Hi Rozza,
As with the other respondents, I don't have a direct answer to the question as such, though I believe Stagecoach have an ever growing reputation, and attending some 'taster' sessions might well be a good idea (I also know that many 'Stagecoach' tutors these days are themselves professional actors, and would, I hope, be instilling skills that are drawn direct from their own extensive experience of theatre work).
What I can also recall and comment on is my own experience acting when younger. I know that enrolling a child in structured classes does have the most widespread applications - and will teach general skills such as sociability, self-confidence, discipline and developing of the imagination - with the carrot held out of putting much of this into practice in performances before mainly invited audiences at the end of teaching blocks. The classes can also be taken year by year, ensuring that the growth of the child within the structured community can be nurtured.
With that said, I only very rarely attended workshops and classes of this sort in my youth. As with Rachel, I worked mainly in amateur theatre. It is true that mentioning amateur work on CCP sometimes appears to elicit a horrified response from the 'professionals', but I honestly believe in this case, there is no issue at all - are there *any*, and I mean *any*, currently working actors on this site, barring those who 'fell into the profession', who were brought up in it, or who were being sold by their parents as 'child stars' first, who *didn't* get their initial taste for acting in an amateur production of some description (be this at school, at university or amongst a group of local players)? It is certainly true that working on amateur productions taught me everything initially about stage work.
Whilst amateur playing can seem, to the seasoned professional, petty, hammy and overly obvious, to a child or teenager, it seems like performing an actual production to an actual outside audience, who are coming to see it, not principally to show support, but mainly in the hope that it will entertain them - and it takes on a corresponding amount of importance as a result. Amateur acting in my youth taught me how to learn a script, how to ready myself for cues, how to look after a costume, how to cope with an audience. It taught me about the importance of discipline in a rehearsal, and the importance of being able to find your place amongst the rest of a wider cast. I remember developing the technique of crafting a character biography as a tool for myself to help me 'get into' character years before I was told this was actually a widely practiced 'Method' Technique. Doing this type of theatre was a wonderful grounding in everything needed to become a professional later. But I would agree that this sort of baptism of fire might not be the ideal starting point for a child who's only seven at the moment, and may need to build confidence. It's something that can become wonderful once you're into your early teens.
Finally, I suppose it's worth commenting on the fact that most drama courses at schools will have a sizeable theoretic component, as well as a practical side, and getting a grounding in those perspectives from a 'Stagecoach' session, or even an amateur production, is less likely. With that said, anything that starts to encourage a youthful enthusiasm for finding out more about plays, visiting the theatre and so on, is great for establishing the sorts of basics that can be later drawn upon in a school situation. Sometimes, the first useful step is to interest, and excite, a child in the stories concerned, rather than worrying about the complexities of the text. Shakespeare, to take the obvious example, told amazing stories - and you can still be fascinated by the colourful tales, and dynamic characters, without being able to quite yet understand the language, as I was when I was young.
I hope those thoughts aren't totally worthless to ponder on
Lee.
