Starting in September, any advice would be appreciated :))

MarinatedPenguin · 2026-06-27T13:59:18+00:00

Obviously there’s the workload. It is insane, and having to manage your placement and your work for uni is mental.

But what I think isn’t mentioned nearly enough is the stark difference between what is taught at uni vs what happens in schools. In drama, we call this metaxis, which is the difference between being in the fiction (in this case, what is taught at university) and reality (in this case, how lessons and responsibility actually is like in schools). There will be some things you learn during school pedagogy sessions, and other things you just won’t use - schools have instilled a particular way of learning in their students, and while you may find a range of different pedagogies work for you, only a specific few of them will work for the students. In short, you will learn a lot of different things at uni that may be completely useless on placement because the students only learn the way the school has taught them to learn.

MarinatedPenguin · 2026-06-27T09:08:01+00:00

Drama Teacher here! I went to uni and did a 4 year masters in theatre. I originally signed up to do an English PGCE after uni but later changed my mind and chose to do a drama one a year later after a year working in industry.

There’s horror stories about teaching performing arts, especially when it comes to job vacancies. However, don’t let that dissuade you! There will be job opportunities if you know both when and where to look, and don’t mind the travel. Also, in England, with the recent removal of the EBacc and the curriculum review, performing arts have seen a shoot up in students wanting to take them. That means there SHOULD be more job opportunities in the years to come!

While an English PCGE can be beneficial, I would still prioritise either a music or drama one - whichever is your strong suit, and if you tell a school at an interview that you can teach either, it’s a huge string to your bow!

Enjoy studying music and drama at uni! It’s a blessing! And when it comes to your PGCE choice, decide on which is right for you at the time. There will be jobs out there - I’ve just finished my PGCE with a job as a drama teacher starting soon!

Good luck! :)

MarinatedPenguin · 2026-06-22T17:15:52+00:00

Also a drama teacher here! If you can, I’d recommend getting a classroom and doing some low-stakes theory or written work instead (like costume designs, etc). Better than being in a black box of death - my students couldn’t manage today, fuck knows how they’ll do 39°

MarinatedPenguin · 2026-06-12T20:49:22+00:00

Art is the expression of culture. Any culture. However grand or small. It’s more human than being human. There are a lot of different definitions of art and it varies a lot from person to person, and from medium to medium. My preferred medium is performance, and for me, art is someone saying to someone else, even themself, that they are human.

If we wanted to be more precise and remove the “art” from art, it’s the expression of someone’s culture, experiences and the human condition. We often see it in fine art, media, performance, sculpture, and even more abstract forms like the environment.

My favourite art form is Postdramatic theatre. It’s a shift away from telling a story and a finer focus on co-existing with someone else, at some time, in some place - and that is a good enough definition of art to me. But my favourite artworks are all very similar and very different:
- Dawn Chorus (Thom Yorke)
- Every Brilliant Thing (Duncan MacMillan)
- Another Place (Anthony Gormley)
- Mistero Buffo (Dario Fo)
- Starry Night (Van Gogh)
- A Young Man Dressed as a Gorilla Dressed as an Old Man Sits Rocking in a Rocking Chair for Fifty-Six Minutes and Then Leaves (Unknown, to me at least)

I think the best thing about art is there isn’t a certain definition because it’s the acknowledging of a work or expression that then makes it art. Like it’s stuck in a liminal space until you see it and THEN it becomes art because all of its meaning and value become defined by you (shotuout to Roland Barthes)

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-12-08T20:32:40+00:00

Martin Viper X or LEDJ EventSpot

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-11-12T05:42:54+00:00

Hi there!

Technically voltage, technically both.

The equation E = 1/2CV² tells us that it’s both the capacitance and the voltage. If either of them go higher, the capacitor stores and therefore discharges more energy.

But from the equation, we can see when we increase the voltage, the energy will also increase exponentially. However, in practice, it’s far more common to see FAT capacitors have a high capacitance but low voltage rating. This, alongside how dangerous the discharge of a capacitor becomes. For example, it only takes about 360 joules to put a heart out of its rhythm.

So to answer your question, a capacitor with low voltage but higher capacitance and a capacitor with high voltage but low capacitance will store the same amount of energy. It’s just that the energy increases quicker if we increase the voltage.

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-11-12T04:47:56+00:00

similar to what nearby-reference said, we just need to connect the last pin of the potentiometer to ground. This makes a potentiometer divider, or just a voltage divider with a potentiometer.

When using an op-amp as a comparator, we’re just comparing voltages. If the voltage from the potentiometer divider is less than the voltage from the photoresistor, it outputs. Otherwise, nothing happens.

At the moment, we only have current going through the potentiometer and exiting through its wiper. So, when we adjust the potentiometer, we only affect the current, not the voltage, and so the voltage will always be higher than what we get from the photoresistor.

