2025 Adjudicator
Ruth Sarratt
In common with many of us. I was “into” my school drama productions, then jobs and family took over my time. I returned to theatre when my children were older and was thoroughly hooked. Then followed many years involved in local community theatre groups – acting, stage crewing, directing, set building and designing, making props, making the tea – you have to do it all in community theatre. More recently, accreditation as an Associate of New Zealand Drama Adjudicators (ANZDA) seemed a logical way of passing on some of my experience and sharing the knowledge.
I have come to believe that live theatre is a very special way of experiencing being human, and that it should be available to us all. I also firmly believe that we can always learn something new and improve our theatrical endeavours; a bit of timely advice or a thought-provoking question from an objective observer can do wonders to elevate a performance.
I have a particular interest in basic stagecraft (the elementary stuff that is so easy to get slightly wrong and thereby annoy your audience) and encouraging actors to use their whole body to support the script. It still awes me when I see a script really brought to life by a team effort – the “magic that is live theatre” never fades