Meet our Head of Public Performance: Dan Herd

We recently sat down with Dan Herd, Head of Public Performance, to hear about the process of choosing Undergraduate productions, what it means for training, and advice for the students’ upcoming shows.

When you have a brand new year group starting and a new programme to create, where do you even start?

As Head of Public Performance, a large part of my role is overseeing the Undergraduate public productions across our three pathways – Acting, Musical Theatre and Actor Musicianship. At the centre of the process of identifying the titles that might work best for our students is collaborative consultation with the staff that know their skills best: Heads of Discipline, Senior Tutors, Course Leaders and the Principal. Through hours and hours of discussion, we identify the idiosyncrasies of each specific cohort and consider the material that will both speak to their attributes and provide a rewardingly challenging year of training for them.

“the key factor is the student experience, rather than what we think might ‘sell’ or what any ‘audience’ might want”

What are the key factors that influence your decisions?

We don’t prioritise our artistic taste at the point of selection (that comes later in ensuring the productions are of as high a standard as possible); rather, we look for a range of material that reflects the variety of work that they might go into when they leave. Of course, we ensure that there is a quality to the writing in order to give the students something to grapple with – but the key factor is the student experience, rather than what we think might ‘sell’ or what any ‘audience’ might want. With this in mind, the students fill out a form with any suggestions or preferences they might have, which proves invaluable – for example, both 9 To 5 and She Loves Me were at the top of the Musical Theatre suggestions this year.

There are also logistical elements that play into our considerations: cast size, singing ranges, specific practical demands, scale, potential for double casting etc… And, inevitably, whether the amateur performance rights are available to us at that moment.

What is the purpose of the shows and why are they important?

First and foremost, the aim of the public productions is to introduce the students to a professional performance environment and to provide them with an opportunity to extend their learning over a rehearsal period and run of performances. They continue to grow over the year, gaining expertise in handling the larger elements of theatrical production, as well as responding to a paying audience. Equally, they are assessments that constitute a large portion of their degree and, as such, give the students an opportunity to push themselves in a safe but pressurised performance environment. Members of the industry are welcome to attend the productions, and it is obviously a brilliant way to meet our students through their work – but the showcases that we create with the cohorts are the only moments in their year where that is the primary focus.

“the aim of the public productions is to introduce the students to a professional performance environment”

Once you’ve got your shows in mind, what do you have to do next?

Once we’ve agreed on certain pieces of material, we begin looking at structuring and scheduling across the year. We consider whether it would be best suited to The Mack or Backstage Theatre, the length of rehearsal and tech required, whether it might be double or single cast, the costs of staging it (from set demands to costume to band size) – there’s a large number of meetings and spreadsheets that suddenly appear in many inboxes around the staff room. We want to make sure that there’s a variety of experiences for Production and Performance students, and so sometimes a title might be considered for it’s contrast in style or demand to another piece.

At the same time, we begin approaching creative teams and discussing exciting groupings and approaches that might be unexpected.

And, perhaps most exhaustively, the process of casting the pieces begins. This is a very open dialogue amongst staff regarding each individual student, considering their training across the year – not in comparison to one another, but on their own terms and as a unique emerging artist. We do not hold auditions, but rather draw upon all of the expertise that the teaching staff have acquired on the cohorts across their first two years.

You often invite external Directors to work on the productions – how do you go about selecting these?

We’re very fortunate as an organisation to be approached by many exciting voices in professional theatre about working with our students, and I try to meet as many of these as possible across the year. Really, it’s about the potential that we see in matching that particular practitioner with a piece of material and a cohort. Sometimes that might be a permanent member of staff or a director who has worked with us before; sometimes that could be someone who hasn’t been in the building before but who strikes us as an exciting match.

“for all the distractions, they have chosen Mountview as a place for them to evolve into the artist that they aspire to be, and that they will be closer to that goal every day of their third year of training if they choose to embrace every step as learning.”

What’s your number one piece of advice that you give to students as they head into the productions?

To remember that the purpose of them undertaking a role is for them to grow as an actor. That, for all the distractions, they have chosen Mountview as a place for them to evolve into the artist that they aspire to be, and that they will be closer to that goal every day of their third year of training if they choose to embrace every step as learning.