Enrolling first in the Junior’s Drama Club back when he was a student, Leon Witcomb could not have envisaged that twelve years later, he would be back at Abingdon Drama Club (ADC), working as their new drama class teacher.
Since he first enrolled, acting has taken over a large part of Leon’s life. Excelling first as a child actor, he went on to earn lead acting roles in various stage productions, including Peter Pan Servant of Two Masters, The Crucible, Henry VI Part III and The Wedding Singer, to name but a few. Leon has also helped stage crew.
With this impressive background and being reminiscent of his days at ADC, Leon is enthusiastic about making drama accessible to young people.
“I see my role primarily as a nurturing one; I never thought when I first enrolled back in 2010, that one day I would be in such a privileged position as to be teaching at the establishment that taught me so much. This is unbelievably exciting for me!”
Leon follows in the footsteps of previous ADC teachers in offering young, aspiring actors from Abingdon and the surrounding area, a chance to hone their acting skills in a fun, nurturing environment while meeting other young people from a variety of local schools. Acting is not the only teaching which Leon imparts, however. During the week, he is a science Instructor and after-school Science Club Leader with Bright Sparks (BSS), where he delivers high-quality outreach programmes, inspiring face-to-face and online activities to support children from all backgrounds, enabling them to unlock their potential to become the innovators, pioneers and contributing citizens of the future.
The Abingdon Drama Club is one of the oldest drama clubs in the country, providing classes for young people for over 35 years. Junior classes run during term time for hour-long sessions on a Saturday morning. They offer young people from nine to sixteen years of age a combination of drama games, improvisation, and scene work, in a fun environment where they can make new friends and learn the fundamentals of theatre and performance. For the older children, aged thirteen to sixteen, the classes focus on building their drama skills including voice, movement, action, objective, subtext, and characterisation. There is also an in-depth study of plays and playwrights which supports learning, particularly for those enrolled in GCSE Drama.
Due to the Covid restrictions early in 2022, the junior classes are now due to start on 5 March 2022. If you would like to find out more about the classes, please email juniors@abingdon-drama-club.com.
The Abingdon Drama Club’s performance of Dick Whittington that was scheduled to take place in January has been postponed until April 2022. It will now run from 27-30 April 2022.
Tickets can be purchased from abingdon-drama-club.com
