Nick Newitt
Nick was born on June 29th in Loughborough, and grew up in the City of Leicester. After an enjoyable time at St.
Patrick's Roman Catholic Primary School, he moved onto his secondary school,
English Martyrs Roman Catholic School. At this school, he studied
extremely hard, and achieved great success in his GCSEs and A-Levels. In both GCSEs and A-Levels, Nick showed enthusiasm and an innate ability for
English Literature, especially when it involved Drama. After having
completed his A-Levels, Nick went on to study for a Bachelor of Education (Honours)
at Newman College of Further Education, affiliated to the University of
Birmingham, UK. Whilst at college, he was involved in a number of bands, playing music from
the blues and rock genres. He began by being Road Manager for the drummer
of the Motor City Blues Band, and progressed onto becoming part of the
Percussion section. This band played tribute songs from the film "The
Blues Brothers", but also performed their own compositions, such as
"Driving Hard", "Mellow Down Easy" and "Where Can You
Be?". After having left the Motor City Blues Band, he moved on to be backing singer
with a College Tutor-led band called "The Danglers". This band
played cover versions of songs by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.
One of his most favourite songs that they performed was "Leopard-Skin Pill
Box Hat", which was a very odd song, but involved using the full range of
his singing voice. Nick then joined a splinter-band, whose name changed with every gig, going
from "The Drop-outs" to "The Dirty Dogs", to end up as
"The Dogs". This band was happy playing cover versions of songs
by David Bowie, The Beatles and Alice Cooper. He acted as backing and main
singer, and enjoyed the wide variety of songs from different musical eras. The teaching degree course that he undertook focused in great depth upon
Drama, and he was involved in putting on two productions. In the course of
these performances, Nick had a lead role in the following areas: Sound,
Lighting, Stage Management and Publicity. The two plays offered challenges
to his acting ability for different reasons: 1. "Measure for Measure" by William Shakespeare, playing Claudio.
The play is set in Vienna, a society where there are strict rules on Marriage,
Engagement and carnal liaisons. Claudio is a young man, eager to fulfill
his desires, and becomes engaged to Juliet. Both he and his fiancè do not
wish to wait, so they partake in the act of love. Once this is
established, Claudio is arrested and sentenced to death by Angelo, who has been
left in charge of the city by Duke Vincentio. Claudio begs his sister
Isabella to visit Angelo, and take part in secret activities which Claudio could
use to blackmail his way out of prison. His sister is unhappy about this,
as she is a nun, and has devoted her life to God. A situation of emotional
blackmail ensues, but Lord Vincentio returns and Claudio is eventually released. 2. "Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Production of A Murder
Mystery", playing Inspector O'Reilly.
This play was written by two Irish playwrights in the same style as "An
Inspector Calls". It is a spoof comedy whereby a number of characters
are murdered, and the incompetent inspector tries desperately to work out what
is going on. In the course of his investigations, he falls in love with
the pretty Helena and his concentration goes completely! The audience
works out very quickly "whodunnit", and through audience participation
techniques the play becomes very unreal. The playwrights have employed a
Shakespearean technique, using the "play within the play"
method. The actors taking part are acting as ineffective
"actors" playing parts very badly. This takes a great deal of
concentrated effort to intentionally get things wrong and make it look
natural. After having graduated with Honours, Nick began working in Birmingham,
teaching a Year Three class at Woodhouse Primary School, Quinton. He was
involved in a number of musical productions with other members of staff and
children from Years Three and Four: Nick started working at his present school in September 1999. Nick
strongly believes in the importance of after- and out-of-school clubs. To coincide with Valentine's Day, his abridged version "Romeo and Juliet" was performed on 16th and 17th February 2000. He founded the non profit-making Swineshead
Village Children's Drama Group due to popular demand from the children of
the village. The Group has not been set up to engage in
competition with either the school or the Family Drama Group. It is in
no way the result of any conflict with his place of employment. It has been set up to enrich and develop the moral, social and ethical
values of the children who are its members. It is hoped that this Group
can positively reflect the dramatic ability of the children of this
village, and to raise their own personal self-esteem, making them more
confident and able to deal with situations in the "real world".
As a result of this, children from the village will be enabled to see that there
are both positive and negative ways of dealing with unpleasant situations: Positive: Negative:
The group sincerely believes that children can be encouraged to
embody the positive ways of living, and reflect upon the wholesome teachings of
their parents. In this way, they will become even more equipped to deal
with life. Nick feels that this is important after years of living and
working in Birmingham. He feels that all children deserve the best guidance for the future, and that as a member of the Community
of Swineshead, it is his civic responsibility to support the positive parental teachings. In his words: