Dramatis Community Drama School looks ahead to busy autumn

Billing themselves as “the drama school with a heart for all ages”, they offer a multi-generational approach, promising drama fun for everyone.

As principal Suzy Duxbury says: “We’re not obsessed with churning out performance superstars – that’s just not us. We see our pupils and participants as part of an extended family, and as such, believe that nurturing their unique qualities, developing their social skills and having fun are just as important as improving their acting abilities.” And with that aim in mind, they will be launching into three different sets of courses this autumn.

Act Your Age is an adult drama group that removes the pressure of learning lines and performing on stage. The new term starts on Wednesday, September 8 and runs every Wednesday until November 24.

The Bognor Regis group runs on Wednesday mornings (10-11.30am) at The Regis Centre and the Chichester group runs on Wednesday evenings (7.30-9pm) at The Community Hall in Roussillon Park. Terms cost £180.

For those that would rather remain online, Dramatis are continuing with their popular Plays and Pinot, an adult online play-reading group which brings together those who appreciate literary classics and are keen to explore them in a different way. Sessions are on Monday afternoons or Thursday evenings. The idea is that you book blocks of four sessions so people can read the full play together. The cost is £20 for a block.

Dramatis will also be returning with its youth drama classes.

“These are our weekly drama lessons that provide a fun and supportive environment to encourage children and teenagers to express themselves.”

There are four different classes for different ages groups which run on Mondays and Fridays. Autumn term starts on September 2 at The Regis School in Bognor, £110 per term (approx 12 classes).

Suzy gets the feeling that people are keen to come back and are ready to do so. At the very least, Dramatis has demonstrated its resilience over the past year and more.

“We have done a lot of stuff online as everybody has. For me, it was just about learning. Having these experiences, you learn to be resilient. You learn how to adapt. You have to learn to find a different way forward, and Zoom was a great way to do that.”

It has also been about helping the children understand what is happening and how to respond: “We had to cancel their show at the last minute, so I was saying to them ‘How does this make you feel?’ and ‘What shall we do about it?’ and so I said ‘Why don’t we do this outdoors? And we did. We had the parents. We had two or three children that were isolating and couldn’t do it and they were the main parts, and I thought we were going to have to cancel, but we did it a week later and that was the main thing.

“It is about trying to get to the crux of what drama is and what drama does, and I think it teaches you how to ‘human’, especially for the younger children who have missed out on the social interaction. Drama teaches you how to socialise. We do drama games, we do role play. It is about learning how to react, about putting yourself in other people’s shoes.”

More details on dramatis.co.uk.