Aut disce aut discese

It means ‘Either Learn or Leave’ and I offer this advice to anyone considering going to University to study drama in the UK this autumn, anyone training in acting, singing, dancing, and the performing arts anywhere in the world. One of the things that I’ve discovered teaching in universities, colleges and the conservatory is that there is a great deal of waste.  People doing a degree in Drama, but not really learning anything useful. Yes, there is value in the hermeneutic study of drama, but there is greater value in the empirical study of drama. Drama, any physical activity in fact, is best learned through doing. There is no theory of acting for instance, there is only written commentary about the doing of the thing. Theory of acting is not useful, in fact, it’s use-less, because it does not advance acting, it simply creates a cycle of conversation that does not advance the profession, it keeps lecturers in a job. The trouble is that many teachers CANNOT teach the doing of the thing, so the theory (while it is fake) is an attractive job route. At least snuggled in academia, they’re able to hide out and excel at something.

I’m sure I’ve spoken before of my brother-in-law who bemoans being made to study the ‘theory’ of motorcycle engineering. I can perfectly agree with him, except that something written down is not theory, it is simply a discussion of practice written down. What I am talking about is what happens when you are being taught about things that do not help you progress and advance. Of course, this depends upon what it is that you want to learn. If you really went to college to smell the coffee, that’s fine, and if you want to know how Late 18th Century German Expressionistic Puppet Dance works, then fair enough. But most people go to college and university to learn to act, direct, write, design and stage manage. I would say that most just want to perform.

If you go to college to perform and you spend most of your time doing something else, then you are wasting your time, because you do not want to learn these things.

The same goes for an acting class that you attend. It must serve you. There’s no magic to learning to act, the magic is made on stage later with the collusion of the belief suspending audience members. Your training must serve you. You must be able to connect to the script and to your fellow actors. You must develop your voice and your body and experience working with various directors in many different methods of work. Anything else is superfluous and is not required.

I say it to you again, Aut disce aut discede! Learn or LEAVE!