AUCKLAND DRAMA SCHOOL TO START

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 61, 4 December 1937, Page 10

AUCKLAND DRAMA SCHOOL TO START

Authority has heen ohtained from the Education Department for a School of Drama to be started next year in conjunction with the Elam School of Art. It will be the first school of its type in New Zealand, and it represents an ideal of the training of ^outh in the art of the theatre, which 'enthusiasts consider must form a necessary prelude to the creation of a national theatre. Actually the intended school represents a development from classes relating to the theatre which have been conducted at the Elam School of Art by Mr Arnold Goodwin, who will now be associated with the School of Drama. Failure of Repertory Movement. It was explained by Mr Goodwin that when the repertory movement first started much more was expected of it than was actually achieved. In instances it was merely a soeial institution or very little else. It was becoming realised that the art of the theatre was really a lifetime job and that amateurs, tried perhaps after their duties in earning a livelihood, could not be expected to master the technical and inspirational side of the drama. Mr Goodwin felt that the movement toward re-establishing the theatre in New Zealand must come from the young, whose imaginative gifts could be kindled and developed by training. When it was Tealised that many of the younger generation in Ncw Zealand had never seen a stage performance, it wopld be realised to what condition the drama had fallen. Classj in Stage Design. A class in stage design was started at the school last year, and the manner in which the imaginative side of students was devolped, was remarkable. Naturally these students knew notking of the manner in which their designs could be practically applied to the stage. A further institution was a class in the art of puppetry, puppets being made with the idea of giving students the three dimensional sense, over and above the drawing. It would be realised that it was impossible to run a theatre until one could get an audienee, and it was impossible to get an audienee until it could be given something worth while. If ever a theatre was realised, it would have to be on a, national basis, and Mr Goodwin was satisfied it would have to come through the Education Department. Details of Proposals. In the School of Drama, students would be drawn from those who came into the Elam School of Art by the ordinary processes. The Education Department insisted on a minimum of 20 students, and. a maximum would be impcseu, while it was hoped to get an even balance of the .sexes. Thero would be a class in eurythmic mdvements, dancing and other physieal training under an accredited teacher. In this there was mo idea of creating a ballet, but such training was' jregarded as essential to proper stage movement. Courses in .practical acting would follow largely the .lines laid down" by Stanistjtvsky of the Moscow Theatre. Students would take from the Elam School pf Art certain other subjects, as ifiodellihgj design and drawing. Within two years it was hoped -that a team would be established, each member understanding the other, that would be able.to show that the .theatre was not only very important, but the most important of the arts. If it could do that, Mr Goodwin thought the chances of getting a national theatre would be very much brighter than at present.