Alan Drysdale
Alan Drysdale is an academic who is taking local history out of the classroom and putting it on to the stage. Samford Valley Steiner School teacher Alan Drysdale has produced a new musical theatre production based on the life of one of Brisbane’s forefathers. Murrumba: The Story of Tom Petrie details the life of one of the Pine Rivers region’s pioneers and the relationships he forged with the local indigenous population. Dale, a Samford resident, said Murrumba, an hour-long concert set to music and featuring narration and dance, would “give people a sense of local history they haven’t had before”. “It’s an intriguing story of a boy who comes to a new place and develops a rapport with the local aboriginal people, and that had an affect on his whole life, the way he absorbed their culture and learnt their language and became accepted by them,”. Alan, a dramatist from Keperra who studied theatre in England, said Murrumba was largely based on the book Tom Petrie’s Reminiscences of Early Queensland.
Alan was born and raised in Victoria, Australia and studied Steiner Education and Speech Formation and Drama at Emerson College, England from 1982 - 85. He taught as a class teacher at Michael Hall [ a Steiner School] in England for 2 years and also did a second degree in Drama and Spoken Language at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, from 1991-94. He then taught 3 years in an English comprehensive school during the 15 years of living in England. For the past 14 years he has been teaching at the Samford Valley Steiner School, Brisbane, Australia and is completing his second cycle of 7 years this year and will be returning to start a third cycle in Feb 2012.
Steiner Education has become his life's vocation and he has conducted workshops on Steiner Education in both the UK and at a number of national conferences in Australia.
Steiner Education has become his life's vocation and he has conducted workshops on Steiner Education in both the UK and at a number of national conferences in Australia.