Slam poet and producer Ben Fagan is one of the many creatives at this past week's National Youth Drama School in Havelock North.
He chats to Mark Story
How did you get involved with NYDS?
Local theatre legend Ken Keys gave me a call when I was 14 and told me I had better come along. I'm glad he did, meeting 150 other like-minded young people was literally life-changing. Despite living in London for the last few years I always make time to come back in April to help our now 270 students have the same opportunities I did.
What's the secret to the NYDS' success?
The people! Somehow over the last 27 years an environment has grown where the students are treated as professionals, and they respond as such. This has led to a strong sense of whānau both in the school, and among our alumni. We have a great mix of new and returning staff who keep things fresh, and some (often hilarious) traditions which keep us all grounded and not taking ourselves too seriously. Our NYDS family is now huge, with ex-students and tutors working and performing across the world.
Many won't know what 'slam poetry' is – what is it?
My day job involves running slam poetry events, which is a competitive poetry format invented in Chicago in the 1980s. Random audience judges are given scorecards and told to give scores to performed poetry. Since then it has travelled around the world as an accessible, fun and high-energy event that often brings new crowds who wouldn't go to a 'reading'. The whole format is silly of course, you can't judge art with numbers, but as we often say at these events "the point is not the points, the point is the poetry". Look out for the first Hawke's Bay Poetry Slam later this year as part of the HB Arts Festival.
Your top tip for aspiring young performers?
Make your own opportunities. It doesn't matter whether in your bedroom, as part of a local group, or just with mates, if you're creating then you're learning. In New Zealand especially it's important to have a sense of the whole process, from budgeting to self-publicity. Then when other opportunities come calling, you'll be ready.
Is performing a realistic career choice for school leavers?
The tutors at NYDS are living proof that the arts are a great career choice. All kinds of training grow the skills needed to be creative though, whatever a school leaver is going to study, most skills are transferable and many are universal. Life skills, like how to collaborate with others, are taught in nursing, teaching and social work, just to name a few. Plus, all professions need storytellers to communicate with the world. We encourage our NYDS students to learn across disciplines and hope they will carry that into their professional life.
