Workshops

Intensive Workshop with Spain's leading Acting coach: Cristina Rota 
Friday - Sunday 21 - 23 October 2010; see below.
Further workshops coming this autumn! Contact us for confirmed dates and full details.

 Intensive Workshop with Spain's leading Acting coach!
A three-day workshop with Cristina Rota 
Friday - Sunday 21 - 23 October 2010, 10.30 to 5.30 pm

Fee: £300, £150 deposit

Cristina is one of the great influences on the new wave of Spanish Cinema. She is the teacher and personal acting coach of Penelope Cruz, amongst many others - come and experience her unique perspective! Full details to follow: ring or email for further information and to reserve your place (this workshop is for experienced / professional actors).

About Cristina Rota:
Cristina holds the Gold Medal received in 2009 for Merit within the Arts, winning Best Direction at the XXI Festival of Theatre in the city of Palencia (2000), Goya Award, Best Original Script for “Sinvergüenza” (2002), Art Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival for film “Los abajo firmantes” (2003).

Her amazing trajectory stretches from Theatre, Film to TV, working as an author, director and actress in many productions nationally in Spain and internationally - with renowned names such as Tom Hanks, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Hampton, Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson and Penelope Cruz amongst others. Over 60 theatre productions (Cromelink, Cocteau, Deval, Shaw, Coward, Edward Bond, Albert Camus, Antón Chekhov, Nicodemi, Inclán Valley, Pinter, Neruda, Synge, Rovner, Williams, Calderón) 

Cristina Rota is the Founder and Director of the Theatre School registered in Madrid under her own name “School of Cristina Rota” as well as “Centro de Nuevos Creadores, CNC” (Centre of new creators). In 2002 CNC received National recognition as one of the top Alternative theatre spaces in Spain, winning the “Max Awards”. 

She is also the Director of the Pedro Almodovar Theatre School in Alcorcon-Madrid.
Booking deadline: 10th September
Deposit: £150, to be paid by 10th September.
For any cancellation made after 10th September the full price will be payable.
PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR MORE OF OUR EXCITING WORKSHOPS, COMING SOON!


RECENT WORKSHOPS
Meisner from Page to Stage
with Claire Kaplan
Sunday 4th July, 11 to 5 pm

£40 for the day!
Learn how to take the Meisner technique beyond repetition into scripted work. We'll cover the journey from the practice of Meisner's repetition exercise - truthfully speaking and reacting moment to moment - to the page and stage. This will be done by "breaking the back" of scripted work, doing the analysis and then exploring various ways to find preparations and emotional triggers so you can be truthful and alive on stage...now within the world of your character and the story of a play. This is an organic, non intellectual way to find how to "make the part your own”.
About Claire Kaplan:
Claire has trained extensively in the Meisner technique with Mike Bernardin amongst others, and she regularly uses its exercises in both her teaching and performing work. As a member of C Company, a Meisner-based theatre ensemble, she has appeared most recently in productions of Neil Simon and Shakespeare at the Bridewell Theatre. Claire has taught Acting and Improvisation for many years in Chicago. In London, as well as teaching Acting at Caravanserai Studio, she also teaches Improvisation at The Spontaneity Shop. 

Maximum number of Students: 12
 
   
 Accent-softening with Anne Walsh: Sunday 11th July 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Character Analysis Masterclass with James Kemp 
An Introduction to Yat Malmgren's Work
Sunday 18th July, 11 to 5 pm

Fee: £30.
Yat Malgren, the founder of Drama Centre developed a method of building a character, based on Laban's movement work and C.G. Jung's psychological types. The approach is based on the principle that the individual's psychology is inextricably linked to their physical expression. Therefore, one can understand an individual's psychology by observing their physical expression, or one can develop the physicality of a character based on a psychological profile given in the play or script.

Character Analysis or Movement Psychology is a complex theory that demands theoretical explanation, practical work and practice. This first workshop will introduce the basis of Movement Psychology, and explain the basic elements of that theory. Illustrated by examples and followed by a Question & Answer session, this workshop is a great opportunity to discover an original approach to character building and one that has made Drama Centre a prominent drama school in Europe. The workshop is linked to Liana Nyquist's Animal Workshop on Sundays 13th and 20th June.

