‘New job a challenge’

Press, 29 May 1985, Page 20

‘New job a challenge’

Bryan Aitken leaves Christchurch next week for a job as a part-time tutor and director at West Australia’a answer to the “Fame” performing arts school.

Mr Aitken will join the staff at the John Curtin High School for the Performing Arts and the Western Australia Academy for the Performing Arts for the remainder of the year. “The high school is like the school from ‘Fame.’ It is for kids from 13 to 17 who learn the performing arts alongside English and Art History,” he said. “The academy is for people aged from 18 to their mid 20s who plan to pursue a performing career.”

Mr Aitken, who has been the artistic director of the Arts Employment Programme for the last 18 months, sees his new job as a challenge. He will be working with people younger than those he has been training on the Arts Employment Programme.

“Teenagers are always a challenge because if they do not understand something they ask why. I will have to teach more but, then, I always looked on directing as teaching anyway.” Mr Aitken said the high school course was designed to teach the basics of how to act and what acting was. “It’s a matter of finding the dynamo and the talent in people and directing that.

With older people they have found that already. “I guess you could say I’m moving ciown the scale in terms of age and experience — from legitimate theatre to the Arts Employment Programme to the high school.”

Mr Aitken was associate artistic director at the Court Theatre for seven years. He joined the Arts Employment Programme as its first artistic director and in the 18 months he has filled that position the job has expanded greatly. “It is the sort of job that covers a broad spectrum and can go in a number of different directions. It’s really up to my successor which direction. “I have concentrated on the mainstream theatre which is my background. At the same time we have had alternative performers on the scheme and I have had to find tutors for them. I have learnt along with them.” He believes his time with the Government-sponsored Arts Employment Programme has been valuable.

“The scheme has come in for some criticism that it does not do anything about getting people into the performing industry. But, if you look at the people who have been through the scheme, half of them are now either performing with groups fulltime or are in some related area. The scheme has certainly served as a spring-

board to get people into the industry by providing them with training. The young people would not have received that training had it not been for the scheme, Mr Aitken said. “There is no school offering training in New Zealand such as the two in Western Australia and the professional theatre cannot afford to run training schemes to cope with all the interested people.”

He believes that a New Zealand school similar to the John Curtin High School would be a good idea: “I hear that plans are being made for one in Auckland.” One benefit of such a school would be the number of jobs it could offer for New Zealand performers now working overseas.

“Just think of the tutors and directors who would come back to work in this

country. I worked it out the other day that on average one working performer is leaving New Zealand every week. That is terrible for the industry.”

Another benefit was the training that could be offered young people in the performing arts.

“It would be a while before we could offer anj'thing like that in Perth. The Western Australian Government pumps that much money into the arts, it’s amazing.”

Mr Aitken said he would decide at the end of the year on whether he would return to Christchurch. There might be an opening on the staff at the academy or in one of Perth’s two large theatres.

“I am undecided at the moment. We’ll just have to wait and see.”