The Company

Dramatic Resources exists to help the corporate world develop management, leadership and communication skills through the practical application of the techniques of the theatre.

Led by theatre experts Geoff Church and Richard Hahlo, the UK-based company has a long and highly successful track record of working with major financial institutions, manufacturing, advertising and international business schools. Simultaneously Geoff and Richard work as actors and directors in the theatre and television, and with Dramatic Resources are also engaged in the creation of innovative theatre projects in and around business.

Theatre and Communication

Performance

Actors are not the only people who stand in the spotlight. Today’s business world demands from everyone at a senior level the ability to communicate in high-profile, high-pressure situations.
Leaders within business, from the chief executive to a first level manager are constantly under pressure to communicate and to create impact. Faced with this challenge, issues of confidence, self-consciousness and personal style often arise. This is where the skills of drama and performance come into their own.
Most people, called on to communicate effectively, feel a pressure to be different, to be someone other than themselves. But all good actors know that the ability to handle the spotlight is about being yourself – only with more skill. What is needed is not another personality, but greater energy, stronger confidence, more vocal variety, passion and expression.

Rehearsal

Rehearsing a play for the theatre is a unique process. The rehearsal period is a time when a great deal of experiment takes place; when behaviour is explored, repeated, and refined for performance. Crucially, it is a time when the public are not allowed to watch, and the pressure of performance is suspended. It is this experience that Dramatic Resources’ work recreates for managers in business.
Over years of working with executives in industry we have come to realise that managers very rarely have the opportunity to rehearse. The pressures of most businesses mean that you are always ‘live’, always in the spotlight, always under pressure to deliver. Our workshops offer the unusual opportunity to experiment and learn without that pressure.

Feedback and coaching
The other aspect of life in the theatre is the ever-present cycle of feedback. Actors receive constant ‘notes’ from directors, and performances are appraised continuously by both critics and audiences. This feedback is then incorporated into performance through practice and revision.
Using this process to work on the development of individual self-expression has proved a fantastically valuable tool in Dramatic Resources work with executive development. Individuals we work with tell us repeatedly that the rehearsal and coaching in our workshops is challenging, stretching and makes a real difference to them when they return to the public glare of their day-to-day work.

Theatre Projects
Dramatic Resources is also actively engaged in developing innovative theatre projects connected to the world of work, that directly engage with audiences. See, for example, "The Pitch".

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