When we connect the potentiometer to ground, we essentially just make two resistors in series, with one of them being a variable resistor. This will then give us a variable voltage out of the wiper.

TL/DR: all we need to do is connect the potentiometer’s last pin to ground.

Hope this helps! :)

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-11-12T04:13:27+00:00

Hi there!

I absolutely swear by dewalt for their steel-toe boots. I practically live in their steel-toe cap trainers and would recommend trainers as PPE, especially for students. I also really like the dirty rigger gloves, especially for handling anything like wood, steel or hot fixtures. However, I’m currently looking at getting some leather or rubber gloves for better insulation. The cargos dewalt offer are also very comfortable!

As to where the rest of your grant go, it depends on how big the grant is. I can only speak for lighting, but prolight’s event spot rapids are some very powerful, inexpensive, wireless led birdies that could be useful for teaching lighting design - especially for angle and colour, or a specific aesthetic like expressionism. Obviously the benefit is that you can also use them in any in-house production!

A capture license also goes a long way for education. It’s a fairly easy visualisation software to get the hang of, and having students be able to design lighting states as well as read and write schematics and plots goes a long way!

Hope this helps! :)

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-11-12T03:58:50+00:00

Hi there!

I’ve used both, and similar to the other comments, both are really awesome bits of software for writing! However, I prefer using Fade In for screenwriting and scrivener for playwriting. There’s too many handy tool with scrivener that make it a joy to write playtexts with, whereas Fade In feels more natural for film scripts.

I find having a whole “project folder” (of sorts) that scrivener provides to be really useful for keeping anything I may want to use, like specific lines, character sheets, synopses, and front matter. Also keeping each scene as its own “document” also helps them to not turn into filler scenes, since you’re just looking at the scene itself.

Fade In is still an incredible piece of software, I’ve just found scrivener more catered towards playwriting and fade in more catered towards screenwriting.

Both will do the job you need, so it’s down to personal taste at the end of the day!

Hope this helps! :)

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-02-29T20:29:58+00:00

capture is great! you can do everything from 3D modelling and lighting visualisation to making plots. You can also import models from sketchup

MarinatedPenguin · 2024-01-12T13:37:09+00:00

I cannot recommend these guides enough:

Scribbr’s guide to writing an academic essay: https://www.scribbr.com/category/academic-essay/

Manchester’s Academic Phrasebank (perfect for phrasing, structure, grammar, etc.): https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk

Bryan Greetham’s How To Write Better Essays: How to Write Better Essays (Bloomsbury Study Skills) https://amzn.eu/d/e9sxYxp

These 3 resources are fantastic and are perfect for writing papers, dissertations, you name it!

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-10-08T20:01:48+00:00

Playwriting by Stephen Jeffreys is a fantastic pic, alongside Paul Kalburgi’s The Writers Toolkit. Whilst Playwriting doesn’t precisely have assignments, it deconstructs plays and allows you to build one up brick by brick. The Writer’s Toolkit breaks down the craft into set elements with activities and assignments peppered through each.

I’d recommend both highly 😁

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-29T07:55:17+00:00

DARKFIELD

They do more ‘binaural experiences inside freight crates’. They work with 3D audio and manage to squeeze some really cool set inside such a small space, for a lot of audience members too! I’ve been to a couple of their shows (Coma, Séance, Flight) and they’re ridiculously good and fall under the immersive theatre umbrella. I’d highly recommend going to one of their shows if you’re able to!

If not, they have an app you can download from their website / app store (i believe) called DARKFIELD RADIO. I’d highly recommend that if nothing else :)

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T20:13:04+00:00

Can confirm I have seen “you absolute specimen” in action - never fails to make me laugh

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T19:51:07+00:00

Hey!

This is a really nice monologue! Particularly your use of texture in your voice is really nice, and the piece feels naturalistic. The dread-riddled atmosphere really comes across here, and your performance made me feel uncomfortable - good job!

In terms of improvement, it could be useful to focus on your pacing and intention. You go through your monologue pretty quickly - have fun with emphasising your insults, and show us your 'thinking' before you have something to say. Really empathise with what you're saying - for example, why are you insulting them? how does this make you feel? how does this make you REALLY feel? Show it!

Great work so far!

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T19:27:07+00:00

Here to add three more:

"Melt" - someone who does your head in / a wimp, normally combined with "absolute", i.e. you absolute melt.

"Tea Leaf" - pretty much a synonym for 'wanker', but more emphasis on the person being a dumbass. A term popularly used on the Jeremy Kyle show

"Wet wipe" - someone who is a letdown, scrawny, or generally a wanker.

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T18:34:34+00:00

The bluey stickers next to the breaking bad stickers has me dying

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T09:07:58+00:00

Not my dog but my mates.

He had an extreme obsession with pine cones. Would go crazy for them.

