Latest / Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast / Episode 4: A Year at The Playing Space

Transcript

Episode 4: A Year at The Playing Space · Gabi’s Speech and Drama Podcast

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's the start of a new academic year and I thought I'd record a little mini
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: podcast episode in which I explain the structure of our year at The Playing Space.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I've explained many,
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: many times over the course of the last 20 years to parents,
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: to students and to teachers.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so I thought it would be a useful thing for me to explain a bit more generally,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: as it may influence decisions you're making about your own organisation.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm running a speech and drama education company,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: and a big part of that is preparing students for Lambda exams.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we do like our students to have a rounded experience across the year with
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: opportunities to perform in front of an audience rather than just one examiner.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And also to have some time doing drama for the sake of drama,
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: where they're building skills in a more relaxed way rather than meeting a deadline,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: whether that is an exam or a public performance.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So at The Playing Space,
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: the majority of our students take a Lambda exam at a big private centre that we run
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: at our studios in London in December.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I settled on this time of year to do exam work because it tends to avoid a
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: clash with school exams,
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: which usually take place during the summer term.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And also I found that attendance is a bit more consistent in the autumn term
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: because we're not competing with school trips and endless bank holidays.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: We usually have somewhere in the region of 160 students taking exams across two weekends.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: So that's about nine exam sessions in total and about 50 hours of examining.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So it is a huge undertaking.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And once term is underway,
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: from the beginning of September,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: really,
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: once classes are up and running,
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: my main admin job is timetabling the exam,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: collecting exam fees and
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: making sure everything is in order before the entry deadline at the end of October.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I give parents a payment deadline about 10 days before the Lambda deadline to
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: allow for any stragglers.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I also charge an admin fee of £8 per student to make sure I can pay myself and
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: my admin assistant for the time it takes to do all of this admin and prepare for
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: the big day,
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: making sure everything
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Parents and students know when and where to come,
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: having clean copies of pieces ready to give to the examiners,
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: report forms filled out so everything runs smoothly.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And also,
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: I need to cover the cost of paying stewards to help on the exam day,
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: plus refreshments for them and the examiners.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some centres have to charge a bit more of an admin fee because they may
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: have to cover rent on the venue that they're using as well.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: So something that has come into my understanding is that some other exam boards do
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: actually give private centres a small percentage of the fees to help cover those
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: exam costs.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that Lambda have ever offered.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it did occur to me that
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: For them running a public centre,
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: they have to bear all of those costs of paying stewards and securing a venue and so on.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And it may be something that they could consider in the future because it would
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: encourage people to run private centres more.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: rather than sending people to public centres if there is one nearby.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that was just the little thought that came into my head.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: is when you're timetabling 160 students,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: knowing in advance about any clashes.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So the other thing that I send out sort of in the middle of September is a deadline
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: to let me know about any other events or clashes taking place across those two weekends.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: so that I can make sure that I timetable them accordingly.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that helped most people remember to do that.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: But if they don't,
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I do charge a larger admin fee of £15 for re-timetabling if they are timetabled at
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: a slot that doesn't suit them and they haven't let me know in advance.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, if it's my mistake, I wouldn't charge them the admin fee.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So that usually goes okay.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, if they need to...
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: change their time after the paperwork has been submitted to Lambda,
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: then they have to bear the cost of the Lambda retimetabling fee,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: which I think is £50 per student,
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: but it may have gone up.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we try at all costs to avoid that, but obviously it's ultimately the parent's decision.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Often that's higher than the actual exam fee.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've wandered slightly off topic,
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: but in a nutshell,
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: my autumn term is taken up with preparing students for their exams and all of the
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: additional admin that goes with that.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time the Christmas holiday arrives,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I am ready for a bit of rest and relaxation,
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: which I don't usually get because we host my entire family for Christmas every year.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And to be honest,
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: feeding 14 people a three-course meal is a breeze in comparison to Lambda exam preparation.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: students come back in January,
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: ready for something new,
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: and we use this term to work in small groups preparing scenes for our Festival of
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Speech and Drama,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: which takes place at a lovely local theatre at the end of March.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a theme each year.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, our theme was the future.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: We've had themes like truth and lies, journeys, and points of view as previous themes.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I always try and choose a theme that is broad enough to appeal to a wide
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: variety of ages and interests.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: For example,
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: with The Future,
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: we had older children who did scenes from The Hunger Games,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: exploring the idea of a dystopian future.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And we had younger students who devised a scene about a future in which children
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: were taught by robots instead of human beings and wondering what would happen if
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: the robot teacher malfunctioned.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: And actually,
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: unfortunately,
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: the child who was playing the role of the robot teacher was away on the performance day,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: which leads me to a side note.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Why do parents book holidays without checking show dates?
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: But yours truly did step in and performed magnificently.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: I do secretly enjoy understudying for the 180 or so students who take part in the festival.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is a rare show that doesn't have some sort of cameo from me.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: Last year I was the robot teacher and also a zombie in another show.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: I sort of think the parents and students quite enjoy it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: I hope they do.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: I know that I do.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway...
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: enough about me back to the students of course they are the main reason I run the
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: festival it's not just an opportunity for me to flex my acting muscles so yes they
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: usually choose to devise their own scenes but they also use film and play scripts
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: that fit the theme some groups might do musical theatre and the important thing is
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: that they're working in groups and we don't do group exams for Lambda
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: We only do solo and duologue exams for Lambda.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: So if you think about it as the structure across the academic year,
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: it means that they are now developing different skills in terms of staging and
