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Drama Workshops for Acting Teachers in Essex

Off The Text Workshops provide a diverse range of performing arts workshops to support the delivery of the curriculum and your own professional development. Based in East Sussex, they offer competitively priced programmes of diverse drama workshops throughout the academic year in the Autumn and Spring terms. Their workshops take place on Saturdays, thereby avoiding expensive cover and the complications of leaving exam classes. Each full day workshop led by expert practitioners supports a different aspect of the curriculum that will enhance your teaching.

Their programme for the coming year includes: Meyerhold's Biomechanics Workshop with Stephen Hudson (Saturday 13 January). Biomechanics, created by Russian director Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874-1940), is a rigorous physical training based on the premise that in order to be imaginatively free the actor must by physically free. It trains the actor’s physical dexterity, elasticity and responsiveness. Meyerhold, a renowned actor and director with the Moscow Art Theatre, regarded movement, gesture, space and rhythm, as the primary elements of the language of theatre. He dreamed of creating a theatre that would give its audience truthful images of life but that wouldn’t seek to imitate or copy life, a theatre capable of revealing inner dialogue by means of the music of plastic movement.

Stage Combat Workshop: Storytelling through staged violence with Peter Basham (Saturday 3 February). This workshop will explore some of the principles of directing stage combat. Including practical session learning a selection of moves commonly used by fight directors.  We will then look at how these principles are applied to text.  Using extracts from modern and classical plays we will work out how to best tell the story and show the world of the play through stage combat. It will be a physical workshop that will give teachers the confidence to safely and convincingly portray stage violence with their students.

For all information and more https://www.offthetextworkshops.com/home

The Triforce Creative Network for Actors, Writers and Directors

TriForce Creative Network was built on a strong ethos of inclusion and access, opening doors to the industry to people from all walks of life and providing a trusted and viable avenue for the industry to discover diverse talent. We provide opportunities for actors, writers, directors, producers and crew through the following initiatives:

MonologueSlam UK

Supported by Spotlight, Equity and Channel 4, MonologueSlam UK is a renowned nationwide showcase for actors. For more info go to: monologueslamuk.com

WriterSlam UK

Supported by Channel 4, ITV, Sky and BBC, as well as production companies Hat Trick, Tiger Aspect and TriForce Productions, WriterSlam provides a platform for writers looking to break into TV. Prizes include paid development commissions and mentoring with top TV executives. For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/writerslam/

TriForce Short Film Festival

TFSFF is a short film festival established by the TriForce Creative Network in 2012 to showcase talent in contemporary film-making, helping emerging film-makers to develop skills and access opportunities to further their careers. 16 shortlisted films get the chance to be seen on the big screen, in front of key industry representatives, with the winning film-makers earning career development opportunities with our industry partners, as well as a cash prize for their next project. The TFSFF takes place at BAFTA, presenting a packed day of seminars tackling the key issues of the industry and offering invaluable advice from industry professionals, alongside a bustling industry expo and screenings of the shortlisted films. For more information go to: tfsff.com

The TCN Incubator

The TCN Incubator in association with Creative Skillset will develop 6 writers over a 12 month period with regular workshops, script development and mentoring. Building on the success of our writers initiative WriterSlam, this is an incredible opportunity for 6 writers wanting to take their next step in writing for TV! For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/incubator/

TriForce Productions

The production company was set up to create TV, film and online content, with a focus on diverse content for mainstream audiences. We delivered our first broadcast commission, Sorry, I Didn’t Know, a comedy panel show with a twist for ITV2 in 2016, with more projects in the pipeline. For more information go to: http://thetcn.com/triforce-productions/

Creative visualization and mental rehearsal for actors

Creative visualization is the cognitive process of generating mental imagery, with eyes open or closed, simulating or recreating visual perception in order to maintain, inspect, and transform those images and consequently modifying their associated emotions and feelings with intent to experience a subsequent beneficial effect, alleviating anxiety, improving self-esteem and self-confidence, and enhancing the capacity to cope when interacting with others.

For actors, mental rehearsal can make a big impact on performance. Research shows that mentally rehearsing scenes, monologues or auditions in your head is almost as effective as actual rehearsal. The explanation is that the same neural pathways are activated by mental rehearsal as actual rehearsal.

So how should you mentally rehearse? First, relax, find somewhere comfortable and quiet and breathe deeply. In through the nose, then hold and out through the mouth.  Second, imagine in vivid details of sound, movement, feelings and visualisation, whatever you want to practise. Third, imagine it from beginning to end, including a successful conclusion. Fourth, repeat regularly. Mental rehearsal is a technique that athletes, musicians, doctors, soldiers, and even astronauts use to prepare for the worst and perform at their best. 

Mark Westbrook's Actor's Guide to Overcoming Mental Interference

Even the best actors can struggle to convert audition opportunities in acting jobs. The 12 Obstacles, An Actor's Guide to Overcoming Mental Interference in Exceptional Performance, reveals how all of us are challenged by the mental interference of performing under pressure, because audition success requires more than just good acting and a bit of luck. 

Author, acting coach and performance psychology expert Mark Westbrook reveals the 12 most common obstacles that stand in the way of our best acting performances under pressure. Mark offers powerful tools for overcoming these obstacles, freeing your natural ability from the restraints of the Inner Critic. 

Mark Westbrook is one of the most outspoken acting coaches in the UK, his blog is regularly read by over 30,000 people. His clients include Oscar and BAFTA winners. He is the author of Truth in Action, a Manual of Common Sense for Actors. Every day Mark helps actors overcome their mental obstacles on their way to a more truthful and captivating performance.

Marks says: "We are masters of self-sabotage. t's my mission to help you overcome the mental obstacles that block the route to exceptional performance. In my eBOOK The 12 Obstacles, I'll introduce you to the 12 mental obstacles that you'll have to overcome to give every performance your best.  Then, I'll give suggestions about how to overcome them. And you can download it for free. So what's stopping you?"

http://actingcoachscotland.co.uk/12-obstacles-ebook/