About James Kemp:
He trained  at Drama Centre London 1992-1995, and subsequently pursued an acting career on stage and screen which encompassed a number of long running West End shows.  In 1998 James was invited back to Drama Centre London to work alongside and assist Dr. Yat Malmgren in the teaching of Movement Psychology (inspired by the pioneering work of Rudolf Laban), and has taught this subject since Dr. Malmgren's retirement in 2001.  He has further developed this field of study through workshops for Stage-Center Israel, the International Workshop Festival and as 'Laban Consultant' on Katie Mitchell's production of Genet's 'The Maids' (Young Vic).
His directing credits include:  'The Hot L Baltimore', 'The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby', 'The Possessed', 'The Last Days of Don Juan', 'The Learned Ladies', 'Mephisto', 'Anything For a Quiet Life', 'Twelfth Night', 'Much Ado About Nothing' (Drama Centre London); 'Home Free!', 'Enigma' (EFF), 'The Secret Death Of Salvador Dali' (Old Red Lion); 'Watership Down' (Riverside Studios).

Minimum attendance: 6 [no maximum]
 
Animal Workshop with Liana Nyquist 
Sunday 13th and 20th June 2010, 11 to 5 pm
Fee: £60 for the whole workshop! £30 deposit.
The workshop focuses on how the actor can discover and acquire the physical essence of a character using what we call Animal Work. Movement director Liana Nyquist explains the reflective relationship between physiognomy, the behaviour of the animal and that of the human. These observations are then extended to characters.
Liana shows us how different types of animals use their spines, and their movements; we discover and explore ways to capture an animal’s physical essence by our movement through space. Once we discover the physical essence, she teaches us how to develop it, and by studying the behaviour of an animal in detail, to become aware of it’s world and instincts. Understanding and embodying the animal’s instinctual complexity guides us to find a physicality and psychology for our character.
2 Sundays?
This gives the actors time to research and apply the animal work to a character.
- Sunday 13th June: An introduction to the Animal Work
- Sunday 20th June: Bring a character and a short speech from a play or film to which we apply the Animal Work.
What should we bring?   
For both workshops, please bring running / gym gear. For Sunday 20th: A memorised speech (1-2 minutes)
Maximum number of Students: 11

Working with intimacy: You, Me and the character
A three day workshop with Liora Medina and Cédric Daetwyler 
22nd, 23rd, 24th January 2010, 10.30 to 5.30 pm

Fee: £165, £40 deposit

Intimacy might bring up different feelings in each one of us. For some of us, it evokes warmth, desire, attraction, friendship, love and sexual arousal while for others it awakens envy, jealousy, loss, revulsion and a need to keep our distance.

This experiential workshop is designed for actors who want to explore the dynamics that arise when working with intimacy and its multiple permutations on stage. Facilitated by two experienced psychotherapists, we use our own experiences as well as dramatic texts to investigate the patterns that compel or prevent us from being intimate in our relationships with each other and the characters we are playing on stage. Our aim is to gain greater freedom in creating or recreating the full range of relationships on stage.

About the facilitators:

 Liora Medina is an Integrative Body Psychotherapist. She initially trained in Body-Mind balancing and Reflexology at the Redman College in Tel-Aviv, Israel. She worked as a therapist and reflexologist in Israel before furthering her psychotherapy training at the Chiron Centre for Body Psychotherapy in London. She worked in London as a therapist and workshop facilitator; she is currently practicing at her clinic in Tel Aviv. Her specific interests lie in the integration between the body & mind processes, while paying attention to the relational dynamic. She is a member of the Chiron Association for Body Psychotherapists; CABP and IARPP, International Association for Relational Psychoanalysis Psychotherapist. Email: liomed@googlemail.com
Cedric Daetwyler is a UKCP registered Integrative & Body Psychotherapist, workshop facilitator and coach. He is in private practice in North-West London and regularly runs workshops in different organisations. He is particularly interested in helping actors to explore and use their body/mind system to improve their performances. Cedric is a member of the Chiron Association of Body Psychotherapy, CABP. Email: cedric.psychotherapy@mac.com

Going Deeper - Releasing our inner potential
Eight meetings to be more in touch with who we are
Thursdays 28th January - 18th March 2010, 7 to 9 pm
Fee: £130 (Deposit £40)  
From the moment of our birth, we start developing numerous ways of relating to ourselves and to others. Although these strategies give us a sense of who we are, this identity can sometimes be out of tune with our inner reality and hinder our quest to be fully alive and part of the world. On the stage, this can manifest itself in different ways: difficulty in expressing ourselves, feeling restricted in the way we move, various bodily tensions, a lack of spontaneity and a sense of judging one’s self while performing.