It is not often that a School has the privilege of being visited by an award- winning professional actress, but this 
week Warminster has been buzzing with excitement over the arrival in our midst of Sandra Duncan.
Sandra’s long and successful theatrical career includes the role of Mrs Birling in Stephen Daldry’s critically acclaimed production of ‘An Inspector Calls’.
Over the past five days she has taken a break from the demands of the theatre to spend some time working closely with our own Drama and English Departments.
During her visit she has had plenty of time to pass on some of her insights and expertise to Warminster’s budding young actors.
Sandra’s passion for acting started at a young age when she played Ratty in a production of ‘The Wind in the Willows’.
Speaking to our pupils, Sandra stressed the importance of encouraging young ambition; being a trained dancer she already had a love of performing as a child, but with her parents’ support she joined drama groups to explore her new-found interest in the theatre.
From a young age her experience was extensive: she worked as a professional dancer, a model and also for the BBC Manchester radio station.
Sandra describes these experiences as helping her develop a ‘veneer of sophistication’. However she determined to finish her academic schooling before pursuing her career as she understood the importance of a good education.
At the age of 17 Sandra successfully auditioned, along with 4000 other candidates, for one of only 16 places on offer for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).
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Sandra underwent seven terms of intense training at RADA which is where she learnt the skills which have allowed her to survive and succeed in the theatre.
Sandra spent 19 years of her career working as a successful actress in South Africa, which is where she cut her theatrical teeth.
She gave some nuggets of wisdom regarding the ability to survive in the theatre. ‘It is important for one to be encouraged to think outside the box …
to be allowed to experiment, and this is where I felt I could do so. In acting, one must create opportunities and learn how to push the boundaries. An actor should be versatile and not pigeon holed into a box.’
When Sandra felt she had achieved all she could there and came back to England to perform on what she calls ‘the best stage in the world’.
This week the focus with pupils has been on vocal techniques, presentation skills and public speaking. Drama students have been reading Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
Sandra has worked with various groups in their Drama lessons, has given talks to IB and English classes and also one-on-one tutorials to our LAMDA students.
We would like to thank Sandra for her time, and wish her the very best in her future career.
We have been touched by her parting words about us
‘It was a privilege to work with so many charming and lively individuals; the children here are marvellous and very easy to engage with.’
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Since her week with us, Mrs Duncan has been in touch with the Headmaster to record her thanks and also to give her impressions of Warminster School. She wrote as follows:
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My most heartfelt thanks to you and the whole of Warminster School for a memorable week. From my first day there it was apparent that this was a very special place and so it proved to be. Your staff were endlessly helpful, your dinner ladies delightful and of course where would I have been without the endless patience of the Drama Department staff?
Their willingness to shepherd me around and make sure I was in the right place at the right time was invaluable and I thank them so much. And last but by no means least to your students: they were all without exception a joy to be with and they taught ME a lot. I found them to be talented, hard-working, witty, and with boundless energy, all of which made for a stimulating and informative week.
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To all the students that I worked with I would just like to say: “Zigger zagger ,zigger zagger oi oi oi!”
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I finish with a tongue twister that seemed to be quite popular:
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What a to do to die today
At a minute or two to two
A thing distinctly hard to say
But harder still to do.
For the dragon will come
To the beat of the drum
Rattatattatatoo
At a minute or two to two today
At a minute or two to two.
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ENJOY!”