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Modern Times at the Union Theatre London by W&M Productions

After successful sell out runs of their last five shows (Shorts @ The Canal 1 & 2, The Twilight Hour 1 & 2 and Love Shots) at venues which include the Canal Cafe Theatre (Little Venice), the Union Theatre (Southwark) and the Etcetera Theatre (Camden), W&M Productions would like to let you know about their next show: 
 
"Modern Times" taking place at the Union Theatre from 9 to 13 April 2019: a series of brand new one-act plays by some outstanding new generation playwrights. Each play offers a unique insight into being a woman today, and brings a new perspective to the way we live now: always exciting, mostly extraordinary and with sometimes terrifying immediacy. 
 
Their aim is to give an outlet to all emerging writers, directors and actors. The 6 short plays of "Modern Times" were selected from over 1000 submissions. Lots of recent graduates/3rd year students have been involved from various drama schools in the past, including those from RADA, Central, Mountview, East 15, KADA, ArtsEd and others.

International Winter School of Physical Theatre 2018

International Winter School of Physical Theatre is specifically designed to prepare participants for a professional practice, both within the educational context and within the professional development of performers.

Primarily aimed at high-level dancers, choreographers, directors and actors who wish to extend their knowledge and skills through the practical investigations of how to: develop the understanding of the dance and movement, performance and acting, be choreographer, coach, director of movement and dance, create professional performance in a limited rehearsal time.

Practical sessions are designed to enhance understanding of performance making and rehearsal processes, and skills in pedagogy. Winter School is a simple way that can help you formulate your personal unique approach to work with actors and dancers, through the intensive practical training based on the Ostrenko Brothers Method of performer's physical training and rehearsal.

Students may expect to encounter the techniques of such outstanding figures as V. Meyerhold, M. Chekhov, K. Stanislavski and E. Barba. The course is taught by the experienced professional practitioners, experts in performing arts pedagogy, actors’ training, theatre directing and movement research in intercultural groups and projects. 

Teachers are Sergei Ostrenko and Gennady Ostrenko. The working language is English. Deadline is 19 February 2018. Location is Leitring bei Leibnitz, Steiermark, Austria. For all information http://www.iugte.com/projects/lab

 

 

Playwright Jim Cartwright Drama Studio's Quiet Revolution

Cartwright, whose plays include The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and Road, holds three drama classes every Sunday. He started the classes in 2015 after reading comments from Dame who said she would not be able to afford to become an actress if she was starting out again."It made me really cross because I'm from a working class background," he says.

Reading articles about shrinking opportunities made him "like a bull with a sore head", he says. So his wife told him: "Don't get angry. Do something." He took her advice and set up the drama studio with the aim of bringing through more working class talent, advertising his services in his local fish and chip shop."I got a little card saying 'drama studio' and stuck it on a chippy wall. And I waited. And they came, and they came, and they keep coming."

Two years later, he has five classes in the two locations and has set up a talent agency to represent the budding stars. There is also a youth group. The adult class members range from people who have never set foot on stage to jobbing actors who are honing their skills. There are students, retired people, a few teachers, a former policeman, a fireplace salesman.

Cartwright's efforts come as privately educated actors like Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and Damian Lewis seem to have taken over the TV, film and theatre landscape. Last year, The Sutton Trust found that 42% of the winners in three main Bafta award categories had gone to people from private schools, while Sky News recently calculated that 45% of the BBC’s best-paid stars were also privately educated. Also in 2016, researchers found that 16% of actors came from working class backgrounds - half the level of the population as a whole - and that the British acting profession was "heavily skewed towards the privileged."

Cartwright has turned drama teacher after more than 30 years as one of the most vital voices in British theatre. His debut play Road is currently back at the Royal Court in London, where it launched his career in 1986. He has also acted in TV shows like The Village, From Darkness and Coronation Street. With the Cartwright Drama Studio, he hopes to replicate the "explosion of energy and talent" that came with the Kitchen Sink movement of the 1950s. That was fading by the 1980s, he says, when he noticed "the floppy fringe coming back".

