An actor prepares

• Focus attention away from an audience or camera crew, in order to act with less self-consciousness or artificiality;• Address blocks and inhibitions and relax under the pressures of performance;• Immerse yourself more fully in an imaginary world and remain absorbed more consistently within it;• Re-experience sensation more vividly and consistently to fuel a more substantial imagination;• Improve psychophysical awareness and achieve a richer expressivity;• Develop characterisations with greater depth, sincerity, and precision;• Analyse and anatomise dramatic texts to grasp more firmly their fundamental dynamics and the shape and experience of their chain of events;• Gently coax genuine emotional responses to character experience in dramatic situations more reliably and sustainably.

You will need a notebook and a pencil. You will also need to be dressed in loose-fitting clothing that allows you to move freely and wearing trainers or plimsolls. Changing facilities are available on the first floor of the building. You may be required to secure scripts and to bring in relevant props/costume items as the course progresses.

We will use games, improvisations, characterisation and physical expressivity exercises, tutor input, group discussion and analysis, and various Stanislavski and Method-based actor-training exercises. This is a practical course in which students will work alone, in pairs, and in groups, according to the exercise. Each week, detailed homework preparations are given that extend and develop the techniques covered in class and prepare you for what we will explore in the following session. This will be supported with advice and guidance via group emails.HEALTH CHECKAs part of this psychophysical approach to actor training, you will be asked to participate in vigorous activity from time to time. Please consider whether you are able to do this. If you are in any doubt, consult a medical practitioner.