptable and creative in finding ways to express and provide our art form. I recently heard the phrase “film is the future”- and that has been one of the core ways we continued in this remote time. I have been thoroughly impressed with how students have modified and transformed their works for the camera. In this time, student have not just performed the role of actor, but they have engaged in script writing, backdrops, designed sets and explored different camera angles which
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St Paul’s Grammar School
has taught them so much about theatrical concepts like point of view, suspense and audience engagement. We have enjoyed many ‘watch parties’ with our popcorn while viewing students work as a class online. We also had the opportunity to engage with specific theatrical techniques as we have not had a pressing performance to prepare for. So, in this time students honed very technical dramatic skills such as manipulating ordinary props to come to life or forming a simple paper puppet to experiment with micro actions like breathing. As actors, students have additionally benefited from the online tutorage of performance coach Kelsey Murphy, who engaged students in techniques like breathing, articulation,
focus, vocal control, and gesture. The impact of COVID-19 and extended lockdowns impacted a range of our projects and resulted in a pause to rehearsals or even cancellation. Particularly, the cancellation of “Bye Bye Birdie” last year was incredibly heart breaking with the cast being so close to a final show ready for staging for the community. However, what all our drama students experienced is very similar to what a number of talented industry professionals had to navigate. It is encouraging to see many shows returning to the professional stage in Sydney, such as Hamilton. We too in the Drama Academy have great hopes and are currently dreaming of our next big show for the St Paul’s stage. So stay tuned!”
