Originally published 11 August 2003

The year is 2003, the month July, the place - Warwick.

Ladies and gentlemen, roll up, roll up for the students of the NAGTY summer school studying drama are putting on a show.

The drama and theatre course started on the 22nd July 2003. NAGTY had organised the course so we would be working with experts in our subject fields. NAGTY excelled itself and we started working with some integral members of the Royal Shakespeare team and other theatre companies.

Working with a member of the RSC obviously meant we would be studying one of Shakespeare’s masterpieces. We were correct, and began working on the play Measure for Measure, one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known masterpieces, but still a masterpiece.

To ease us into the workload, we began with a simple still image to try and convey the emotion within a scene. It was a success, however students were still somewhat apprehensive of each other so we went on to try our hand at teambuilding exercises to gain confidence and to earn each other’s trust. They were also successful, and the students quickly became close friends and team-mates. Now the days roll on, and we are quickly learning the structure of the drama and theatre course. We go to bed late then wake up early, and are on our feet all day. The tasks are ambiguous, and often confusing, but we love it. We are learning more about drama in three weeks than in our entire lives.

From the perspective of the students, we would like to thank all NAGTY staff for giving us the opportunity to be able to study this course, and a huge thank you to Trev, Claudette, and Michael for their expert aid and advice throughout the course.

We are now in week 2 of the NAGTY drama course and are continuing to mature and preen our acting abilities into Oscar-worthy levels for the final show in a week’s time. So, until then, I hope we break a leg!

Tom McGauley (15)