National Drama Conference April 2011

Review by Chris Lawrence, London Drama

National Drama’s International Drama Conference this year was held at Swansea University 11-14th April 2011. Titled Drama - Same Difference and subtitled diversity and mutuality of process and practice it attracted attendees from every continent on Earth (except Antarctica) and provided a rich programme of keynotes, workshops, research papers, an interview and a book launch. This quality made up somewhat for the poor quality of some of the accommodation and working spaces; the food, however, was absolutely first class.

The keynote speakers were Jude Kelly, Jonothan Neelands and Joachim Reiss; workshop leaders included the latter two plus Paul Sutton of C&T and, standing in at short notice for Cath Arun, Julie Ward. The interview, conducted by Andy Kempe, was with Cecily O’Neill who gave a fascinating account of how she came to be a drama teacher; later she was awarded Honorary Life Membership of National Drama. The book launch was of Drama to Inspire which was described chapter by chapter by its editor, John Coventon, with myself, Adam Annand, Jonothan Neelands and Andy Kempe - five contributors - sitting at his side. The book sold well, as did many of the books on the London Drama Bookstall which attended alongside Norfolk Childrens Books.

The spirit of Wales was brought into our awareness by two events: the introduction to the Conference by Helen Bowen who spoke in Welsh; and, at the formal dinner on the Wednesday evening, a beautiful musical interlude by a choir of local primary children and by a young award winning harpist plucking skilfully the strings of an instrument twice her size.

By all accounts the workshops and papers were of a high standard - I can certainly vouch for the quality of Paul Sutton’s workshop on interactive ICT for Drama - but there was generally a strange shortage of analysis and young teachers from the UK were also thin on the ground. This latter point should give National Drama something to consider for the future: it is great having an International Conference but we really do need to attend to the CPD needs of our own young teachers who are increasingly under pressure from a general “dumbing down” of content and a trend to a box ticking culture. We need to get more of them there!

The National Drama Conference takes place in a different UK centre annually.