It is not always possible to take your students to the theatre so companies are putting on their thinking caps to help teachers bring theatre alive in the classroom. Companies including Stage On Screen and Digital Theatre film performances in front of live audiences. 

Digital Theatre is making the most of new technology by allowing their films to be downloaded from their website. The company, which formed in 2009, has teamed up with some of our major theatre companies, including the RSC and the Royal Court, to bring their plays to students. The company uses multiple camera angles and high-definition technology to bring the drama and emotion of each production alive. 

With these methods we are creating a library of diverse and acclaimed productions from some of the finest theatre talent around. Although featuring a range of productions, ensuring there’s something to suit everyone, the plays all share the highest standards of performance and production. 

So is this a trend catching on in the classroom? We asked a merry band of Ink Pellet readers to share their thoughts on this innovation…      

Joanne Baldwin

I have used film versions of plays in my classes, including the Luhrmann and Zeffirelli versions of Romeo and Juliet ). They are great for giving students an outline of the story, but problems can occur if the script or events are altered to fit the style, tone or period. I’ve had students refer to fights with guns rather than swords or knives!  I have never used live performance DVDs but I’m sure they would also give students an insight into real theatre and staging techniques at relatively little cost.

Irfan Shah
Sadly, we take our students very infrequently to the theatre but when we do it is always with great results. Taking classes to workshops that break down characters and scenes are always inspirational experiences for students. Theatre actors act ‘up’ and film actors act ‘down’ and this can teach students to be more sensitive to visual techniques. Theatre can fall prey to seeming dated as well. This is where the DVD may come into its own. If there is a really contemporary feel to it, it could be incredibly effective.

Peter King 

Films of plays can help although films of novels can be a bad idea because the children tend to write about the film rather than the book. We try to make three or four trips to the theatre a year (including the whole third form going to the Globe). We do not tend to use live theatre performance DVDs. 

Robert Hill 

Filmed plays can be used as a read-along as well as a scene-by-scene analysis. Most of the recent filmed versions of Shakespeare’s plays are exceptionally good, especially the Kenneth Branagh and the RSC Hamlet with David Tennant. I’ve not used live performance recordings thus far, however I can certainly see the value as the students will have the benefit of seeing and hearing audience reactions to action in the play. Also, it could be argued that a live theatre recording allows the student a vicarious experience of how the writer intended the audience to experience the play – in a theatre with a live audience.

Chris Shepherd
We do use DVDs in class a lot: whatever book we are studying we try to have at least one version to look at. This is partly because it helps and partly because so many exam specs now demand the use of visual. The only filmed live show I’ve got is the Reduced Shakespeare Company.  My own feeling is that it’s harder to convey the theatrical experience on DVD, but that it’s a lot better than nothing.  

Tufail Afifa

We don’t go to the theatre very often – maybe one trip a year.  It takes a lot of time and paperwork to organise a trip and our students don’t often want to spend their money on such trips. We do make more use of theatre companies coming into school to do performances.  I am using a Dr Faustus video with my Year 12s now. They work better with older students.  

Wendy Marshall

We tend to prefer film versions rather than theatre filmed plays as the medium just does not work, we find. We do take students to live performance as often as possible but many teachers, including myself, have been hampered by the numerous procedures to now go through regarding school visits.  We do have live performers who come in as often as possible.

Edna Hobbs

This generation is primarily visual so whenever possible we use film clips and dramatisations. I have used DVDs in the classroom, particularly a Shakespeare’s Globe production of Measure for Measure.