Sue Davidson: Dance & Drama Dip. Ed. graduate
It's been so long since I left Dartington that I can hardly remember the exact year, but I will never forget the experience. I was a drama student which included dance and, my preference, Writing for Performance. Being a student at Dartington then opened my eyes to a whole world of communication through the arts. I loved the intensity, the forward-looking approach and the atmosphere of commitment to asking questions and finding new answers.
I had trouble adjusting to the clawing beauty and quiet of the country setting, having come from Glasgow long before it was ever considered to be a city of culture. Now, in my middle age, I return to the Hall and the gardens often, in my dreams. Now I see how important the geography of the college was to my whole experience. Equally important, Dartington gave me a new " family" of life-long friends. Some of us were funded by the Trust to set up an early experiment in Community Arts in Burnley, Lancashire, directly after leaving. It was a true experiment in living and working in a community but ultimately had a limited life for all of us. Our experience was put to good use by at least some of us in later life.
I went, with fellow Dartington graduates, to live and work with Romany travellers in London and on to a bit of militant squatting in the early punk era in the now famous Villa Road. I converted my passion for drama and writing into filmmaking and television production and, via a course in production, joined the BBC's film department to work in the cutting rooms in 1979.
I worked with Mike Leigh on his early BBC dramas and then moved into directing myself, not drama but documentaries in the BBC's Community Programmes Unit. This was a department so suited to my passion for questioning, challenging the status quo and story telling, that I thrived. We asked a lot of questions and found new answers, like the Video Diary format. It was a very innovative place to be. I eventually left the BBC in 2000 and have enjoyed a thriving freelance career since, as an executive producer, working on series such as Brat Camp, Bad Lads Army, Little Angels and occasionally still directing my own highly acclaimed documentaries like Posh Plumbers and Gold Fever. I am currently a Commissioning Editor for Channel Five, responsible for commissioning and running its most successful documentary strand, Extraordinary People.
I have had the same partner for 30 years, Nick Cash. We met in the punk squat era. He's a musician and has had some success in the indie music scene since the late 70s and 80s with bands like Fad Gadget. Our children are now 9 and 19. Nathan, who has Aspergers, is a talented artist and about to embark on the BA in Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art while Anna is enjoying everything a nine year old should.
My training at Dartington has remained the bedrock of all my work even now. Finding new truths, reflecting real lives and creating narratives that really talk to people is still what I do every day.
Copyright © 2011 University College Falmouth. All Rights Reserved.
