Earlier this week, Tuesday 11th November, drama students at St Mary’s University, Twickenham premiered the first production in this year’s T-Junction, a festival showcasing a variety of their own written and devised theatrical pieces. Here, Emily Sions and Sam Dunn give an account of their experience working on the festival and how they’ve found studying at St Mary’s.
“I can’t believe it’s all coming to an end”, begins Emily, a third year Drama and Theatre Arts student. She adds, “Set design is one of those jobs where you spend a lot of time doing loads of prep work and then suddenly the next minute you’re putting everything away like it never happened.” Working as an Assistant Designer at T-Junction, she describes the demanding task of working on the set props and costumes for all 10 shows that are being put on as part of the festival as a “crazy, but valuable experience.”
T-Junction allows the University’s students to put their practical skills to the test and get a taster of how life will be in the drama and theatre industry after they’ve graduated. “It’s a very independent project and is everyone’s opportunity to get their hands dirty. Everyone’s really been working together, which is great as this type of collaborative effort is how it will be in the working world,” says Emily.
While Emily is busy working behind-the-scenes, third year Drama and Theatre Arts student Sam Dunn is centre stage for the King of Tears production.
[caption id="attachment_9686" align="alignnone" width="640"]
From left to right: Rosie Padbury, Sam Dunn and Millie Cottle in King of Tears[/caption]
An adaptation of The Bacchae written by Athenian playwright Euripides, Sam plays Scaramouche. He says, “I think T-junction is very important as you get a lot of drama students who want to start their own companies outside university so it’s really good experience for those involved as we had to do everything ourselves – rehearsals, work out our timing, costumes, venue, so it’s valuable experience. We weren’t told what to do, instead we had to act as a real company and use our initiative to just do it.”
St Mary’s has a range of drama and theatre-related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including the newly launched BA Technical Theatre programme.
Emily describes her decision to study Drama at the University as “the best choice I’ve ever made in my life. I joined St Mary’s with the intention of becoming an actor or possibly a director. However, the course enabled us to do lots of different things, including technical roles. As soon as we started working on set designs I knew that actually this is what I wanted to do. The course gives you a lot of opportunities to try everything and find out what you enjoy doing, which is why I think it’s the best course out there.”
Sam also credits the course for giving students the opportunity to gain experience in lots of different roles. “You get taught different things over the three years on the course. In our first year we focussed a lot on movement and voice, the second year we did a lot of planning and this year the T-Junction festival has taught us more about what you actually do when you’re out there working.”
With just one semester left before they finish their studies at St Mary’s, both students had some useful advice for students who have just started a drama course or are thinking of studying one in the future.
“Do it,” says Emily. “It will be the best choice you ever make. It’s like a drama school, but better.” Sam adds, “For anyone studying Drama my advice would be not to hold back. If you’ve got an idea, just go for it. That’s something I’ve learnt during my time at St Mary’s.”
If you are interested in buying tickets to this year’s T-Junction festival, which is running until Saturday 15th November, click here. To learn more about the University’s range of Drama courses, visit the website.
From left to right: Rosie Padbury, Sam Dunn and Millie Cottle in King of Tears[/caption]
An adaptation of The Bacchae written by Athenian playwright Euripides, Sam plays Scaramouche. He says, “I think T-junction is very important as you get a lot of drama students who want to start their own companies outside university so it’s really good experience for those involved as we had to do everything ourselves – rehearsals, work out our timing, costumes, venue, so it’s valuable experience. We weren’t told what to do, instead we had to act as a real company and use our initiative to just do it.”
St Mary’s has a range of drama and theatre-related undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, including the newly launched BA Technical Theatre programme.
Emily describes her decision to study Drama at the University as “the best choice I’ve ever made in my life. I joined St Mary’s with the intention of becoming an actor or possibly a director. However, the course enabled us to do lots of different things, including technical roles. As soon as we started working on set designs I knew that actually this is what I wanted to do. The course gives you a lot of opportunities to try everything and find out what you enjoy doing, which is why I think it’s the best course out there.”
Sam also credits the course for giving students the opportunity to gain experience in lots of different roles. “You get taught different things over the three years on the course. In our first year we focussed a lot on movement and voice, the second year we did a lot of planning and this year the T-Junction festival has taught us more about what you actually do when you’re out there working.”
With just one semester left before they finish their studies at St Mary’s, both students had some useful advice for students who have just started a drama course or are thinking of studying one in the future.
“Do it,” says Emily. “It will be the best choice you ever make. It’s like a drama school, but better.” Sam adds, “For anyone studying Drama my advice would be not to hold back. If you’ve got an idea, just go for it. That’s something I’ve learnt during my time at St Mary’s.”
If you are interested in buying tickets to this year’s T-Junction festival, which is running until Saturday 15th November, click here. To learn more about the University’s range of Drama courses, visit the website.Media enquiries
Press team
020 8240 8262