Le Coq-Based Workshops in the summer in Barcelona, Spain.

[Marcus Bale]

Le Coq-Based Workshops in the upcoming months in Barcelona, Spain

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I am helping to organize a series of 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 few 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. The feedback I have
been getting in the last few years from the people that joined these
workshops has been wonderful!

– What are the different workshops?

1 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE ACTING 1st to 5th of April 2010
(including arrival and departure dates)

2 – THE CREATIVE ACTOR from the 18th to the 31st of July 2010
(including arrival and departure dates). This workshop has a two day
break on the 24th and the 25th of July.

3 – ACTING FOR CAMERA from the 3rd to the 16th of August 2010
(including arrival and departure dates).This workshop has a two day
break on the 9th and 10th of August.

4 – THE CLOWN from the 20th of August to the 2nd of September 2010
(including arrival and departure dates).This workshop has a two day
break on the 26th and 27th of August.

5 – ADVANCED CLOWN 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of September
(including arrival and departure dates).

6 – DIRECTING PERFORMANCE 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th
of September (including arrival and departure dates).

Here is some info about each workshop:

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WORKSHOP 1: Introduction to Creative Acting (1st – 5th of April)

This workshop is for anyone who wants to contact, explore and develop
their creativity through acting.

– Games
– Improvisation
– Storytelling
– Masks
– Relaxation
– Clowning
– Devising

Introduction to Creative Acting’ offers a voyage of personal discovery
that allows you to identify your creative potential, in a supportive
and non-competitive environment, where you can give acting a go with
no fear or risk of failure…
If you have never done any acting before but always wanted to, or you
work in a related field, or you are simply interested in the
experience that acting can bring, this is an opportunity for you to
have a creative adventure.
Remember when you were a child and you just played for hours and
hours… well, this is what this workshop is about: FUN. Come and play,
allow yourself to be creative! It’s in your nature, reconnect with it!

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WORKSHOP 2: 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.

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WORKSHOP 3: Acting for Camera: From stage to screen (3rd – 16th of August)
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.

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WORKSHOP 4: The Clown: The Secrets of Comedy and the art of the
ridiculous. (20th August – 2nd September)

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.

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WORKSHOP 5: Advanced Clown: “Getting your Act together…” ( 4th – 10th
of September)

This workshop is for performers who want to create a professional
Clown Act, or build a solid foundation for a whole show by working up
one or two scenes. You will provide the idea and the context for the
piece (Theatre, Cabaret, New Circus, Street, etc.) and we will help
you bring it alive.

The Process

From our experience of creating shows with numerous professional
Companies we have refined our approach into a 3 part Creative Process.

Training: This stage naturally puts you into a state of discovery and
receptivity and opens you to new possibilities that go beyond your
initial idea.

R&D (Research and Development): At this stage everything is possible.
You are not yet devising so you can freely generate material, get it
wrong, get it right, etc. with no pressure to come up with the
finished piece as you are just trying things out, however silly they
may seem.

Devising and Rehearsing: Before you know it, you will find yourself
devising and rehearsing as you naturally move forward into structuring
the work. You will have felt the need to contain all the great
creativity that was flowing during the R&D stage and give it form and
life.

Finally there will be a Public Performance, where you can try out the
piece with a real audience here in Spain before taking it home.

At each stage in the process we will stimulate, coach, guide and direct you.

Whose it for: To attend this workshop you need to have done the Clown
workshop with us (or you need to have trained in Clown with a teacher
who we recognise as having a similar approach). If you come as a group
at least one of the members must be experienced in Clown.

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WORKSHOP 6: Directing Performance: Directing your Project (Theatre or
Film) (13th – 19th of September)

This unique workshop is for anyone that wants to direct Theatre or
Film professionally. It is a ‘hands on’ practical experience where
Directors will work with Actors and Writing.

You, as a Director, will be able to develop your own approach to
creating Drama or Comedy, confidently guided by intuition and
imagination but always within a solid structure:

– You will learn how to direct actors by giving them a freedom and a
structure at the same time, allowing them the chance to create their
best work.

– You will learn to devise scenes and work up scripts.

– You will also learn how to recognise good writing and develop it
(not everything is playable).

– We will cover the basics of teamwork. You will also experience what
it is like to be directed.

– You will fully experience the Creative Triangle: Writing, Acting and
Directing.

– Directors need to create a space and inspire an atmosphere where
creative risks can be taken, without fear of failure and where effort
and achievement can be recognised.

What is the role of a director?

Teamwork – Teamworks!
The Game.
Dramatic Motors / Dramatic Situation.
Devising.
Scripts, Text and Subtext.
The Gap.
Conscious vs Unconscious. Characters motivation.
Directing the Scene and the Unseen.
Writing and Directing Writing.

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– 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 workshops cost?: The price of of the workshops varies:

1 – INTRODUCTION TO CREATIVE ACTING: 200€
2 – THE CREATIVE ACTOR: 650€
3 – ACTING FOR CAMERA: 665€
4 – THE CLOWN: 650€
5 – ADVANCED CLOWN: 350€
6 – DIRECTING PERFORMANCE: 500€

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

– How can I pay the workshops?: There is a variety of possibilities
to pay the workshops. It can be done via credit card, cheque, or bank
account transfer. There is also the possibility of paying thes
workshops in instalments. More info on this will be sent for you if
you contact me expressing interest in booking a place.

– Discounts:

For ”The Creative Actor”, “Acting for Camera” or “The Clown” there is
a discount of 50€. People doing “Introduction to Creative Acting” or
“Advanced Clown” can get a discount of 20€.

Who is eligible to a discount?:
A – People who had already done workshops in the Actors Space before.
B – People booking in groups of 2 or more (50€ discount for each
person in the group)
C – People booking to do more than one workshop (50€ discount per
workshop they are doing).

– Award Discounts:

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. 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: 00353-86-3173543

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

—
Marcus Bale Cornally
Snatch Comedy Improv Troupe
http://www.snatchcomedy.com

60 Abbeyview, Kinsale,
Co. Cork, Ireland
Phone: 00353214772190
Mobile: 00353863173543
Email: marcusbale@gmail.com

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