About Theatre
“If you want to get your
hands dirty making theatre, YSJ is the place for
you.”
“If you
have an interest in the world we live in and want to seek that
understanding through the vehicle of theatre, this is the place for
you.”
David Richmond, Head of Programme, believes
that the appeal of a BA in Theatre at YSJ is not simply academic
but an emotional and kinetic one. He explains, “Imagine that you
have read all the books in the world about Shoah (The Holocaust)
but still not understood it. A trip to Auschwitz with the second
year Theatre course would give you the opportunity to understand it
differently - bringing your intellectual understanding together
with a much more embodied understanding of this
historic 20th century event. That’s the difference theatre can
make.”
“The
essence of theatre is that we use our resource - the human body,
the human voice, our individual and collective intellect - to
tell other people’s stories,” he adds.
But that’s not all. At YSJ the Theatre course
also helps students to expand their experience of different theatre
traditions building on and diversifying the skills and knowledge
that students arrive with. Getting directly involved with the
production process builds a strong professional awareness of how to
work critically, creatively and safely within a production
environment - both on and off campus. Theatre supports the
development of extremely valuable transferrable skills which are
applicable to excellent collaborative working in theatre and which
also are core skills for a wide variety of other professionals. The
ability to interact and communicate effectively with different
audiences, to take individual responsibility and work
collaboratively are core professional skills required in the world
of work.
Students can expect on average to spend 15-18
hours a week working in the Faculty performance spaces. Workshops
and lectures with members of staff act as a catalyst for
student groups to make and respond to a series of creative and
critical challenges. The first six weeks will be spent
understanding the technical equipment so that you can make your own
work and operate safely in the studios being supported and guided
by our theatre technical demonstrator staff.
The
second year, says David, is more like an apprenticeship and
involves working with a member of staff using theatre as a
tool. The third year allows students to demonstrate their
ability to make, stage and perform and reflect upon their theatre
making skills. It's the year in which to formally test an emerging
theatre vision and voice. Theatre students have the opportunity to
create ‘zines, chapbooks, catalogues or portfolios as part of their
experience of theatre as documenting the working process of theatre
making as well as the final product being increasingly
important as part of a life long creative portfolio and CV.
“The point is to make work which intertwines the critical and
reflective and the creative, what we call ‘braiding’ “says
David.
“Students come to university to change their
lives. This ought to be a transformative place.”
Welcome to York!
Theatre Pages
The Zine for Theatre
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