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Improve Self-Awareness With Acting Classes

Will, Awareness and Self-Trust should be the aim of any performer, but the most difficult of these to manage is AWARENESS – more specifically non-judgmental self-awareness. This means that as performers, we should develop the skill of listening to what we are doing in any given moment (performance, rehearsal or otherwise). With true awareness, we are able to evaluate and assess what we have done with kindness and decide what went wrong and how to improve next time instead of the harsh and often brutal self-assessment we give ourselves for no real reason.

The world of acting is so submerged in different styles of teaching and techniques that the actor often finds themselves lost in what is right and what is wrong. But more importantly, these teachings only focus on the outward skills an actor might need and neglect the inner game that is happening inside, neglecting the battle the actor finds themselves in – when their mind turns on them, saying they have failed, or that they are worthless, or that maybe acting isn’t for them.

The skill of non-judgemental self-awareness is so vital to the actor that without it, there is no hope to fulfil the potential they have. Audition after audition and role after role, they will criticise themselves with no real base point of reference. That is, they are certain they have made terrible mistakes when in truth, they don’t really know how to judge whether they really were mistakes in the first place.

With proper coaching and a commitment to challenging long held personal beliefs about our own level of skill, any performer can develop the ability of SELF-AWARENESS. With time, the voice inside us that is so convinced we have done everything wrong will quieten and in its place will be a professional who can perform to maximum efficiency and afterwards, perform a self evaluation that is free of negative self-talk and harsh criticism.

The Essence of Drama is Conflict - Squire Stage Combat

For over six years Squire Stage Combat has been working within schools and theatres providing the very best training for actors of all ages. They provide taster workshops, masterclasses and fight direction services to a range of clients from schools and colleges to professional theatre and film productions. Their workshop is designed to give students an insight into stage combat both as a practical performance skill and also as a tool for academic drama study.

A fight is an integral part of the story telling process. So much so that the play it features in could not function in the same way without it. A fight moves the narrative along from one place to another and usually acts as a catalyst to future events. It can act as a climax, tying together the themes, events and characters in a dramatic conclusion. It may also provide a setting for major character development. A fight is a play in micro, and by understanding its construction, students can grasp an understanding of the play as a whole.

Students are taught a range of basic techniques and how to portray stage violence effectively with correct actions and reactions. They also gain an understanding of the basic principles of stage combat including angles, staging and misdirections. Using these skills students are then encouraged to stage their own fights around a selection of scenes looking at how, where and, most importantly, why a fight happens and what effects it has on the play as a whole? Workshops can be tailored around specific study texts with reasonable notice or taken simply as Drama and English enrichment.