Download Course A: ACTING APART … A Basic Acting Course Tutor

Course A:
ACTING APART …
A Basic Acting Course
Tutor: CHRISSIE POULTER
Do you want to take the plunge into the magical world of acting for live theatre? Do you lack
experience? Confidence? A bit of both? So do some of the characters in the plays you know and
could come to love! Why not lend them your understanding of the human condition and bring them
to life on stage! And have fun finding out about Acting apart … (You’re right - never start a sentence
with ‘and’ … unless you’re an actor … then it’s ok!)
We’ll start with a series of games and exercises designed to awaken your imagination, free-up your
inner potential and make a little ‘magic’ along the way. In case that’s too much too soon we’ll do
some careful relaxation and some basic voice work to balance the day. We’ll create an ensemble to
make sure that the whole group feels easier at the notion of working together… and apart!
This course will introduce you to some of the many and varied elements needed when making a
piece of theatre. We will explore the actor’s use of space and body language for communication ..
and we’ll have a laugh along the way. We will work to develop the techniques involved in creating a
believable character, a presence on stage, one which will engage an audience.
It’ll be a lively and rewarding week – come and play!
Course B:
TALKING PICTURES/MOVING TEXT
An Exploration of Physical Theatre and Storytelling
Tutor: ANDY CROOK
This workshop will be a playful investigation into the creation of images, words and stories.
Starting with simple movements and gestures, we will learn how to find new means of
expression through the exploration of our bodies in time and space and through changing
the angles at which we look at things. We will learn to play physically with thoughts and
images and to make strong connections to the impulses we have to tell a story. We will look
at old stories, as well as creating new ones. We will play with rhythm, movement and words
in order to make the familiar exciting and new, and to make the strange both recognisable
and thought provoking. We will open up our physical imaginations and delight in the
unexpected.
Please bring a story to play with.
Course C:
BOLDNESS HAS … MAGIC IN IT!
Directing the Contemporary Play
Tutor: THOMAS CONWAY
‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has… magic in it’ (Goethe)
Designed for the beginner as well as the advanced director, the course is a primer on
directing plays that have been written in the last 40 years. The course opens up for
participants the fun – the thrill and exhilaration in the midst of the challenge – of directing
‘the contemporary play’.
Contemporary plays explore modern experience across a range of styles. Participants can
expect to gain a skills set grounded in a classical approach to directing, one that is
nonetheless adaptable to the requirements of the individual play.
The director’s vision, taking its cue from the writer’s imagination is at the heart of what the
course explores. Accordingly, the course aims to have participants build three pillars to their
individual directorial vision: (1) Ideas (2) Judgment (3) Confidence
The course, hereafter, brings participants through the task faced by all directors: that of
stimulating the actor’s imagination and, at the same time, of giving the actor a solid
platform from which to explore his/her character. To this end, the course will ask directors
to consider what it is the actor sees, as opposed to what it is the actor feels, in his/her
endeavours to connect with the character.
The plays explored are some of the finest written in the last 40 years, from such writers as
Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Brian Friel, Caryl Churchill, Paula Vogel, Marina Carr, Martin
McDonagh, Martin Crimp, Tracy Letts and Lucy Caldwell. The very best the contemporary
theatre has to offer, they are also some of the most enjoyable, not least from the point of
view of directing.
Course D:
PAGE TO STAGE
Experienced Actors and Directors
Tutor: CONALL MORRISON
Calling experienced actors and directors - this one is for you! Conall Morrison will lead a
sequence of workshops focusing on different methods of text analysis and how they relate
to performance. How do actors employ ‘objectives’, and ‘actions’ and ‘subtext’ and yet not
get bogged down in theories? How do directors usefully challenge and extend their own
practice? How do actors and directors together, keep the imagination and sense of play,
fully in motion?
The work will aim to be intensive but enjoyable and illuminating. We will cover everything
from Shakespeare and Synge to Brian Friel and Tom Murphy. Prepare to work in the area
where the analytic mind fuses with the free-flowing imagination. Are you up for the
challenge?
Course E:
LIGHTS … CAMERA …ACTION …
Acting for Camera
Tutor: JJ HARRINGTON
This is a vigorous and invigorating week-long course in acting for camera aimed at both beginners,
and those with some pre-existing experience of acting for stage or camera.
The course aims to equip aspiring screen actors with the essential terminology and know-how that
will enable them to transfer their talent painlessly from stage to screen. Details covered in the
course include the creation of a basic awareness of camera; technical issues such as hitting marks,
eye-lines, continuity, and how such issues relate to performance; the relationship between
improvisation, rehearsal, theatre and film; the exploration of subtext through script analysis;
exploration of physical memory and the repetitive demands of the shooting process; relationship
between film director and actors.
The course also features a detailed in-class examination of well-known screen
performances; the staging, rehearsal and filming of scenes from day to day; playback and
discussion of footage for the benefit of the performers; mock auditions and cold readings.
All of these exercises focus particular attention upon the nuances of performance and how
acting for screen demands a technical ability quite distinct from that involved in stage work.
Course F:
STRUCTURING A VISION.
Playwriting Course
Tutor: GAVIN KOSTICK
Gavin Kostick, playwright and Literary Manager of Fishamble: The New Play Company, has
worked with hundreds of Irish writers in getting their work on to the stage, to national and
international success.
If you have an idea, a vision, an urge to attempt to write for the theatre, Gavin will help you
learn how to structure your idea for the stage. From the largest overview, to the detail of
handling particular moments, this course will help you get the dramatic best from your
writing.
Through looking at a wide range of examples from ancient to 21 st century and via a set of
stimulating discussions and exercises, the week will leave you with a portfolio of exercises –
including your own complete tiny play – which will help you go on to write satisfying dramas
in the future.
To do this course you will need to have read and brought with you Anton Chekhov’s The
Cherry Orchard, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Brian Friel’s Faith
Healer . Other works will be supplied through the week.
Numbers will be limited on this course so, if you're interested - book early.