“If this is what he (Mark) can get out of me in 20 minutes, imagine what I’ll be like after a year of input of this calibre.”
Mark Middleton, Graduate 2010
ACTING
Focuses on developing your imagination and introduces methods that will enable you to create a role and work with a group in improvising, devising and using text. Students explore a variety of acting styles, gain an understanding of the rehearsal process and acquire extensive performance skills. Modern and Classical plays, scenes and audition pieces are studied, rehearsed and performed through group and one to one teaching. For these classes all students are given an individual programme of work tailored to their particular needs.
MOVEMENT AND DANCE
Develops physical expressiveness, fitness and spatial awareness in the actor. Students are introduced to stage movement, study human and animal movement and work in a variety of dance styles. Period movement is studied in depth. (No previous dance experience is necessary.)
VOICE AND SPEECH
Relaxation and breathing, projection and clarity. Students learn how to use their ‘whole voice’ and to develop expressiveness, power and subtlety. Classical text and verse speaking are studied and students work on accents and dialects. The actor develops a thorough understanding of how the relationship with an audience is established.
SINGING AND MUSICAL THEATRE
Anyone who can speak can learn to sing. Essential for the actor’s training and hugely enjoyable. Work on performance skills and technique. Musical theatre styles are studied and a range of musical skills are developed. Students also receive individual singing tutorials.
PHYSICAL THEATRE
A sense of play is at the heart of all good acting. The drama of such diverse performers as Steven Berkoff and Theatre de Complicite is explored in work that is central to the course. The actor must use the whole body in performance and can learn to be highly responsive to the group with whom he or she appears. Mime, clown, Commedia dell’arte, melodrama and mask can be included in this area.
SHAKESPEARE AND CLASSICAL THEATRE
The initial emphasis is on workshops that make the text more accessible, whatever your level of experience. Improvisation, physical techniques, paraphrase and acting games are used. Detailed studies of the social, historical and intellectual background of the plays lead to exercises and final productions.
TEXT ANALYSIS
How can we read actively and translate what we read into dramatic action? These are sessions which train our imagination in new ways.
THEATRE HISTORY
Students are given a grounding in Theatre History, but the emphasis is always a practical one. This knowledge is central to our professional lives.
PRODUCTION
Students put into practice what they have learnt on the course in production and production exercises. This is a chance to gain confidence and experience and to evaluate your own work. As the course progresses rehearsal time increases. All students take part in professional productions. Graduating students present their final work to agents and casting directors in a varied season of productions and a West End showcase.
THEATRE VISITS
An essential part of the training. The skills and techniques learnt in class are related to the work seen in a variety of exciting productions in London theatres.
STAGE COMBAT
Both armed and unarmed combat are studied. A range of fighting styles is explored and the work is integrated into productions. Graduating students will take the Academy of Performance Combat Fight Performance Exam.
TELEVISION, FILM AND RADIO
Students work with experienced actors and directors on acting for camera and for microphone. The technical demands of each medium are examined in both practical classes and projects.
AUDITIONS
A tailor-made repertoire of audition pieces is essential for each individual student. Audition technique is studied throughout each course and you will be prepared for many different kinds of castings in theatre, film, television and radio.
PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
Prepare you for entry to the profession. Equity and Spotlight representatives, agents, directors and casting directors are invited to advise you on launching your career and looking for work. The whole range of practical matters is covered from identifying where your casting potential lies to dealing with tax, from CVs and photographs to Equity membership.
TUTORIALS
A chance to evaluate your own work and get help and guidance on a range of course-related, personal or financial matters. Students are given regular feedback about their progress on the course and support in planning their future career.
THE WORKING DIARY / LOG BOOK
Students record and discuss the work as well as evaluate their own progress and examine their feelings and observations as actors in training.
ASSESSMENT
This is continuous and is based on students’ progress in lessons, rehearsals and productions. Assessments are both positive and realistic. They let students know what they have achieved and identify exactly what they must do to develop further skills.