Marking the first day of the National Theatre’s annual Drama Teacher Conference which brings together hundreds of drama teachers from across the UK, the National Theatre announces new educational resources for schools. These aim to support teachers to access and teach a more diverse range of work, open up the practice of leading contemporary artists and inspire students to explore a broad range of theatre.
Conceived by theatre practitioner and director Katie Mitchell with the National Theatre in consultation with drama teachers nationwide, a new resource titled Practitioners in Practice launches today to help bring cutting edge theatre practice into the classroom. Made up of a film for students and a supporting education pack for teachers, the resource – first in a new series – explores Mitchell’s unique style and methodology, and the methods students can use to replicate her work in classroom settings with varying resources and budget.
Katie Mitchell will launch the resource at this year’s Drama Teacher Conference with the film available from today on the National Theatre’s new Learning Hub, a free and growing online library of over 50 resources, exploring Shakespeare to new writing as well as providing activities for primary schools.
Ten new titles are also added to the National Theatre Collection today on Bloomsbury Publishing’s Drama Online platform, making a total of 70 titles available to stream directly into classrooms across the UK for free. 88% of UK state secondary schools are signed up to use the platform, with new research commissioned from Thinks Insight & Strategy showing one in four secondary school children in the UK in the last academic year watched a National Theatre Collection production, reaching 1.3 million pupils nationwide.
New titles include Zadie Smith’s Wife of Willesden directed by NT Director Designate Indhu Rubasingham, Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood directed by Lyndsey Turner, Othello directed by Clint Dyer, and the 2022 National Theatre’s schools touring production of Hamlet directed by Tinuke Craig for 8–12-year-olds. The platform is free for all state schools and FE colleges in the UK with titles and additional learning resources suitable for both secondary and primary schools.
Theatre director Katie Mitchell said “I conceived the Practitioners in Practice series to support the teaching of theatre making in secondary schools, especially at A Level. This first episode uses my own practice to pilot a written and film resource providing a model that can be applied in future series to a much more diverse group of practitioners. The series aims to help teachers and students to access a wider range of contemporary practitioners and bridge the gap between professional practice and drama in the classroom. It is also a response to the shocking fall off on A Level and GSCE take-up for drama over the past decade and hopes to help support schools to turn these figures round.”
Alice King Farlow, Director of Learning and National Partnerships at the National Theatre, said “By opening up access to the practice and plays of some of the most exciting artists in our industry today, we hope to support schools and students nationwide to discover the magic of theatre from their own classrooms. We’re delighted to expand our free educational resources with new titles on the National Theatre Collection and a brilliant new learning resource conceived by theatre practitioner Katie Michell, inspiring creativity in the next generation and increasing awareness of the many skills and roles involved in creating world-class theatre”.
To find out more about the National Theatre Collection and to sign up, visit the National Theatre website.
Visit the National Theatre’s Learning Hub to discover an online library of educational resources including Practitioners in Practice.
