Amid the intense activity of the Festival week - the preparation and in some cases creation of six venues,16 productions running concurrently, the logistics of deploying a 75-strong team of student technicians, and the inevitable socializing - lies a fundamental emphasis on education. The event aims are to harness the enthusiasm of so much young talent and develop them into the technical and performance professionals of the future.
With participants from all over the country, the organizers confront a wide range of skill levels. Safety aspects are covered by a series of training forums on subjects including manual handling and rigging, building scaff towers, trussing and drapes and reading lighting plans before they even begin working in the venues.
Once the festival is in full swing a series of more than 200 workshops - both technical and performance orientated - run throughout the week. Some are largely product-based and delivered by manufacturers offering students a safe and unpressured environment to try out equipment often for the first time - a luxury rarely afforded once they become professional.
With the technical and performance aspects of a production catered for, the last few years have seen a focus on the design process with the aim of raising and maintaining the standard across the fields of lighting, sound, set and costume design. Employing a resident designer in each of the fields, who will present workshops on their specialist field, this year Tom Lishman represented sound, John Bishop, lighting and Emma Williams, set and costume. The specialists also watch all 16 productions and held forums with the designers of each show, offering feedback and constructive criticism on the creative processes involved.
To reflect this emphasis on design, the Technical Awards this year have been increased from three to six prizes. In addition to the individual awards for Contribution to Lighting, to Sound and for Technical Achievement, there are now also bursary cash awards for Lighting Design, Sound Design and Set Design. Anthony Newton, technical director for the 2005 Festival explains: "The Awards Ceremony takes place on the final day after all the trucks are packed to ensure that everyone on the tech crew can be there, it is important to involve everyone concerned."
However, the influence of the NSDF stretches far beyond this intense week before Easter, and is no longer bound to one town or one week. 2004 saw the introduction of an Arts Council England-funded NSDF National Workshops Programme staged nationwide and covering writing, comedy, directing and physical theatre, in addition to such staples as Shakespeare, acting and voice work. Subject to funding, the intention is to extend the programme in 2005/06 to include technical workshops.
The Workshops Programme was developed by festival director Andrew Loretto, because, as Newton explains: "We did not feel that the entries to the festival were representative of all student theatre. The Roadshows are very interactive and depend on student feedback with open invitations issued across the country to discover what kind of things students want to learn." The NSDF then appoints theatre professionals to run workshops. "The aim is to establish new links between professional and amateur bodies, involve more new venues and raise awareness of the NSDF's goals.
The NSDF is keen to develop an international programme and 2004 saw the first international exchange of productions with ITS in Amsterdam.
In 2005, five European groups visited NSDF05: these were the Janacek Academy of Music and Performing Arts Theatre Faculty, Brno; Toneel Acadamie, Maastricht; Bizkaiko Antzerki Ikastegia, Bilbao, Performing Arts
