Hello readers! Aside from our rigorous rehearsals and abundant adventures in Scotland, we are also well into our studies here at the University of Glasgow. I’m taking the Theatre in Scotland Literature course which is taught by the lovely Gonca Yalcin who is actually a PhD student studying at the university.
We are currently two weeks into our class, and it has already been such a fruitful and fun-filled experience. Gonca always begins our classes with about 2 games that are not only a fun start to our day, but also a great way to awaken my mind early in the morning. We then transition into a time of lectures, group activities, and discussions. My personal favorite group activity so far has been having to create our own National Theatre of Scotland and a manifesto to go along with it.
It’s been so interesting to learn about theatre in Scotland, how important it is to their culture, and how they’ve integrated their culture into their work. The arts are actually subsidized here, meaning that they are funded by the government. It was a big shock for us to find out about this amazing governmental support, but it was also really interesting to see our professor’s reaction when we immediately said we would look to sponsors for funding, not the government.
About halfway into our three hour class, we always get a 10-15 minute break. And even if it’s raining out, I always make sure to run to a nearby cafe to get my favorite iced vanilla latte before barely making it back in time for the next half of class. Like the Korean saying goes, “even if I freeze to death, I’d get iced coffee.”
Gonca has also stressed the National Theatre of Scotland, which is a “theatre without walls”, in our lectures. Last class we learned about “Home,” which was NTS’s first ever project. It really struck me as they traveled to different cities within Scotland, adapting the play to be specific to that region. In order to do so, they even performed the play in a boat in “Home Shetlend”.
Another way that we are actively participating in our class is by creating a ten minute presentation that is relevant to our class material for the day. Zoe Macarewa and I are working on a presentation on Contemporary Puppetry and Object Theatre in Scotland. During our research, we learned about “Ragnarok” which was put on by Tortoise in a Nutshell. We saw amazing puppetry that was integrated into the play, and we can’t wait to share our findings with our class!
Finally, my favorite part of our class has been our masterclasses. We’ve had two guest teachers so far, and I genuinely feel like I’ve learned so much from the both of them. Our first speaker was Robert Softley Gale, the artistic director of Birds of Paradise, a touring theatre company that works with both disabled and non-disabled artists to perform various original works. We learned a lot about accessibility in the theatre, and what we could possibly add to our own production to make it more accessible! Our second speaker was Maryam Hamidi, a writer and actress. Her class felt very reflective as we dug deeper into ourselves to share about our creative voices and what we aspire to achieve as artists.
As we are now at the halfway point of our course, I’m grateful for everything that I’ve learned so far and I’m excited to see what else Gonca has in store for us!
By: Hailey Lee
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