See you on www.irishboard.ie

We've launched a brand new website at www.irishboard.ie which incorporates a news section and a resources blog, together with links to our Facebook and YouTube pages and our Twitter feed. So there's no longer any need for a separate resources blog here.

Please join us on www.irishboard.ie, bookmark it and visit us throughout the year for updates and useful information.

See you there.

Regards

David Meredith
Director

Syllabus and Fees 2011-12

Click on each item to enlarge and browse:

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2011-12

Stand Up and Be Heard

Sorry. It's been a while. Busy year!

Interesting review from the Irish Times of a voice workshop in the Abbey Theatre:

CLICK HERE

Sets Available (FREE)

A TV company has 2 portable sets available to anyone who wants them - for FREE.

The sets are made from a very light, spring-loaded wire frame which supports magnetic sheets on the front onto which a graphic is printed (should new owners of these sets wish to print new facades the company which supplied them will do that (Applied Signs Ltd.)

Each set is about 5 metres wide and about 2 metres high. They come in two heavy duty custom made wheel-able cases and there are two full sets available.

If you're interested in one or two of them, please email me or give me a ring at the Irish Board. First come first served.

Here are some pics:

TEACHER WANTED

TEACHER WANTED (Musical Theatre and Singing) pretty well immediately: Saturdays, Blessington, Co Wicklow, 11.30am-1pm. Please contact us (01-2164270 or mail@irishboard.ie) with your details and we'll pass them on.

The Mower by Philip Larkin

The Mower
by Philip Larkin

The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found  
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,  
Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.  
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world  
Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence  
Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind    
While there is still time.

The final two and a half lines of this poem were quoted by Joseph O'Connor in the Irish Times yesterday. Seems to me to be a pretty good New Year's wish.

A FREE Play!!

Yep. That's right. A free play.

Carmel McKiernan, a speech and drama teacher in Trim, Co Meath, very kindly sent me a copy of this play and suggested that I make it available to speech and drama teachers looking for a suitable play for teenagers.

Here's an extract from her email to me:

'My students performed in their November showcase last week which was a great success.  One of the pieces which was performed on the night was a short scene called Think Twice.  I had written this a while back and thought it would be an excellent piece for my older students (i.e. over 12s) to perform on stage. The piece is mainly about a group of teenagers who have been out at a party and foolishly take a lift home with another teenager who had also been drinking.

'My students gave a wonderful portrayal of these characters and it evoked so many thoughts and discussions throughout the rehearsal process.  The parents and also my younger students who watched the scene on the night were overwhelmed with sadness at the end of the play.  The cast got a standing ovation.  The teenage drink culture is pretty terrifying these days, hopefully planting little seeds like this in the minds of students may help to change their perception of drinking at such a young age.'

Thank you Carmel!

And here it is: Think Twice by Carmel McKiernan

Another Poetry Resource

Browsing the internet this morning looking for a copy of some brilliant poems I heard at an exam a few days ago, I came across this site:

oldpoetry.com

There are 5585 poets represented and most of tham are not THAT old. You can browse by poet and category and the site also has essays and a forum. 

Useful resource - have a look.

Irish Theatre Institute

I've been neglecting this blog. Sorry.

Anyway, just a quickie today. If you have any spare time, have a little browse of the Irish Theatre Institute's website. It's got loads of links to intesesting (and hopefully, useful) theatre-related resources. Its General Manager is Claire O'Neill, qualified speecha nd drama teacher and Secretary of IDAC. I'm sure she wouldn't mind you giving her a buzz if there's something you need to know.

Irish Board Library Catalogue

Open publication - Free publishing - More speech

A Truckload of Poetry Links

Some clickable links to poetry resources:

From the blog archive:

http://theirishboard.blogspot.com/2010/03/poetry-for-children.html

http://theirishboard.blogspot.com/2010/02/michael-rosen.html

http://theirishboard.blogspot.com/2010/02/jack-prelutsky.html

http://theirishboard.blogspot.com/2009/12/poetry-some-ideas-and-resources.html

And here's some more poetry links (mixed quality):

http://www.poemhunter.com/

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/

http://www.poetryteachers.com/index.html

'To be or not to be ...'

