Editorial: Autumn Term 2 2023-24

With pencils freshly sharpened, timetables drawn up and new satchels given their first outing, we're back to school. As new courses launch at drama schools around the country, it's an exciting time to be teaching Drama and pointing students in different directions for further study. This issue, I visited Rose Bruford to find out more about its pioneering new MA in Queer Performance. While drag, cabaret and queer art has enjoyed a long and illustrious history, it's rewarding to see academia finally recognise its role beyond the fringe theatre scene.

Elsewhere this issue, Dan Clay explores Birmingham University's new project with the RSC aiming to make Shakespeare's work more accessible in deaf schools; our assistant editor Hattie Fisk chats to the team behind The House With Chicken Legs, the new production from the brilliantly inventive Les Enfants Terribles; and Laura Clark goes to see Ockham's Razor's Tess, a feminist retelling of Thomas Hardy's tragic novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles.

We'll also be introducing you to the new head of content for Drama at the Music & Drama Education Expo, Wendy Frost, as she begins to plan this year's major event. There are also some tips to consider when planning your lessons for the year ahead: Emily Garsin from Starling Arts talks us through her holistic Singing for Wellbeing sessions, outlining why we should all be incorporating singing into our teaching, and Louise Tondeur explains how we can introduce students to Shakespeare through soundscapes for a more dynamic and varied teaching approach.

As the academic year begins, my time at Drama & Theatre comes to an end and this will be the final issue I send to the printers. It has been a brilliant year at the helm of this wonderful title and I have learnt so much and loved being part of the incredible team that puts this magazine together. The team at Mark Allen Group across publishing, marketing, design and events have all been a joy to work with.

There's a lot that can be challenging about handing over a job – and, in this case, an entire magazine – to someone new, but there have been no such difficulties with this transition. I leave you in the utterly capable hands of Hattie Fisk, who has worked admirably alongside me as assistant editor this past year and is such an asset to the magazine. While I will miss our meandering Zoom calls about copy deadlines and idle celebrity gossip, I'm so excited to see what she does around here now she's in the driving seat!

I wish you all the best for the academic year ahead and thank you for continuing to read, support and contribute to Drama & Theatre.

 - Editor, Freya Parr