Labs
What Labs are there?
- CONVERSATIONS IN MOVEMENT (CIM)
- EMBODYING A CHARACTER (EAC)
- VOICE, BODY, TEXT (VBT)
- CREATING SCORES (CS)
- PHYSICAL ACTIONS & TEXT (PA)
- ACTING DIAGNOSTICS (AD)
- 8 WEEK RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT LAB - EAC/VBT
Conversations in Movement (CIM)
The purpose of this Lab is for actors to keep up their daily practice and use these sessions as a discipline of self research and growth. The sessions are physically and mentally rigorous focusing on strengthening the actors ‘extra daily’ awareness which helps the actor to become more physically and mentally aware, present and engaged. This involves training the whole bodymind to have heightened kinaesthetic and spatial awareness; to be sensitive to stimuli; to respond on impulse; to be physically aware of the visual signs we portray; to articulate intention through movement; to be present with our partner in action; and to allow the intuitive body to listen and respond.
(4 x 2 HR SESSIONS)Embodying a Character (EAC)
Is an in depth study into the intricacies of the human condition and how inner life is revealed through a person’s body, rhythm and use of space. These discoveries are organically embodied through the participant’s own versatile mechanism, of weight, space, tempo, flow and isolated protrusions or inversions of the peripheries. Through structured improvised play the participant will learn to embody a character’s emotional and social makeup as well as factors about their life and experience these physically.
(4 x 2 ½ HR SESSIONS)Voice / Body / Text (VBT)
Primarily focuses on voice and body integration with text, and how an actor can access greater meaning in a text by allowing the spoken word to come through what the body is doing physically. The participant will practice a visceral approach to embodying a dramatic text, with particular focus on broadening kinaesthetic and vocal vocabularies as well as experiencing their interdependency. Over the four sessions the participant will have the opportunity to explore and develop a scene from a contemporary text, searching for a voice body and mind connection to the circumstances, and discover the range of interpretative possibilities in each moment.
(4 x 2 ½ HR SESSIONS)Creating Scores (CS)
The participant will learn to create narrative and non-narrative scores or actions, using both ‘outside in’ and the ‘inside out’ techniques. These scores act as a ‘framework’ within which the actor is free to trust their impulses, to trust their body memory, are open to receive their partner, and to activate their energy for play. We also take a closer look at intention externalised through the body as well as devising mini compositions. Each Lab will involve CIM training initially, to continue to develop body responsiveness and retrieval skills. We also look at what blockages or physical habits may be obstructing an actor’s impulse from ‘manifesting as physical action’. This Lab culminates in an in house showing of the work.
(4 x 2 ½ HR SESSIONS)Physical Actions and Text (PA)
What is a physical action? Can using physical actions enable actors to take more risks, become more physically articulate and craft more believable, interesting characters? This work is a continuation of the ‘Voice, Body, Text’ Lab and focuses on how an actor creates a physical score of a character’s intention in each moment of a text. This physical score is constructed from a series of physical actions discovered through a visceral exploration of a text, rather than an intellectual one. We also learn that the ‘body is memory’ and that it can act as a pathway back to the essence of a moment, retrieving the layers of work the actor has explored in rehearsal. Each Lab will involve VBT and CIM training. The work culminates in an in house showing of the scene of text we are working on.
(5 x 3 HR SESSIONS)Acting Diagnostics (AD)
These individual sessions are for actors seeking feedback on a monologue they are preparing for an audition. They also serve to identify the participant's individual process when working on a text and if required offer new pathways to discovering further detail and connection in each moment.
8 Week Research & Development Lab - EAC/VBT (combined session)
This Lab investigates the development of a character with and without a text. We begin by developing and researching a character through 'outside in' processes that focus on how the body can serve an actor if we know how to listen to it (EAC). We then move onto 'inside out' processes that explore a contemporary text viscerally and physically. This process provides a pathway for the actor to investigate and embody the detail in each moment of a text (VBT). These two processes enable the participant to discover the unexpected; the unpredictable; tools to develop complexity of character; and a heightened awareness of the visual ‘signs’ his/her body is conveying.
(8 x 2 1/2 HR SESSIONS)
