Talk to me drama clubs

[Bakingwithmyboys]

As in the drama school.

DS1 who is 7 loves putting on silly voices and is starting to portray different characters with his body as well as voice. I asked him tonight if he likes drama, acting and he said yes. Then asked if there was a club he could do. I said I'd look into it.

Looking at stagecoach, it's got the best timings and locations for us however, DS1 is tone deaf (bless him) and not sure if he can dance.

There is also the sessions are 3 hours long! We think he is on the autistic spectrum and I've definitely noticed after a period of concentration, he needs to expell a lot of pent up energy. Like he cannot sit still at home and is all arms and legs but his teacher reassures me he's only as fidgety as any other child in his class. She was actually quite surprised when I asked about it.

Anyway, anyone know of a just acting lessons for children?

Have you got a local theatre? Ours does drama classes which are 1hr on a Saturday morning.

They do exist but you have hunt them down as most seem to do singing. My DS was similar and it really helped with the fidgeting!!

My 7 year old DS goes to 3 hour lessons on Saturday mornings with theatretrain. Think they are spread across the UK. The sessions are 1 hour each of singing, dancing and acting, and he loves it.

DD does pure drama classes but it is really difficult to find one just doing this.

She wouldn't be able to cope with a 3 hour session so we hunted down a school who provides the same but in three separate classes.

Look up independent performance schools, check with dance schools as well, they often don't advertise that much that they run them.

Check. with your local FB groups for recommendation.

Look at your local theatres, most have a youth programme, and they’re often miles cheaper than Stagecoach etc

Another one for checking your local theatre.
Also, I know you say he's tone-deaf and perhaps can't dance, but he's still very young - my eldest couldn't hold a note until he reached 8/9, and he has a fantastic voice now. Most groups at that age will make singing and movement fun, so ability doesn't really factor.
My youngest does a 1hr Saturday morning session at hour local theatre, incorporating all three, and he loves it.

Google always turns up the musical theatre providers, but never the drama ones. Often the musical theatre stuff is part of a larger franchise so they have a bigger online presence than the drama classes which tend to be independent.

As pp said, your local theatre would be a good place to start.

Some providers (maybe stagecoach?) run drama, singing and dance but as separate classes so you can just book the drama.

Also Google LAMDA teachers near you. That will throw up local acting teachers who may also run classes for younger children.

Def worth asking on local Facebook group.

Or just put your son in the local one - he may love it and convenience is so important. My only caveat is they get really stressful when working towards a production.

Ds does the local theatre ones. They do a Saturday where there are lots of different hour long classes. A lot of the children do several classes, but some do one and no more. The weekday classes are longer.
Warning though: ds started with 1 hour during the week. He now does 6 during the week and 5 on Saturday. He's much keener on the drama and tech side, but he likes doing the other classes too because they've got a lovely friendship group, so he wants to be there with his friends.

My son is at Pqa (Pauline quirke academy). He has dyspraxia and can’t dance really but he does it and he loves the whole thing. It’s his favourite out of school activity.

Thanks for the advice. We do have a couple of little theatres not far from us so I will start there. Good to hear there are some that just do drama, or allow you to book just the drama.

He does enjoy singing and is part of the school choir (I just feel sorry for the teacher) and to be fair to him has got more tuneful recently.

I just can't see him coping with 3 hours at the weekend yet.

Have a look at local dance schools because some also do drama separately. My daughter used to do a pure drama class at a dance school.

Also look at local theatres, especially the smaller ones to see if there's a am-dram society with a junior section.

My DDs did www.helenogrady.co.uk/ which was just drama, and did its performances at relatively low cost to parents (unlike ballet).