Introduction to The Studio School of Speech and Drama from David Symington, Director

Language is all about communication, and drama and speech training – properly conceived – is the fine art of communication boiled down to its quintessence. It is about far more than learning the technicalities of voice projection, modulation, pausing, pitch and volume control – although these of course play a vital role in any rigorous speech and acting program; it is about learning to mine the innermost recesses of your intellect and emotions to present your true authentic self to others.

Studying drama in my youth was without question the most important educational experience of my life. It unlocked the inner voice within me and put me in touch, in a way that nothing else can, with the greatest plays, poetry and novels in the English literary tradition. It unleashed for me what T.S. Eliot described as the “auditory imagination”, which is the best, if not the only, way of turning the leaden page of ‘great works’ into singing, vibrant living objects, which then embed themselves into the soul and remain with you forever.

Once a student has lived inside the minds of the greatest playwrights, sung with the most sublime poets, he or she has been talking with the greatest communicators in human history. That is the kind of training that formed the inner core of all the great orators from Demosthenes to Abraham Lincoln.

In short, Drama is the path to giving your child ownership of the English language and ownership of its incredible cultural heritage.

History of The Studio School of Speech and Drama

In early 2014, James Jobbins was teaching an after-school reading and writing class to a group of Grade 2 students. The class were reading Charlie and Chocolate Factory and one week for homework Mr. Jobbins asked the students to memorise and prepare a performance of the Oompa Loompas’ song about Augustus Gloop.

“Augustus Gloop, Augustus Gloop

That great big stinking nincompoop!”

That homework assignment began a discussion with and amongst the students about the nature of good performance. The success of the homework and the follow up exercises led to that reading and writing class evolving into a new course called Literature and Drama.

The success of that primary school class caught the attention of older students, and a collaboration between James Jobbins and David Symington in the summer of 2014, saw the launch of Acting and Speech, a middle school drama course based around poetry recitals, prose readings, and renaissance and classical drama. End of semester performances featured John Keats’ To Autumn, a dramatic adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, and scenes from Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Shakespeare’s Hamlet. 2014 also saw the beginnings of early years drama, with kindergarten age students preparing and performing scenes for parents and friends.

The summer of 2015 saw our first overseas drama lessons when our advisory teacher Ms. Banks taught a three-week drama summer school program in England. Students from Shanghai studied technical aspects of acting and theatre and Shakespeare’s use of verse and language, and attended four live theatre performances.

From September 2015, The Studio School of Speech and Drama entered a new phase in its history as a Trinity College London registered examination centre. The Studio School of Speech and Drama was the first specialist drama school in mainland China to become a registered centre for Trinity’s Drama and Speech exams.

In September 2017, we launched a complete series of courses for students aged 8 to age 15 called Literature and Drama. This series is one of the most ambitious – and most literary – drama courses available anywhere and we are very proud of our teachers, students and families for embarking on this remarkable survey of western literature and heritage texts.

The academic year 2017-18 also sees the development of The Edinburgh Society, our international society targeting the production of original plays to be performed by our students around the world.

An Introduction to Trinity College London Exams at The Studio School of Speech and Drama

Trinity College London is an international exam board for the performing arts. Trinity exams take place in over sixty countries worldwide. All students registered on one of Studio’s drama courses are prepared for entry to Trinity exams. The Studio School of Speech and Drama hosts exams in December and May of each academic year.

Under the subcategory of Acting and Speech, all secondary school and primary school students will be prepared for the Speech and Drama (Solo) examination. Although the requirements change with higher grades, this exam generally involves prose reading, poetry recital, mime, and improvisation. Each exam is graded as Pass, Merit or Distinction. In general, students will be entered at Level 1 for their first attempt. After a student’s first attempt at taking an exam, then teachers can assess at which level to enter students for future exams, but students must attain a distinction at any given level before moving to the next level. Detailed exam requirements and specific details of each student’s set texts will be shared with parents in the first half of each semester.

Kindergarten-age students are entered for Young Performers Certificates. This is awarded to each student who takes part in a group performance in front of an examiner. Their purpose is to help younger students to get ready for taking Acting and Speech levelled exams, typically at the age of six years old. After achieving one, two or three of the Young Performers Certificates at different levels, students will graduate to being prepared for the Speech and Drama (Solo) exams at Initial Level or Level 1.

How to Help at Home

While most of Studio’s drama courses include some writing elements – to help students integrate their creative and linguistic abilities, to help develop their imaginations – most homework for drama courses does not involve writing. Written tasks will more frequently take place in short bursts in class. Homework will typically involve memorising lines and practicing voice and acting techniques. Memorising lines is of paramount importance for all aspiring actors and students should get used to this discipline from an early age. Teachers will introduce students to techniques to help with memorisation, for example learning one line of poetry perfectly on the way to school, and one more perfectly on the way home, totalling ten lines in one week without any special effort at all - and parents can play an important role in reinforcing this discipline. In particular, listening to children recite their lines gives a sounding board that helps students out do themselves.

For comprehension and interpretation of dramatic texts (an increasingly important part of exams as students make progress through higher levels), parents can help by discussing the meaning of texts with their child. That does not mean discussing the meaning of individual words - examiners will be more interested in imaginative interpretation than dictionary definitions - and so parents can be most helpful by having open-ended discussions about how the poem or prose piece or play script might be interpreted or performed.