Joan Harris (12 June 1929 – 2 September 2016)
The following letter was written in 1989 by Joan Harris (Head of The National Theatre Drama School 1970-2016). Joan looks back on the School’s first 20 years.
When John Cargher asked me, in late 1969, to start a drama school at the National Theatre, I was really not very interested. I was a full time actress who had semi-retired to have a baby, a son who was then three years old. I was enjoying being a mum and with a husband full time actor, I was in contact with a profession that I had every intention of rejoining, once the said son was old enough.
However John talked and talked and gave me the idea that I could do all of it (act, teach, be a wife, mother, administrate, etc). I said yes! (I have done precious little acting but I direct and teach second year as well as the other above since).
The National Theatre Drama School 3 year professional training for actors began in Prahran in 1970. We began with 2 teachers and myself (Ralda Ansons and George Whaley) and our general factotum Beryl Linwood.
The idea behind the school from my point of view, was to offer 1st class training in acting skills to people who had the talent but had to earn a living whole training and therefore night classes would be the answer.
We also started classes (in a church hall in Toorak) for students 9-18 years called Saturday Workshop. We added staff as the size of classes grew.
We wanted to be selective in the 3 year Course. We wanted to offer the opportunity of going on, not only in the Course but in the profession itself, to people who had talent, commitment, guts and perseverance. Upper age levels were not to be a hindrance (oldest actor now 85 began training at 68). Talent doesn’t have an age limit. Nor were colour, sext, race etc. to be an issue.
We select 40 students at the beginning of the year, out of about 250 applications. At the end of 12 months training (under the headings Voice, Movement, Acting) the students are assessed by the staff, (they also assess themselves) and those we feel have shown themselves to be ready for second year, are taken further. (1989 – 10, 2nd year students, 8, 3rd year graduates).
When we move to the St Kilda premises, it was possible with more space to enlarge Saturday Workshop and add other courses (Singers Course and Saturday Workshop Extension (18-20 years) as our reputation grew. A waiting list situation for Saturday Workshop exists and we don’t advertise (word of mouth only).
So 20 years on we have a school unique in Australia and I believe in the world.
All this could not have been accomplished without the most incredible input from the staff over the years. The care for student work, shows in our graduates who now compete with other training institutions’ graduates for work. The industry knows: if our students get the job they can do it!! We have good relations with agents, directors, playwrights, etc. who know our students are well trained (see attached list).
The staff put in hours of unpaid work (including our Drama Secretary). Why? One concludes they love what they do. They are generous to all our students during their time wit us and also act as resource/advice counsellors during and after graduation. Their skills in their various special areas are supported by a love of the Arts generally and this they also pass on to our students. I have been blessed with superb staff, directors, students and their support of the industry without which the National Theatre Drama School would not have lasted 20 years.
A special bonus area, we as teachers and staff get from our input into the National Theatre Drama School, is the recognition that in a year most students grow, change and develop as human beings. Their view of themselves changes through their work at Drama School, although some do not go on further with training in the arts. We open doors to all sorts of human possibilities: Life Skills. It is not essentially what we hare for, but it is a very great joy for us to see the changes and support them.
One final thing that gives me enormous pleasure is in the students who year after year come back to offer their services saying “I want to put something back into this place” and they do. They run extra curricular workshops, they stage manage, the do sound, they design sets, they write plays, they help “clean up the place”. They write continually of life after the National Theatre Drama School. Over the years we have steered students, whose acting skills were not where their talents lay, into other areas of the Arts. They are now involved in Arts administration, etc. (see list), backstage and front of house and teaching actors (e.g. Churchill Fellowship – Joanna Weir).
My thanks to the Board and John Cargher for giving me autonomy in forming the National Theatre Drama School. Twenty years later, my son Justin graduated in November (1989) and is out there trying to find work. He knows his training will be the platform for his career.
ALLOW – TRUST – RISK