Gabby Holloway
“Those who can’t do, teach”
The phrase that I heard on repeat throughout the first year of my teaching career. The phrase that always followed with an outburst of laughter from my ex-Year 11 Drama students. The phrase that solidified to me, that I made the right choice (probably not what you were expecting me to say but, stick with me).
When I decided acting was not for me back in 2022, I took a job as a teaching assistant in a secondary school back in my home town of Southampton. Within a week, I had fallen in love with the place, and I began training to be a teacher in the September of that year. It truly made me believe in a phrase that my step mum always said to me in my darkest times: ‘what’s for you, finds you’.
Now I know, teaching is not the most glamorous profession right now, and of course the press around the "teacher crisis" in the UK is rife, but I promise you, I have never been more sure of a decision than I am of this.
Teaching is my absolute passion.
6 years ago, 20-year-old me would have laughed in the face of anyone who tried to convince her that I wouldn’t be an actor. I was set on it. But it wasn’t until I began working in the industry, that I realised…actually…maybe this isn’t for me. The constant work anxiety, working part time jobs you hate, the financial stress, the instability, the lack of job opportunities…I could go on forever.
Make no mistake, to my friends still in the industry, I think you are legends. You are absolute and total superstars for continuing to fight through the post-Covid theatre world, and I love nothing more than seeing the beautiful smiling faces of my friends booking their dream jobs and travelling the world.
But to those of you, like me, who decided it wasn’t for you, let me tell you something that I needed to hear 3 years ago.
You are not a failure.
Trying to make your dream work and realising it’s not fulfilling your purpose, is not failing. Choosing to step back from an industry that does not love you back, is not failing. Finding a new career path and letting go of your old dream, is not failing.
Now, I’m not claiming to be the poster girl of teaching, and of course you may think the idea of teaching hormonal teenagers is absolute hell, but let me explain why I have no regrets.
Every day, I get to teach Drama. Every day, I get to change young people's perception of themselves, with Drama. Every day, I get to share the subject I love with young people.
I see more theatre shows now through school trips than I ever did before! I have students working with professional theatre companies and performing on off-west end stages. I have professional theatre practitioners coming in to work with our students and help them explore and challenge their creativity. I have two shows a year running in our school theatre to sold out audiences. I have more and more students signing up for the school shows each year. I have double the number of students taking GCSE Dance and Drama than the previous year. My school theatre company is taking part in National Theatre Connections 2025.
Three years on from my ‘quarter life crisis’, I am now the Curriculum Leader of Performing Arts at my school. A title which I am so proud to have achieved in my short teaching career so far. A title that reminds me every day that dreams can change, and sometimes, they change for the better.
So, to my ex-Year 11 Drama students (who I still love dearly) and anyone else who sees my change in direction as a failure, I’m rewriting the phrase.
It’s no longer “Those who can’t do, teach”.
It’s now…
“Those who don’t want to do, teach”
Gabby was one of our ARDENT8 actors from 2019-22 and performed in RETHINK at the Union Theatre, Lighthouse Poole and on tour in Manchester and Leicester.
Ardent Theatre Company is a registered charity with a mission to end class inequality in theatre. We produce theatre, provide training and remove barriers to ensure at least 50% of actors employed in theatre are from working-class backgrounds and that anyone who wants to access theatre as an audience member has that opportunity.
CLICK HERE to read how you can help Ardent achieve it’s mission.