AnnuAL rePOrt 2011 - Winchester College

“
This is the physicality of a relationship,
friendship, suffering, passion and love
– whatever it may be. It’s an emotional
physicality. Drama is a very special
way of nurturing and easing people
through emotional growing up.”
drAMAtIC
InnoVAtIons
sIMon
tAYLor
Until recently the inspirational
Head of Drama at Winchester,
Simon Taylor, has been a key driver
of the QEII Theatre over two decades.
Personifying the significance of
drama to the School, he reflects on
his achievements and the recent
donations from parents that provided
new seating for the theatre.
simon taylor has been an energetic promoter
of drama at Winchester. he jokes that he still has
to fend off parents pointing the finger at the man
who diverted their son from a potentially lucrative
banking career to walking the boards or directing,
but this is an occupational hazard for such an
enthusiastic advocate of the dramatic arts. Partly
because drama is not on the Winchester curriculum,
‘the appetite for theatre is extraordinary compared
to other schools I know well.’
recognising the generous donations from
parents for the QeII theatre’s new seating, simon
admits he probably did not push hard enough for
greater investment in its ageing infrastructure,
but is very confident that drama flourished under
his watch. extra height – the only way the theatre
can realistically expand within space-constrained
grounds – would allow larger sets to be ‘flown’
in, while other innovations would help. But he
also has an expert’s wariness of state-of-the-art
theatres where drama may become secondary to
the gloss of big production values. simon invokes
the aromas of the QeII theatre, identifying a mix of
sweat, make-up and scorched dust from the lights.
Brand new theatres ‘won’t make good productions.
What makes good productions is work on text and
movement and the relationship between director
and his cast and the whole spirit and ethos of
what he is doing.’
16 WINCHESTER COLLEGE
ANNUAL REPORT 2011
17