Intensive Acting Workshops (LeCoq) this summer in Barcelona!

[Marcus Bale]

Dear fellow Actors & Actresses,

I am helping to organize 3 different Intensive workshops this summer
in Barcelona based on the work of Jacques LeCoq.

The teachers are Simon Edwards & Marian Masoliver. They both trained
with Jacques Le Coq in Paris and worked all around the world as
performers, directors and drama teachers.

I have trained with them in the last two years and the quality was so
high and the workshop so enjoyable, that I started helping them with
the organization of the workshops because I wanted to get more people
to know about them and go to train with them. Last year more than 25
people went to do these workshops from Ireland and the feedback from
these participants has been fantastic throughout. It was a great
success!!

– What are the different workshops?

1 – The Creative Actor (18th-31st of July) (including arrival and departure dates)
2- Acting for Camera (3rd-16th of August) (including arrival and departure dates)
3- The Clown (20th-31st of August) (including arrival and departure dates)

Here is some info about each workshop:

---

WORKSHOP 1: The Creative Actor (18th-31st of July)

Inspired by the teachers work with Jacques Lecoq, this essential
training gives a comprehensive experience and understanding of the art
of acting. A ‘must do’ workshop for anyone who wants to seriously
deepen their knowledge of dramatic and comic art.

The group will be working with carefully developed progressive
exercises and techniques that release the creative power of the actor,
including:

– Replay of daily life – by observing the world around, the actor has
to convey authentic daily life situations and incident (without
exaggeration or distortion). This work with space, timing and action
is a vital building block for later performance and creation.

– Neutral Mask (essential dramatic presence) – this mask allows the
actor to simplify and modify their own physical habits and
idiosyncrasies through a series of special improvisational exercises.
The actor learns to unlearn and uncovers the body’s full dramatic
potential as a blank page, which later can take on different dramatic
states and characters.

– Children (play, energy, imagination, state and innocence) – the
innate play instinct that we all share is the driving force of
theatre. Through this liberating work the actor becomes released from
inhibitions and self-consciousness. Freedom and spontaneity are
accepted as our natural state. We then start to channel this ability
into more sophisticated play and games (dramatic and comic creation).

– Mask Theatre (including mask making) – developing the expressive
power of the performer with movement, stillness and the dramatic
attitudes of the Mask. By using masks in training the ability of the
physical actor becomes greatly increased.

– Theatre Creation and Performance – Dynamics of a scene, rhythm and
crescendo. Identifying the motors in the dramatic or comic situation.

---

WORKSHOP 2: Acting for Camera: From stage to screen

This workshop is designed to train the actor in techniques that have
been developed specifically for film or TV acting. A fine-tuning
experience that enables the actor to find and give a true performance
for the camera without distortion or exaggeration.

The group will be working with:

• Physical Listening & the Senses.
• Script Work, Cold Reading & Analysis of Text.
• Fundamental Techniques for acting for the camera.
• Character’s Inner Voice.
• Character through Action.
• Rehearsing and Taking Direction.
• Working on Set.
• Creating your own filmed work.

This innovative approach is performance led and allows the actor to be
a fully creative artist and not just an interpreter of text.

Throughout the workshop participants follow a series of specially
crafted exercises leading to working in front of the camera (on set).

During the course an ambience of teamwork is created allowing actors
to work together in a creative way.

This workshop is about empowering the actor which has great value for
the participants and often leads them into professional work in the
film industry.

"Coming from a performing background we realized that the actor’s
power was being overlooked and more often that not was only being used
as a cog in a machine. Drawing on the training we received in Paris
from Lecoq (teacher to Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush, European actor of
the year 2000 Sergi Lopez and Steven Berkoff) we took these principals
of dramatic/comic creation and developed them specifically for the
techniques of Acting for Camera." Simon Edwards on the ‘Acting for
Camera’ workshop.

---

WORKSHOP 3: The Clown: The Secrets of Comedy and the art of the ridiculous.

The Clown makes us laugh but how? Some people seem to make us laugh
just by walking onto the stage but why? A ‘Master class’ in the art
of Comedy, led by Simon Edwards, teacher to some of today’s leading
international comic actors.

Working with each actor’s personal comic presence, we begin to
understand and develop comic action and timing. We will be working
with:

1- Comic presence (finding your own Clown)
2- The smallest mask in the world (the red nose)
3- Comic action and timing
4- The flop, fiasco and cascade
5- Comic relationships (solos, duos and trios)
6- Numeros (circus, cabaret)
7- Theatre Clown
8- Clown on Camera
9- Comic Creation

This workshop offers an intensive training and comic creation where
the actor discovers his or her own personal ridiculousness.

---

– Where are these workshops happening?: The Actors Space ( – Vic
(Barcelona)-). The Actors Space is located in a place of outstanding
natural beauty, right in the heart of the Catalan countryside only one
hour from Barcelona. The workshop takes place in a 16th century
farmhouse, which holds accommodation for up to 20 people. The main
barn has been converted into a large studio, this is where most of the
workshop sessions happen (Its a BEAUTIFUL PLACE believe you me!).

– How much do these workshop cost?: The price of any of these workshops is 650€

– What does this price include?: The price includes the fees for the
10-days of training + shared accommodation and all home-made
Mediterranean meals! (Food is gorgeous!)

– FOR EACH COURSE THERE ARE 5 AWARD DISCOUNTS. These discounts will be
given to people with low income (students, unemployed, etc). The award
discount is of 10% of the course (65€ – Making the cost of the
workshop: 585€). These discounts are given on a first-come-first-serve
basis.

If you are interested in participating in any of these workshops or
want more information, please contact me:

Email: marcusbale@gmail.com
Phone: 086-3173543

If you know anybody who would be interested in participating in any of
these workshops, please forward this email to them. Thanks!

Best wishes,

Marcus Bale

[Author]

Posts