Introduction to Dramatic Writing with Michelle Read, from 18 April

The Gaiety School of Acting is delighted to have Michelle Read teach this wonderful and innovative Dramatic Writing Course.  Michelle is an award-winning playwright and theatre-maker. She has written mainly for stage and radio, but also for RTE TV’s continuing drama series Fair City (2004 – 2008). Her awards include the Hugh Leonard Bursary and the Eamon Keane Full-Length Play Award for Snakelight (2009), the Stewart Parker/BBC Northern Ireland Drama Award for The Other Side (2003), an Ondas Award for international radio for A Day In The Life of Kitty Sway (2000), and an Edinburgh Fringe First for Romantic Friction (1998).

Introduction to Dramatic Writing is suitable for those new to dramatic writing. It is a practical ten-week course that explores contemporary playwriting both on the page and in performance.  It provides the new writer with an introduction to character, story creation and dialogue writing. Participants are led through a series of practical writing exercises, discussions and examples in order to create and develop their own dramatic idea. The course also includes a theatre trip, in order to explore the transition of a play from the “map” of the script, to a live work in performance.

For more information on the course please visit our website: http://www.gaietyschool.com/courses/part_time/short_course_adult/388/#details or call reception on 016799277 for more information.

Michelle is currently Playwright in Residence at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght, where she is collaborating with primary school children on a series of short plays with, and for children, as well as writing a new full-length, play for adults. Most recently her tiny play The Nation’s Assets was part of Fishamble Theatre Company’s Tiny Plays For Ireland (Project, March 2012).

Michelle’s association with the Gaiety School of Acting began in 2001 when she wrote the first of two graduation shows (Lower Than The Heart, 2001 and latterly Toxic, 2011). She has facilitated the dramatic writing courses since 2008.

MA in Theatre – ‘Create the Future’ Open Day at the Gaiety School of Acting

What? Workshop, Discussion and Smock Alley Theatre Tour
Where? Essex Street West, Temple Bar, Dublin 8
When? Saturday 31 March from 2pm until 5pm

To celebrate the 2012 launch of our Masters in Theatre, The Gaiety School of Acting – The National Theatre School of Ireland and the School of English, Media and Theatre Studies at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth are holding an open day for prospective students on Saturday 31 March. Meet the people, view the training spaces and get a taste of the MA in Theatre.

Schedule
2pm: Warm up Taster Workshop

3pm: “Create the Future” Panel Discussion with Q&A session with course directors Professor Chris Morash, Head of the School of English, Media and Theatre Studies at NUI Maynooth, Patrick Sutton, Director of The Gaiety School of Acting

4pm: Tour of Smock Alley: Built in 1662, Smock Alley was the first custom-built theatre in the city and still remains in substantially the same form, making it one of the most important sites in European theatre history.

NUI, Maynooth Graduate Studies Officer, Eilis Murray, will also be available over the course of the day to discuss funding options for students.

Why study with us?
The MA in Theatre is performance based. It is a unique programme built around the collaborative experience of theatre-making.

The Gaiety School of Acting has a 25 year history of training actors for the theatre, film and television industries.

The MA in Theatre combines practical classes along with the student’s self-directed work and seminars, linking both the academic and the practical.

For more information about the course and to book your place on our open day please contact:
Tracy O’Flaherty on 01 -7083667 or email: semts@nuim.ie
www.english.nuim.ie
www.graduatestudies@nuim.ie
www.gaietyschool.com

 

 

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Serious about Acting? The Gaiety School of Acting has over 25 years experience in the training of actors. Why not audition for our Two-Year Full Time Intensive Training programme and follow the footsteps of our many successful alumni. Auditions are taking place on Friday 16 March, Friday 13 April, Friday 11 May, Friday 15 June and Friday 13 July. Applications will be accepted until 30 June 2012. Call us on 01 6799277 or check out our website http://www.gaietyschool.com/courses/full_time/ for more information.

The Alexander Technique Masterclass with Aisling Morgan

The Gaiety School of Acting is delighted to announce the Alexander Technique Masterclass with Aisling Morgan which will take place on Saturday, 12th May from 10am to 5pm.

The Alexander Technique was developed over one hundred years ago by Frederick Matthias Alexander, an Australian actor who was suffering from loss of his voice during performance. Through his technique he overcame this problem and experienced a dramatic improvement in health. The Alexander Technique is now taught all over the world and is especially highly regarded in drama and music circles. Students of the technique relearn a more co-ordinated use of the body. Common difficulties for actors and musicians include performance related anxiety and physical tension/pain.  This workshop will explore how the Alexander Technique can help students with such difficulties and improve the quality of their experience as a performing actor.

Participants of the Alexander Technique workshop can expect to:

• Learn how to release unnecessary tension/strain that has become habitual
• Understand the causes of poor posture and physical tension/pai n
• Learn how to move more efficiently and effectively
• Investigate ways of working with performance anxiety to improve the quality of experience as a   performing actor
• Explore how an increase in body awareness opens up more possibilities in terms of expression and also improves stage presence
• Learn how to carry out a simple lying down exercise known as constructive rest
• Understand the health benefits of this exercise and its relevance to performance

Date: Saturday, 12th May 2012
Time: 10am – 5pm
Cost: €100

To book your place, call 01 6799277 NOW!

Wright Way Master Classes in the UK

Physical Theatre Workshop (9th&10th July) at The Gaiety School of Acting

We are offering a Physical Theatre Workshop this weekend led by our Very own Antoinette Duffy.  The course will run for two days (Saturday & Sunday) from 10am to 5pm each day.

