Consolidate your techniques as you rehearse and perform in a duologue and/or a monologue from a published play text in this intensive practical course.
These practical sessions are for students who wish to consolidate and develop their acting skills while focussing on script work and rehearsal. You will continue to develop the fundamentals of stagecraft, work with text and to build character, relationships and the world of the play. Your work will culminate in an 'in class' presentation of a scene or monologue, performed from memory, to the rest of the group in the final session.
What will we cover?
• Character work
• Text analysis
• Scene Rehearsal and performance.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Work cooperatively with other actors and the director
• Explore and analyse text confidently
• Develop character
• Perform in a scene from a play or screenplay with confidence.
Explore the fundamentals of acting on this practical course, designed for people with little or no experience of acting. Increase your confidence and discover your potential in a safe and exciting environment.
This course will introduce you to the craft of acting. Through a series of warm ups, games and practical acting exercises you will develop your creativity and find the freedom to act in a friendly and supportive environment.
What will we cover?
• Drama games and group exercises
• Improvisation and scene work
• Character work
• Performing truthfully and believably
• An introduction to text work.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
By the end of this course you should be able to...
• Work collaboratively and confidently with others.
• Present yourself confidently in the space.
• Develop and play character
• Prepare and perform a short scene.
Deepen your understanding and emotional expressivity as you work towards deeper levels of practice in this workshop. Suitable for beginners and experienced students alike who wish to develop greater sincerity, authenticity and depth in their acting. Explore the principles of psychological realism pioneered by Stanislavski and developed by the Method practioners to enrich and enhance your performances and characterisations. Learn new skills and hone existing ones in this supportive and expressive environment.
An exploration of Stanislavski's acting technique - learn, extend and challenge existing approaches. Sometimes, suddenly in performance, all around you feels alive and real. Impulsive responses arise spontaneously and rich, detailed behaviour emerges without effort. Stanislavski called this ‘experiencing’ the role. This course trains the elements that support the emergence of this creative state in performance. Making use of the approaches to preparation and characterisation developed by Stanislavski, as well as the Method practitioners who elaborated his work further, your ability to generate rich, detailed performance choices and the range and depth of your characterisations will be extended and strengthened. The course is designed as a workshop studio that provides a focused and supportive arena in which to develop your talent, hone your craft, tackle the problems that you may experience that prevent its full and free expression, and learn new skills.
We will explore exercises and training techniques that develop your ability to experience real responses from imagined stimuli and to mobilise subconscious creativity in your work. You will learn how to create more vivid and affecting inner images to justify action, to develop the use of oneself as a creative resource, and to avoid more consistently mechanical acting, conventional choices, and the faking or forcing of emotional expression. We will explore characterisation techniques that target the specific qualities that separate you from characters very different to yourself, along with psychophysical processes that facilitate a more expressive embodiment. We will also examine the means by which blocks and inhibitions to a freer expression of impulses and a more connected and vulnerable mode of performance may be addressed. As actors progress through the training, we will explore the ‘active analysis’ of drama and a deeper engagement with the structure and dynamics of dramatic action.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
It's time to top up your vocal skills! This thorough and fun improvers' course will benefit your further vocal development as an actor or professional speaker. You will consolidate work on breath support and explore pitch and resonance. The course will be held in the college.
It's time to top up your vocal skills! This thorough and fun improvers' course will benefit your further vocal development as an actor or professional speaker. You will consolidate work on breath support and explore pitch and resonance. The course will be held in the college.
What will we cover?
Breath support, control and pressure, resonance, pitch awareness, articulation and techniques of communication.
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Identify your own vocal weaknesses and develop ways to address them.
- Display improvements in breath capacity and support using more advanced breathing exercises.
- Apply articulation pitch and variety to a whole range of texts and material.
- Further develop the resonance of your voice by examining secondary and tertiary areas of resonance.
Improve the quality of your voice and standard of speech; relaxation and alignment; breath capacity/control; articulation, forward placement and vocal expression, primarily aimed at performers. This course will be taught in the college.
What is the course about?
To improve the quality of your voice for increased confidence in communication and performance. To develop vocal skills and thus an understanding of how the voice works. The course is primarily aimed at the actor/performer.
What will we cover?
Physical alignment.
Breathing - diaphragmatic, lower abdominal and lower intercostal.
Relaxation techniques, opening the channel for sound.
Forward placement work.
Jaw and tongue; opening throat.
Vowel work and consonant drills.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
Demonstrate an awareness of the body and its effect on the voice.
Demonstrate effective relaxation techniques.
Demonstrate deep breathing/support of sound.
Demonstrate a more powerful voice and richer tone.
Articulate clearly in speech.
Demonstrate vocal confidence and awareness.