His students come from all sections of society. Some would identify as working class, some wouldn't. But he believes the mindset is what sets his studio apart. Cartwright brings casting directors and agents to see his students perform at regular showcases. Some have won small film and TV roles and are working on their own theatre shows and short films. There are no stars yet - but he is sure some have the talent to go all the way.

At the age of 19, Emma Heyes has studied acting at college and is attending the classes in preparation for auditioning for drama school. In the meantime, she's working on the checkouts at Tesco. She has already had enough acting experience to know her accent puts her at a disadvantage.

As part of the training, Cartwright tasks the group members with writing and performing monologues. He recommends one by 38-year-old Scott Brerton. Brerton reads it and it is a bittersweet tale of trying to remember what happened on a big night out. It is exactly the sharp, funny, full-of-life voice that Cartwright is trying to encourage. Brerton had not acted before he started coming to the classes six months ago. He has now been for his first audition and won his first role, performing in a three-night play in Liverpool last month.

It is early days for all concerned, and the "quiet revolution" may end with a whimper or a roar. But at any rate, Cartwright is on a mission to make it happen.

 

Michelle Terry New Artistic Director of Shakespeare's Globe

An Olivier Award-winning actor and writer, Michelle is well-known to the Globe’s stage, having starred as Rosalind in As You Like It (2015), as Titania/Hippolyta in A Midsummer Night's Dream (2013) and as the Princess of France in Love's Labour's Lost (2007). She also directed Richard III, King John and As You Like It for The Complete Walk (2016), a series of short films created as part of the Globe’s celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.

Michelle Terry says: ‘The work of Shakespeare is for me timeless, mythic, mysterious, vital, profoundly human and unapologetically theatrical. There are no other theatres more perfectly suited to house these plays than the pure and uniquely democratic spaces of The Globe and the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. I am so proud and excited that I will be in the privileged position where I can offer artists the opportunity to come together to reclaim and rediscover not only Shakespeare, but the work of his contemporaries, alongside new work from our current writers. For us to then share those stories with an audience that demands an unparalleled honesty, clarity and bravery, is all a dream come true.’

Michelle most recently starred as the eponymous king in Henry V at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, and as Grace in Katie Mitchell’s production of Cleansed for the National Theatre. Her other stage credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Crucible and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Shakespeare Company), All’s Well That Ends Well (National Theatre), Privacy (Donmar Warehouse) and In The Republic of Happiness (Royal Court). She won an Olivier Award for her performance in Tribes at the Royal Court in 2010 and she is an Associate Artist for the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Michelle also wrote and starred in the Sky One series The Café with Ralf Little; with Rob Hastie she created My Mark, the Donmar’s ten-year project to chart the political growth of the next voting generation; most recently she co-wrote and performed Becoming: part one with Rosalie Craig at The Donmar Warehouse. Michelle trained at RADA.

 

Young Actors Theatre in North London

Young Actors Theatre is a community theatre in Islington, combining a drama school and a professional agency. They offer "drama for drama's sake" to the 3-24 years old with 650+ members, high quality low cost classes and performances. 

Young Actors Theatre believes that the arts can benefit everyone, and that money should not be a barrier to participation and training. The charity is supported by like-minded individuals and organisations to keep its classes at the cheapest level possible. Young Actors theatre gives children the opportunity to experience high quality affordable drama, singing and dance classes, workshops and productions that help build confidence and life skills, learn performance skills, encourage exploration and creativity, nurture talent and help develop careers in the performing arts.

Acting classes are the main activity at the Young Actors Theatre. The charity also offers a professional acting foundation course that enable students to develop an essential performance vocabulary through training in acting, movement and voice. The program offers an individual support for audition preparation and enjoys links with London Drama Schools such as Guidhall School of Music and Drama and Montview Academy. The foundation course gives the opportunity to work with respected professionals included ex-LAMDA teacher Yvonne Morley, Steve Brownie from RADA and Andrew Harries.