All About the National Student Drama Festival

In 1956, a group of theatre enthusiasts held a Corporate event and then created one of the most ingenious organisations the UK has seen. It was called the NSDF, (or the National Student Drama Festival). And, it provided a venue through which theatre students would learn and perform.

This continues even today. Once a year, in Scarborough and Yorkshire, students would participate in various productions at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. In between time, they could embark on other activities, such as classes and hands-on workshops. These workshops take the students back to the bare escentuals of what they are doing and what excited them about drama and theatre. Best of all, the excitement would last for a whole week.

Of course, the benefits don’t end there. Since the NSDF is considered a prominent organization, participation in the festival is bound to get a theatre student noticed. That’s why many of the UK’s most prominent theatre personalities have participated in the NSDF at some point of their lives.

With that being said, what are the requirements to participate in the NSDF? Basically, you must be 16 or over taking a college-level drama course. If you meet that requirement, you can participate in the 100+ productions the NSDF creates every year.

However, it should be noted that even if you can’t participate in the NSDF for this year, you should consider giving a donation to the organization. Why? Well, in recent years, the NSDF has had trouble getting funding. They’ve even tried to make an appeal for public funding, but they haven’t been successful enough to end their concerns over money. But if they get more public donations, they won’t have to close their doors due to lack of money.

In conclusion, if you want to have fun while learning more about the theatre, consider making plans to attend the NSDF. It successfully mixes education and entertainment, while forcing drama students to apply their talents. Very few venues offer such an opportunity, so you should definitely take advantage of the NSDF while it’s still around. 

Traces – Theatre show transfers to the London Peacock Theatre

The Edinburgh Fringe Show TRACES has transferred to London, and is already selling out its shows. For anyone who is thinking about seeing it, or infact any physical theatre shows, I have a word of advice to you once you have booked your tickets.

There's a real temptation in this day and age to Google a show before you go and see it. The show producers of course do their best to get loads of vids and pics out there to help publicize it. I have a word of advice.

You are coming to see the show now, you have a ticket, it's all good. Watching the vids on the internet is a bit like watching a film trailer, nothing wrong in that. However, you wouldn't watch the trailer to a film just before watching the actual film, would you? That could potentially ruin some of the good bits as Martin can testify to when watching cats and dogs.

My suggestion to you is to NOT Google this show, before watching it. Internet footage of any live shows will only ever be the equivalent of a bad black and white picture version of the show - because the strength in the show is that it is real and running in front of you fresh and open to the mistakes, mishaps and changes that occur during each show.

If you would like to see Traces, I can highly recommend it. Going against everything I just said, here is a video to tempt you in.... just the one mind.