2009 News
- News Archive
Busy Summer for Drama St Mary's
Lecturers and students from the Drama programme at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham have had a busy summer working on a number of theatre projects across the UK and abroad.
Drama Lecturer and professional actor Ian Hughes spent the summer playing the pirate, Smee, in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Although Ian is leaving the show to rejoin us in September, this highly successful production is transferring to the 02 Arena for Christmas and then to New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
Three productions from the University College appeared at this year’s Edinburgh Festival. Lecturer Kasia Zaremba- Byrne took a company of our students, past and present, to the Pleasance Theatre with their devised physical theatre show, Destination GB.
Glyn Cannon’s play Coffee also played at the Pleasance and ex-MA student Gemma Colclough directed two productions at the Underbelly. All four productions received good notices and audiences.
Head of Drama Trevor Walker’s production of Cancer Tales was invited to Philadelphia to be presented to an audience of State legislators. In October there will be further performances in Birmingham, London, North Wales and Amsterdam.
Recent graduate AJ Dean has been touring with Dreamboats and Petticoats which recently came to the Richmond Theatre and has now transferred to the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End.
Lecturer Mark Griffin spent early September in Spain collaborating with Spiral Theatre Company. He helped devise, write and produce a community play based on the Icarus myth for the village of Piedrahita as part of the build-up to the world paragliding championships which will be held there in 2011.
Wardrobe technician Tina Bicât continued her design work with Ockham’s Razor Theatre Company helping to develop their new work, The Mill, which will premiere at the London International Mime Festival in January.
MA in Theatre Directing lecturer Sarah Esdaile has been touring her Birmingham Rep production of His Dark Materials across the UK. In Oxford she rehearsed Philip Pullman who had a walk-on part in the play. Her next project is an Arthur Miller play at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Trevor Walker said, “We actively encourage all our staff and students to involve themselves in professional theatre projects. For students it is a great learning experience and for our staff it ensures that their teaching is kept up to date and relevant to a fast-changing theatre industry.”