To work on your existing skills of imagination, voice, body, movement and space in order to develop character relationships and create scenes from the play. Relevant section/s of the play will be made available in class and there are some copies in the library. Please get your own copy if you can. The course is for people who: have little or no experience; who want to refresh skills; more experienced practitioners. The emphasis, where possible, is on larger scenes and the collaborative work demanded by them.
You will need to complete an Individual Learning Plan and be prepared to work in a group. You must be prepared to work with other people.
Improve the quality of your voice and standard of speech through relaxation, stance, breath capacity/control, articulation, forward placing and expression. This course will be delivered in the college.
What is the course about?
To improve the quality of your voice for increased confidence in communication. To develop vocal skills and an understanding of how the voice works with practical focus on relaxation, stance, breath capacity/control, articulation, forward placement and expression.
What will we cover?
Relaxation, alignment and posture, breath support, control and pressure, resonance, pitch awareness, articulation and techniques of communication.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
Demonstrate more confidence in your voice and how you use it.
Display an awareness of the technique of supporting your voice and controlling your breath.
Practise articulation exercises to improve clarity and diction.
Discover how to return your body to its natural state of balance and poise in this beginners' guide to the Alexander Technique. Learn how to relieve stress by becoming mindful of muscular and mental tension.
What is the course about?
This course is a general introduction to Alexander Technique, which is concerned with how a person uses themselves as a whole - mind and body - in everything they do. The technique can help you move and breathe with less effort, improve posture, be more focused and efficient, cope with stress better and be calmer and more confident. The Alexander Technique involves no specific exercises, requires no special equipment and can be practised wherever you are. It is suitable for people of all ages and levels of physical fitness.
What will we cover?
- How to become mindful of and how to use your body better during everyday activities, including sitting and standing, walking, lifting, bending, sitting at desks, lying down, speaking and breathing.
- Spatial awareness, balance, co-ordination, developing powers of observation and focusing.
- Anatomy and physiology where applicable.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- Identify the Alexander principle that the way you use yourself influences how you function in everyday life
- Recognise at least two habitual patterns of posture and movement which may be causing excessive tension, aches and pains, shallow breathing, restricted movement or stiff joints.
- Recognise how applying the Alexander Technique can help eliminate tension habits that interfere with poised natural body alignment and overall functioning and well-being
- Practise the Alexander Technique in the classic semi-supine lying-down position.
How to speak with confidence and authenticity in a North American (or Broadcast Standard) accent as well as a couple of other regional American accents This course will be taught in the college.
What is the course about?
Learn how to speak with confidence and authenticity in a North American Broadcast Standard or General American Accent. This course will give you an effective framework, based in simple Phonetics, for studying and learning a North American accent for audition or performance. Acouple of regional American accents wil be included, and the choice of these can be negotiated with the tutor.
What will we cover?
North American Broadcast Standard plus a couple of regional American accents. Knowledge of phonetics is ideal but not essential.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
Break down an accent into its component parts for self-study.
Significantly increase your confidence with American accents.
Increase flexibility of articulators and improve ear training.
Investigate the role and function of Dramatherapy as a working model on this intensive course. Looking at a range of drama tools that can be used in therapeutic settings, you will develop some of the essential skills and use a range of methods to engage with others. Fun and insightful and packed with tools you can use, this is a great introduction to applying theatrical processes to therapy.
What is the course about?
An introductory course in Dramatherapy which gives you a clear and concise insight into the profession. A very practical course which aims to make you feel comfortable enough to explore Dramatherapy for yourself.
Dramatherapy is a form of psychological therapy in which all of the performance arts are utilised within the therapeutic relationship. Dramatherapists are both artists and clinicians and draw on their trainings in theatre/drama and therapy to create methods to engage clients in effecting psychological, emotional and social changes. The therapy gives equal validity to body and mind within the dramatic context; stories, myths, play-texts, puppetry, masks and improvisation are examples of the range of artistic interventions a Dramatherapist may employ. These will enable the client to explore difficult and painful life experiences through an indirect approach.
What will we cover?
• Introduction to Dramatherapy as a profession.
• Storytelling and Story Enactment in dramatherapy.
• How carl Gustav Jung's Archetypes plays a major role in the way we work with storytelling and story enactment in dramatherapy.
• Working with story in dramatherapy, using relevant themes, topics, and metaphors.
• Introducing Carl Gustav Jung’s idea of the shadow as a part of our unconscious mind.
Please note that acting classes by their very nature can involve exercises and the exploration of material that some students may find challenging.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
The course will give you a clear insight into what it is to work as a registered dramatherapist when working with Dramatherapists in a professional context and other settings. The course would offer those students, who are thinking of doing an MA course in Dramatherapy, a much better idea of what to expect at university and could help you decide whether Dramatherapy is for you as a profession.
• Practise Dramatherapy techniques.
• Participate with ease in improvisation “thinking on your feet”.
• Communicate more effectively through voice and movement skills.
• Be aware of the therapeutic ideas of Dramatherapy and C.G Jung.
