David Edgar, the English playwright (http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsE/edgar-david.html) has a new book out, “How Plays Work” published by Nick Hern.  You can read a section here http://tinyurl.com/lo7ygc in the form of an article in the Guardian newspaper.  You can also listen to Edgar being interviewed about the book, and about his attitude to teaching playwrighting here http://tinyurl.com/ltqeqt.

As actors, we can be too precious about what we need to know about how plays are written, how they are structured (or not), and why. I do think it is important to understand how plays work, as long as we recognise that the craft of writing a play involves acquiring certain skills and techniques while the craft of performing in a play requires a different set of skills and techniques.  That said, I believe that playwrights and actors – in fact, all those involved in creating performance – benefit from the ability to analyse a play in a variety of ways.

Yes, I’ve finally decided what I want to be when I grow up – nah, only joking.

I have decided, though, that the Acting Class Term 3 will run for 6 (that’s SIX) sessions, beginning on August 23 and finishing on September 27. We will work on a different Archetype each week, that means six Archetypes, with a good 3 hours each week to get them deeply experienced in the body, and deeply sounded in the voice. Boy, will we have Some Fun!

Hope to see you there…  if I can ever get RapidWeaver to publish the revised information. So, here is the deal:

Term 3
THE ARCHETYPAL ACTOR

Sunday 23 August to Sunday 27 September
9.00 am to 12.30 pm
Metro Arts
109 Edward St, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
Cost: AU$315 (6 sessions)
Earlybird AU$280 (if paid by 1 August, 2009)
(Limited Places)
This term the emphasis will be on discovering characters, exploring a wide variety of physical and vocal qualities by working with six different Archetypes over six sessions.
Contact Being in Voice to enquire or to book your place.

WORKING WITH ARCHETYPES

allows you to playfully tap into the power of your inner life, learning how to release creative impulses safely, wholeheartedly, joyfully, as you discover a huge range of physical and vocal possibilities, and apply them to any text with specificity. Creating characters then comes naturally as you unlock the key to the treasure chest of your physical and vocal imagination.

WORKING WITH ARCHETYPES

is a physical and vocal training discipline that combines body, mind and spirit with voice.

Using exercises derived from mask work, we explore a range of physical and vocal qualities in order to access the Archetypes within us all*. When applied to performance of text, Archetypes offer a means of comprehending with body, heart and mind, and consequently being able to take advantage of the intrinsic instability, or paradox which is at the core of life, which the actor strives to embody in performance and which audiences recognize as ‘truthful’, ‘real’ and ‘spontaneous’.

HERO – MAIDEN – HUNTRESS – FOOL – HERMIT – TRICKSTER

Archetypes (Arche – original; type – pattern) are unique yet universal ideas of ways of being human, recognizable in myths and folk tales from all cultures throughout the known world and from our dreams. The Archetype is not a particular, living (or even one-time living) human being, but rather a familiar, yet heightened idea of a human being, from which we may categorize each other, our friends and enemies, dream figures and iconographic ideals. Unlike stereotypes, which can be defined as fixed, unvarying forms, embodying oversimplified conceptions of ways of being, Archetypes retain a quality of being somehow ultimately indefinable, while being instantly recognizable. It is this paradox of the Archetype that provides the actor with the ability to ‘be’ the character s/he is playing without ever ‘not being’ him or her true self.

* This work is based on the teachings of John Wright (“The Masks of the Archetypes”) and Frankie Armstrong (“The Voices of the Archetypes”). I have taken it further to incorporate working with text.

Email me at [email protected] to book your place.