If you are looking for a course that focuses on the actor as creator of their own work, you’ve found it!

The Term Physical Theatre is used to describe a variety of performance styles and methods which have as their primary focus the physical work of the performer as expressed throug the use of their bodies.

Participant will create/devise small pieces of theatre using body, voice, gesture, sound, music, colour, space and object.

The work will be stimulated by poetry, art, music, story and more!

This active and fast paced course will be informed by a number of 20th century practitoner including Brecht, Bogart, Laban, Boal, Barba and others.

SEE HERE FOR MORE+

 

 

Introducing our new Dramatic English!

Introducing our innovative new Dramatic English classes giving non-native English speakers the chance to learn the language in a fun and creative way through the medium of Drama.

This course will be offered on three levels – Elementary, Intermediate & Advanced.

Elementary – Drama classes for students with Basic English. Using improvisation, role play and basic scripts to improve English and Drama skills. Basic grammar and language will be the focus

Intermediate – Drama classes for students with a working knowledge of English. Each week will focus on a grammatical point or fluency (idiomatic phrases, descriptive language etc) through improvisation, role play and scripts.

Advanced – For students who have an advanced level of English but want to learn more about Irish culture and theatre. Using Irish scripts, colloquial expressions.

Check out our Summer Brochure for dates and details here.

A post by Richie Venezia, one of our IES Students

It’s now coming on week six of my time here; time sure flies. My name is Rich Venezia, and I am one of the eleven American students studying through IES Abroad here at the Gaiety School of Acting this semester.

We are working hard Monday to Friday, with classes starting usually around 8:30 and ending around 5:30, give or take an hour or so. LONG days, for sure. We take improvisation, acting, voice, movement, dance/tap, mime, stage combat, text, theatre history, stagecraft, manifesto, and singing.

I am originally from central New Jersey, but I attend college at Point Park University in Pittsburgh – I will be graduating in May!

One of the first things that struck me here is the ideas of an improv class and a stagecraft class are quite different than back home. Improv back home is very often theatre games, long-form, short-form, etc., while here it has been more about readiness, awareness, and freedom – same basic principles, but different approaches. We only just got into “improv” as us Americans know it in our fourth or fifth class. Stagecraft is about the craft of acting, and has little, if nothing, to do with technical theatre for the performer.

One of my favorite classes is manifesto. In it, we explore who we are as actors, and how we, as actors, respond to situations. We are given prompts and asked to respond to them; there are basically no rules, except that the piece has to “feel about a minute long.” Our first few prompts included arguing for whether theatre should effect change or act as pure entertainment, rediscovering your tenth birthday, and responding to a news story. It’s a brilliant class; I am loving every minute. I was asked to respond to a news story for my first piece. Here is a link to the post I wrote on our manifesto blog: Performance Thoughts.

The other classes are going well, too. We worked on Brian Friel in acting – a “Philadelphia, Here I Come” group scene that has now been put to bed, as well as some “Dancing at Lughnasa” scenes that will be wrapping up in the next few days… I am quite excited to start work on Oscar Wilde this week! We’ve also worked on a lot basic techniques through our scenes, like focus, specificity, and following direction. Though sometimes class is 3.5 hours long, it gives us lots of time to explore and create – I only wish classes were that long back at home!

Voice has been a lot of beginning stuff – which is great, because I feel this is what I missed somewhere along the way back home. We are working with Linklater techniques (which I love), and exploring our voice through various poets – most recently it was Derek Mahon and some Romantic poets.

As for the rest, Improv is a lot of fun – trust exercises have been the main focus lately, as well as word association games. A few weeks ago, we fell off a table into our classmate’s arms a few feet below – talk about terrifying (but liberating).  Stage combat is more difficult than I thought it’d be, but we also have a very short class to perfect it in, so it’s a work in progress. Theatre history is grand – I’m a sucker for the academic side of things. Stagecraft has been a bit of fun tableau work, and singing has been both ensemble work and solo singing. The ensemble singing is basic stuff, but it’s really good for those who’ve never sung before. Solo-wise, I get to work on a gorgeous song that I’ve been dying to for ages (“Love Who You Love”), so that’ll be really nice. Mime is brilliant – we’re spoiled with a great teacher who studied with Marceau. She works us hard, but has also made me realize how important mime is to what we do in traditional theatre. Movement has been fun – a lot of warm-ups and various exercises — though we’ve only had a few classes because of some schedule issues, so I hope to explore even more in the next few weeks! Dance and tap is kicking my behind, but it is glorious, and a preview for next semester as I will be taking both jazz and ballet five days a week!

I’m really glad of my decision to come here and study for the term – the teachers are great, the classes are great, the people are great – I only wish we could stay longer!

–
Rich Venezia

richvenezia.nowcasting.com

Irish Theatre January Term 2011 dates announced

The Irish Theatre January Term will run in 2011 from 03 January 2011 until 21 January 2011.

The J-Term is aimed at students who wish to focus on the works of Irish playwrights, and we focus in particular on the works of Samuel Beckett, J.M. Synge, Sean O’Casey and Brian Friel. The format of the course is 3 hours of acting classes and rehearsals each day, academic seminars which will provide historical and cultural background of the work and voice classes. We also organise a range of theatre visits each week as well as cultural visits to some of Dublin’s finest sites.

We welcome applications from Irish and international students and more information on enrolment can be obtained by contacting coordinator@gaietyschool.com