About our Workshops

At the centre of everything we do is improvisation and play. Our experience shows us that what we begin doing as a game becomes a skill for instinctive, naturalistic acting, spontaneous thinking and creativity as we grow up. It's an exciting way to engage with the world: to be curious and to learn.

 

The open-mindedness, communication and freedom that improvisation and play provide are the foundations of our workshops. These journeys have played out over generations of Dragons. See below for a breakdown of how our workshops facilitate creative development over time.

 

Hand in hand with creative development, the workshops also coach highly valuable skill sets for theatre and for life; advanced diction, stagecraft, physicality and line-learning are all advanced within our LAMDA tuition and Performances. Often, the results are demonstrated in the process as well as the final production. We regularly hold open workshops so that parents can come in and see the methodology and techniques we employ. 

From Toddlers to Teenagers:
Developing Imagination and Theatre Skills

In the younger workshops at Dragon Drama our tools are stories, myths and legends sourced from particular traditions or cultures. Our workshop material is built around a termly theme rooted in place, tradition or mythology.

 

As Dragons grow up (and many do come on the journey from toddlers to teenagers!) we introduce devising and an increased focus on performance, but we don’t place pressure on any young person with competitive structures or audition processes. Whether your youngster dreams of becoming an actor or simply wants to develop their confidence, there is a place for them with us. It’s this ethos of inclusivity and accessibility that has shown to have a considerable impact on the lives of our Dragons.

Workshops

Normansfield Theatre Workshops

 

Spring Term 2024
8th January – 22nd March
Half term: 12th February –

16th February


Summer Term 2024
22nd April – 12th July
Half Term: 27th May – 7th June

(two weeks)

 

Wednesdays

5.00 - 6.30
Dragon Youth - Y7/8

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Our Dragon Youth workshops are the second step in part of a three step structure. The next step is Dragonsflight Theatre Company. Dragon Youth will continue to hone their performance skills and creativity through improvisation games and exercises, and will create their own pieces of devised theatre reflecting the world as they see it. At this stage the option is also available to take part in the Dragonsflight shows.

 

HOWEVER! Dragon Drama will always be a place for non-performers. So many of our dragons love to perform spontaneously in the workshops and be part of the creative process, but they do not want to be in the spotlight. We nurture these dragons who are highly creative, come with such a wide variety of interests all of which feed the creative process. They are treasure indeed.

 

6.30 - 8.30
Dragonsflight - Y9+

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When Dragons reach year 9 they enter Dragonsflight, the upper realm of the Dragon Drama journey where they are encouraged to really spread their wings. These workshops maintain the spirit of inclusivity and accessibility while also providing an opportunity for these young adults to test their performance skills in live performance (annual participation in the International Youth Arts Festival) as well as a number of other live performances showcasing their spontaneous improvisation skills.

 

Social interaction and engagement is huge at this age, and sometimes workshops become a place to let off steam, rant about teachers and express anxiety or frustration at the common pitfalls of adolecsent life, and we make room for this as well as continuing to develop intellectual, communicative, and performative skills at the highest level. Dragons will continue to develop their quick-wittedness, devising skills and stage-craft and will be able to demonstrate it in a performance setting if they wish. There’s still always a place for those who don’t want to take to the stage.

Thursdays

4.00 - 5.30
Dragon Groundlings - Y3/4

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Our tiniest Dragons have an extra sensory experience, combining vivid storytelling, free expression and creativity through sound, movement and play. They also have their first experience of forming characters, articulating creative thought and working co-operatively and imaginatively with their peers to communicate themes and narratives.

5.30 - 7.00
Dragon Juniors - Y5/6

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Our Dragon Juniors workshops take Improvisation and Play to a new level. Children are encouraged to develop their ‘play’ and story ideas into short devised pieces. They also start to perform improv games. These games require skill, bravery and quick thinking. They are enormously freeing and enable children to believe in their unique voices and ideas without any fear of failure. Having no fear of failure is a great way of learning as getting it ‘wrong’ is often how we learn best and is clearly where the genius lies!

Holiday Events

Each term we run immersive storytelling multi-day events combining art and drama. Find out more!

We also run workshops at Hampton Wick Infant & Nursery School and St. Mary’s & St. Peter’s. Details of these workshops can be found here