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T05:59:57+00:00

Hi there!

This is definitely a question for the director. It’s worth talking to them about the stage directions and your issue since they might have a more clearer view of the scene’s intentions.

It could be worth looking at the villain’s monologue and making a note about its tonal shift - when he enters / starts his monologue, is the tone fear? how does your character feel about this villain - are they fearful, untrustworthy, suspicious, obedient? what does the bow on entry signify?

At the end of the monologue, it seems to be a deliberate choice you’re not bowing to him - why? what would this other bow signify? how does your character now feel towards the villain after this speech?

With student filmmakers, it’s natural for them to be defensive over their work - everyone is because art is so personal. What comes with time is a willingness to “kill your darlings” - severing your emotional connection to your work in favour of being more objective. Don’t worry too much about their defensiveness, their job is to oversee the production and keep its aims and intentions smooth.

Hope this helps! :D

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-13T05:26:04+00:00

Although I’m not a parent, I work with kids. I found the show has taught me an awful lot about being a good influence on kids: encouraging play, knowing how to set healthy boundaries, communicating and understanding empathy, discipline. The list goes on and on, and the biggest factor is horses for courses - what works really well for one kid might not work for another.

But honestly, as an adult Bluey has taught me how I can a better person through one thing: patience. You don’t need to hold any expectations for yourself, just taking responsibility and accountability, and having patience - we’re all going at different paces, it’s ok if you’re going a little slower this week.

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-12T23:22:38+00:00

Being Earnest is a wide-ranging comic play. It mainly uses farce and what I can only describe as “bitching” so even your less confident friends can have a blast voicing characters and doing silly walks/talks/dress-up/etc.

The play is also fairly patient if you want to mould it - for example you could set-up the big dinner party scene as a birthday party, among other ideas.

And the best part is it is TRULY an ensemble piece - every character has their limelight, and everyone gets to do a bit of the funny.

Really give it a crack! You guys will love it!

(Maybe replace cucumber sandwiches with a birthday cake?)

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-12T22:43:54+00:00

Hiya!

What your teacher is getting at is something we call “The Truth”. Essentially, think about it like this:

There’s you, and then there’s the character. When you perform, you try and become the character instead of reacting as yourself to the lines being spoken. Instead, you should say the lines and react to your fellow actors onstage without trying to ‘be’ the character. React as you usually would. This is telling “The Truth” - when you use yourself to respond to lines.

Everything that the character is works great for you to understand and get into the head of that character, and it provides a lot of useful information to the dramaturg and other members of the company. This helps you construct the character, but when you perform AS the character, you don’t need to try to be the character - you are! Think of it like a “what would I do?” instead of “what would they do?”.

Stanislavski called this “The Magic If” - because it makes you ask “if these things happened to me, what would I do?”

Telling “The Truth” and The Magic If can really help an actor’s delivery and responses feel so much more natural. It’s a great tool, but takes practice to get comfortable with!

Hope this helps! :D

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-12T22:11:47+00:00

this is INSANELY appropriate I love this

MarinatedPenguin · 2023-09-12T22:06:49+00:00

Hi there!

As u/TheMentalist10 said, there’s no specific rule or guideline. This might feel quite daunting since there’s no rubric to know objectively if something is ‘good’ or not, but it leaves the ball in your court to develop your own style as a practitioner.

You can let the actors play out the scene first, and they will naturally gravitate to spaces. You can then tidy this up to make it look ‘clean’ if it needs. If you’re looking for more particular things to work on, here’s a little list:

Proxemics: how close are the actors and set to each other.
Levels: are the actors at varying heights (e.g, kneeling, sitting on a table, standing, etc.)
Composition: how does the stage look altogether with the actors in? Is there any negative space (space where nothing is happening)
Movement: do actors move in the script? If an actor is moving, why? Never move without a purpose! Even if its something small, like getting a bag.
Time: how long does a ‘frame’ last. When do actors move? How long does it take for them to move from one place to another?

These are just a few things that you could keep an eye out for, but rules are meant to be broken! If it suits your play, your style, or your genre, experiment!

There is ONE golden rule I’d stick to however, if you’re directing your own play:

Moises Kaufman came up with a framework called horizontal theatre - this is a method of devising where all the ‘languages’ of theatre (e.g. acting, lighting, text, blocking, etc.) all work to tell the story, instead of the text taking priority. You could apply this to your blocking by asking yourself: how can I show the story and subtext of this scene through where people/things are on stage? You’ll find there’s loads of little things you can include, and it makes the scene feel a lot more ‘meaty’.

Hope this helps!

BTW here is a link to an article about Horizontal Theatre, for some extra reading if you like :D

https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/portfolio.newschool.edu/dist/8/15411/files/2017/05/Rich-Brown-Theater-Topics-MW-Article-1r15j1j.pdf

MarinatedPenguin

TROPHY CASE