An interesting piece from the BBC website on Hamlet and, in partiicular, how to say those lines!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11370834

Solos/Monologues for Download at dramabooks.ie

We've just put 7 (yes, SEVEN) of our Solos/Monologues books on dramabooks.ie for downloading. By downloading our books from the site, you get them cheaper, you avoid p&p charges and you get them NOW! Go on. Have a browse.

Solos/Monologues for Downloading

More Junior Play Books for Download from dramabooks.ie

You can save on postage and packing costs by purchasing books for download from dramabooks.ie.

We've knocked a few bob off the cost of downloaded books too, as an extra little treat.

Here's the link to the new ones: Junior Play Books

Here's a link to the full range of books for download: Books for download.

We'll have more on the site soon.

***NEW BOOK OF MONOLOGUES***

There's a new book of monologues available from dramabooks.ie. 17 newly adapted monologues for young actors and actresses. You'll find a list of the contents on the site.

Here's a link to the book: Monologues

Browse the Syllabus, exam fees and Newsletter on screen

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing - More 2011-12

Open publication - Free publishing - More speech

A New Year Approaches

Sorry. It's been quiet on here but things are mad busy in the office at the moment.

Here are some NEW things for you to have a look at:

dramabooks.ie - a brand new website for the Irish Board's publications. Here you'll find plays, solos, duos, handbooks, books on mime and improvisation, books of teaching exercises and CDs, to mention just a few things. Please have a look. Click on things and see how we can give people far more information online than we can in a paper publication.

Irish Board of Speech and Drama Syllabus 2010 - 2013: Yep. That's not a typo. It's a three-year syllabus. The printed version will be out next week and will be posted to everybody on our extensive mailing list over the next few weeks. Most of the changes we've made are to make it a bit clearer to students and teachers what is required of them. That being said, we've radically overhauled our Musical Theatre syllabus and we've introduced a Diploma in Musical Theatre Performance. If you want a copy and you think you might not be on our list, please email us by clicking here.

On our main website (www.irishboard.ie) you'll also find

• Entry Forms
• a list of exam fees for 2010-11
• free theory books
• a list of Lyric poems
• past papers for the Associate Diploma (Teaching) and the Licentiate Diploma 
• and other useful things to make your life easier.

OK. That's all for now. Bye!

DM

IDAC Summer School

The IDAC Summer School is coming up soon. 4-5 September 2010 in Ely House, Dublin.

Looks interesting. The director of Boss Grady's Boys (opening in Gaiety on 31/8), Jim Culleton, will give an extended workshop on the production and direction of the play, with assistance from other production staff.

The Summer School programme also includes a visit to the play and (optional) dinner in Bentley's.

(For those who don't know, IDAC is the speech and drama teachers association).


Click here for a link to the relevant page on the IDAC site which contains a link to the Application Form

TCD Dublin Shakespeare Festival

For those in Dublin (or within easy reach) who like their Shakespeare in bite-sized chunks, have a look at the link below.

The Festival runs from 7 - 12 June, has a range of free events each afternoon and headline shows in the evenings.

Here's the link:  TCD Dublin Shakespeare Festival

(Thanks to Imelda Byrne for alerting me to this)

Mime

This week's delight is a selection of mime videos on YouTube. There are several clips of Marcel Marceau and some fascinating ones of Etienne Decroux (termed by some as the Father of Modern Mime).

Here's the clips(from the Irish Board's YouTube channel): YouTube Mime Clips


Here's the Wikipedia entries for Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau.  Lots of links from each of these articles for those wishing to explore more.

I'll do another post on mime soon.