Several of Staffordshire’s leading theatre directors will be leading students attending the Staffordshire University Drama Summer School runs from the 13th to 15th August 2014 in Stoke-on-Trent.
The summer school, which is open to adults who wish to increase their expertise and brush up on exisiting skills, can choose one of two subjects.
Directing for the Stage
Using a variety of texts, highly regarded commercial theatre directors Robert Marsdon and Richard Cheshire will lead participants through a professional approach to directing plays.
The course will explore
- Verse speaking and approaches for the actor
- Pre-rehearsal research and approaches
- Creating the ‘world’ of the production
- To block or not to block?
- Rehearsal techniques to support actors in characterisation, their processes and discovering the world of the play
- Problem Solving
- Finding your own ‘Style’
This intensive short course is pefect for teachers of English and Drama who wish to practically explore directing, actors wishing to up-skill in directing, graduates interested in the directing process, youth theatre directors and theatre practitioners.
This course takes place at Staffordshire University
Performing Shakespeare
In a practically driven short course, Directors Ian Moore and Matthew Bowden will lead participants through a variety of exercises and techniques to support students in a professional approach to verse, voice and performing Shakespeare.
Topics covered will include:
- Wordplay
- Voice work
- Explore sonnets, speeches and scenes
- Embodying the language and exploring the ‘world’ of the play
This course is ideally suited to English and Drama teachers who have to teach Shakespeare, actors and directors who are wishing to refresh or upskill, youth theatre leaders and independent theatre practitioners.
This course takes place at Victoria Hall, Stoke-on-Trent
How To Apply
The three day course costs £150, and to book a place you can download the application form here and email it back to Robert Marsden r.j.marsden@staffs.ac.uk or post to:
Robert Marsden, Faculty of Arts and Creative Technologies, Staffordshire University, College Road, Stoke on Trent, ST4 2DE
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About The Teachers
Robert Marsden
@Theatrerob
Robert Marsden has directed for both the subsidised and commercial theatre sectors in the UK. He has worked at the New Vic Theatre, Staffordshire, Bolton Octagon, Yvonne Arnaud Guildford, Stephen Joseph Scarborough (as assistant to Sir Alan Ayckbourn); Southwark Playhouse; BBC; Reveal Theatre Company; National Tours and numerous pantomimes for various companies including Imagine Theatre. He has also directed a number of site-specific theatre projects in Europe.
Ian Moore
www.facebook.com/iankarlmoore
Ian Moore is Artistic Director of Black Box Theatre Company, Liverpool and Creative Learning Manager at both The Regent Theatre and Victoria Hall, Stoke; specialisms include Shakespeare-based text work, Improvisation, Stanislavski and Sanford Meisner.
Ian is also a freelance playwright with a series of awards and nominations to his name most recently for Catfish Therapy a new production which explores dissociative identity disorder.
Richard Cheshire
LinkedIn.com/Richard-Cheshire
Richard is as an experienced professional theatre director. He was Associate Director at The Royal Theatre Northampton where he directed Congreve’s Way of the World, Langford Wilson’s Talley’s Folly, John Godber’s Teechers and Phil Young’s Crystal Clear and performed in the Royal’s centenary production of Cinderella, which was featured in the launch of The Guardian’s weekend magazine.
Richard founded and was director of the Schools’ Shakespeare Project in association with Aberystwyth Arts Centre where his company created applied theatre projects for young people touring productions of Shakespeare’s texts throughout schools and colleges throughout Wales.