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: listening and reacting and projecting into a larger space as well.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the other thing that's really nice is that the festival is always hosted by our
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: oldest and most experienced students.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's the opportunity for them to do public speaking as well as they
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: introduce the theme and offer reflective links between the scene.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it is another really busy term with usually only 10 or 11 sessions to rehearse.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why we keep the scenes really short with an eight minute upper limit for
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: the old ones and five or six minutes for the younger ones.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: But it's great for the students to perform in a larger space and practice.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's an opportunity for parents to see the results of their efforts.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: We have so many parents who say that they have never seen their children's Lambda pieces.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And in the past, we did used to do a Lambda showcase where students perform their pieces for parents.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: But to be honest,
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: we are so exhausted after the Lambda weekends that I have not put this event back
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: into the calendar since lockdown put an end to everything.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: So...
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: The festival is the one opportunity each year for parents to watch their children perform.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we also do invite an external adjudicator to watch the students and give them feedback.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: The festival is not competitive.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Every performer gets a prize,
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: but the adjudicator does award extra prizes to the scenes and individual performers
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: and compares.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: that they think are especially deserving and these are awarded in class time at the
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: start of the summer term rather than at the festival itself as we don't want anyone
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: coming away from the experience thinking that they haven't done brilliantly.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of students who are building their confidence and our primary aim is
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: to boost confidence any possible way that we can.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there are, of course, competitive festivals for students who want to take part in them.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we do offer this to certain students.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And you can hear my thoughts on that in episode one of this podcast.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the spring term out of the way.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: What's next?
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Well, in some ways, this is my favourite of all the terms.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: The summer term, drama for the sake of drama, fun and games, improvisation.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Courses delivered entirely in gibberish.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: We can do mask work, puppetry, circus skills, physical theatre.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, if our students express an interest, then we offer it.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I sometimes get practitioners in from other companies to run workshops for our
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: teachers so that they can then share their newfound skills with our students.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I love going to classes myself to learn new games and techniques.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Recently, I went to a great Meisner improv workshop.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that gave me material for half a term.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, money well spent.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a really enjoyable afternoon for me as well.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now,
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: our older students,
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: we actually do have to start Lambda work during the summer term because,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: if you're doing grade six,
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: seven,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: eight and the autumn term,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: maybe 12,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: 13 lessons,
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: definitely not enough to get ready for an exam,
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: especially in a group class.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: So our older students do start Lambda work after the June half term to make sure
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: they're going to be ready for their December exams.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Basically,
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: anyone who's taking a level two or level three exam,
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: we want them to have chosen pieces and started doing some work on them so that they
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: can learn lines,
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: read plays over the summer.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And even level one students might just get their pieces chosen so that we can hit
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: the ground running in September as they do only have 12 or 13 lessons before the exam.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then the madness starts all over again.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that is an overview of our year.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Autumn term, very focused on Lambda.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Spring term, very focused on our festival.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Summer term, a bit more relaxed, but with the initial Lambda work taking place there as well.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I recently asked some of my students which was their favourite term,
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Lambda,
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Festival or Skills,
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: and every student gave a different answer.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's really nice that we do it all.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is that sometimes parents are so focused on Lambda exams that they
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: maybe don't see the other terms as worthwhile.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I have to work quite hard...
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: to explain the benefits.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we do have some students who leave after their Lambda exams and say that
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: they're going to take a break and they'll be back to do their next exam in June.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I do say to them that they may have to stay at the same grade and take a
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: different subject or have some private classes to catch up with their classmates
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: who have continued developing and building their skills.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because even though the festival term and the first half of the summer term is not necessarily...
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: entirely focused on Lambda exams,
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: of course those students are still developing as actors and practicing their skills.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't take a piano exam at grade three and then take six months off and
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: expect to go straight in at grade four.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: You would probably have to spend a bit of time polishing up.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: You'd be rusty.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's not quite the same thing with speech and drama, but I think there is a similarity.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the other thing, of course, I say to those parents is we may not have a space available for them.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: We can't hold places for students who are taking a break.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing I may talk about this in a separate podcast,
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: actually,
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: is that a lot of students will take a break in their GCSE year and their A-level
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: year and sometimes even younger if they're doing 11 plus exams.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I do try and explain to parents and students that it's only an hour a week and
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: it can be a really nice break away from revision and tutoring and academic work.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: My son did his GCSEs just recently.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: recently he's just started the first year of sixth form he carried on his drama
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: classes all the way through even during the actual month that he was taking his
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: exams he still came to his drama class it was an hour a week he felt it actually
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: gave him a little boost and refreshed his brain and that he was able to then revise
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: more effectively afterwards it can also be a bit of a mental health break just to
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: be in a room with people who you get on well with doing something fun um
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: rather than studying.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that is a year in the life of the playing space.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you found it useful or interesting.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't mentioned today all the other things that we do,
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: such as running drama clubs in primary schools,
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: which work towards an informal presentation at the
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: We also work in one to one settings at our studio, on Zoom or in schools.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And those one to one classes are much more focused on Lambda exams,
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: with students often taking two exams a year,
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: same grade,
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: different subjects at the London Public Centre.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: So please do email me with your experiences.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: Others may be interested to hear about these.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've got any ideas for our theme for our festival for March next year,
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear those ideas.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And any ideas you have for future podcasts, I would love to hear those as well.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much for listening.