FORUM

Felicity Amor asked us to stand in remembrance of Jill Balcon, U. A. Fanthorpe and David Jones.

Trifold - Felicity informed us that the Trifold, (STSD Recruitment flyer) is near to completion. Many hours have been spent on this project and in particular she would like to thank Ian Dacey for the time and effort he has put into this and that it could not have been done without him.

Felicity then thanked the students on the Conference. It was wonderful to have them there and they had been fantastic and a great asset. Arzhia Habibi and Matt Needham responded saying what an enjoyable time they have had and they realised that “Adults can rave”.

Felicity thanked Therese Williams for the lovely flowers at the Dinner and for organising the wonderful costumes that the students wore as they greeted the diners. Apparently the Mayor declared that he had never been to a function where he had been greeted in quite such a manner.

Ann Jones spoke about the John Holgate Book of Honour. Anyone can dedicate a page to a particular teacher or mentor and the money from this provides the bursaries for the students to attend Conferences.

Youth Membership – Jennifer Speculand and Stephen Owen reported. This is an encouraging area of growth - after all they are the future of the Society. A workshop was run in Scotland for the Youth Members, which was very successful. Alison Shan Price suggested setting up a Facebook site for the Youth membership. Arzhia Habibi and Matt Needham offered to do this.

Rosemary Hopkins spoke about the 2010 and 2011 Conferences. As the Theatre in Stratford upon Avon will not be completed by next year, that Conference has been postponed to 2011. In 2010 there will be a two day non-residential Conference in London. On the 20th August 2010 there will be an all day workshop at the National Theatre followed by an evening performance, and the 21st August there will be a morning workshop at The Globe followed by a matinee. Detailed information will be available at the end of January 2010. The AGM and PDD will be once again at the Thistle Hotel, Marble Arch and Rosemary asked for suggestions for speakers for the PDD.

David Henty spoke about the website. He distributed an STSD Website Guide, which he had been asked to compile.

Penny Lambert and Rosemary Wootton spoke about the change of name from 'Regional Representatives' to 'Area Representatives' and 'Points of Contact'. The reason for this was to give more STSD representation over the country. POC’s are there to support the Area Rep’s and to try and make some of the very large regions more accessible.

Penny Charteris reported that the majority of Members paid their subs on time, for which she was very grateful. However this year there had been a problem with people's subscriptions being lost in the post and a reminder had been sent to them. Penny made a plea that, if this happens again, please contact her immediately.

Pam Clarke spoke on Nobby’s behalf regarding the deadline for the next Newsletter, which is 30th August. She said that Nobby would like to thank all his reporters - and for any photos he receives on Events for the Newsletter - so please keep them coming.

Ann Jones said that she does still have some STSD polo shirts for sale if anyone would like one.

Lastly, Felicity thanked Sheila Nye and her Conference Committee for all the time and hard work they had spent to produce such an excellent Conference and that it had been a very happy and successful weekend. Sheila responded by thanking her seven Committee Members for all the help they had given her, because without them there would be no Conference.
Alison Shore, Chelmsford, Essex

THEATRE DESIGN
with Simon Higlett, (multi-award winning Associate Designer from The Chichester Festival Theatre)

I must admit, my spirit drooped rather when I saw the title “Theatre Design” as the last talk of the Chichester Conference, (probably because I had taken rather too much “spirit” the night before!). The designing of theatres, or any other building for that matter, has never been of any great interest to me and so it was a sense of duty, rather than a feeling of enthusiasm, that carried me along to the lecture hall. I mentally prepared myself for a less than stimulating session, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

As I entered the room our speaker, Simon Higlett was setting out a wonderful display of model sets of plays he had been involved with – from the UK to Stockholm and Washington DC. In addition there was an array of sketches and drawings that immediately drew one’s mind into the fascinating world of costume and set-design.

My drooping spirit revived immediately and what followed was a fascinating talk about Simon’s work and like all good speakers he catered for the audience’s “visual literacy” in abundance. He explained that he was responsible for everything that the audience sees on stage, from large pieces of furniture to the shoelaces and gloves worn by the characters and everything in between. It was somewhat unusual to hear, that despite being such a talented artist, which was obvious from the quality of sketches and paintings he had put on display, he always began work by using 3-dimentional-model-boxes of stage sets, which were imaginatively crafted, communicating the mood and atmosphere of the scene or play in a very powerful way. Laid before us were a number of models of sets for plays like The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, where the audience seemed to inhabit the neighbouring houses of that strange, dysfunctional family and also J. M. Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, where barrel upon barrel captured and conveyed the starkness and darkness of the scene.

What struck me very forcibly was that each set told a story, before a word of dialogue would be spoken and Simon’s knowledge, enthusiasm and humour made it all sound very simple. Surely the art of a good story-teller? He then went on to tell us about the problems he sometimes had to face and the challenges of finding theatrical solutions to complex technical difficulties, when directors with fairly fixed ideas ask for something that appears to be impossible to provide. It is only through the skill and imagination of the “theatre designer” that these concepts and ideas take on a life of their own in readiness for the first night, when incidentally, the designer’s contract terminates and work begins on another set design. Simon’s talk and visual demonstration proved to be a wonderful end to an excellent Conference. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world!
Steve Owen, Chesterfield, Derbyshire

Final Lunch and Goodbyes

Delegates assembled for their final luncheon buffet in the Chapel before making their way home bubbling over with new ideas, happy memories and the fun shared over the past four days spent in Chichester. Thank you Conference Chairman AR Sheila Nye and her Committee for looking after us so nicely. Everyone looked forward to the August 2010 gathering in London at The National Theatre and The Globe.
Pam Clarke Sheringham, Norfolk

Click here to learn more about the STSD Summer Conference in 2010.

CLICK HERE TO READ REPORTS ON THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY FEBRUARY 2010