Employers need greater input into theatre training

If you are a young person who wants a career in theatre, how do you choose the right training pathway for you? The options are seemingly endless: there are numerous drama schools offering an ever-increasing range of courses; there are non-specialist universities offering performance degrees; many performers and other theatre workers have got into the business studying non-performance degrees and making student theatre on the side; for technical and other offstage careers, there are apprenticeships; although rarer today than it once was, you might even be able to learn on the job.

As Giverny Masso explores in our How to Choose Your Drama School special issue this week, once you’ve decided which of these routes might suit you, it can then be difficult to decide on whether the course you think you want to pursue is actually any good. Is it properly preparing you for the career you want to have?

This is where I think we would benefit from turning the telescope around and looking at our initial question from a different perspective: how do employers know whether the training on offer to students is right for them? I would suggest that at the moment, they don’t.

Since the demise of Drama UK in 2016 and the closure of Creative and Cultural Skills in 2023, the link between employers and the training sector has almost vanished.

Yes, it’s important that students choose the right pathway for them; but – assuming they are looking for a career in theatre – that is only a sensible approach if all the courses are fit for purpose for employers.

Continues...