Low Fat Drama and Comedy Classes

Whose line is it?  The Writer versus the Actor - Text versus Improvisation:

Lessons 1-6

Some actors delve deeply into their imagined world of their character, others improvise, many are somewhere in-between. This module explores the merits of both, and asks ‘why are you playing this part’? Stanislavskian methods meet improvisation, tools for performance meet tricks of the trade to unlock a character and figure out what the simple roadmap laid by the writer may be.

The Voice and The Body :

Lessons 7-9

There are professional voice coaches who work with actors for months and years. There are highly paid and super famous footballers who will pay someone to help them use their voice properly, in a voice over they have been asked to do.  The voice is a creative muscle that can be worked as much as a bicep.  In this module we take on some highly fun and entertaining exercises in order to flex that muscle. Meanwhile, the rest of the body is not in the head. And yet your ‘neck down’ is the majority of what an audience sees of you. Intellectual understanding your part, and being heard, need to be matched up with a body that looks and feels comfortable.  You will learn simple techniques to appear more comfortable, direct, and in tune with you character on stage.

Radio Skills

Lessons 10-13

How does a radio presenter sound so much better than someone ‘trying to be a radio presenter’? The skills learned in this are often the hardest for actors to grasp, as they are about finding something very close to ‘yourself’ and exaggerating, rather than hiding behind the mask of a character.

Movie Writing

Lessons 14-18

Imagine if you reached the age of 40 before you ever heard of ‘a verse, and a chorus’. That every song in the world that you’ve ever loved has the same structure, whether Metalica or The Beatles. That’s easy for us to understand.  Yet many people don’t know that the same thing exists for movies.  This isn’t about genre - the old ‘there are 7 stories in the world’ - this is about knowing exactly how Jaws is the same as Bridesmaids, and so on.  Each section has a name - just like verse and chorus - and knowing what the writer is intending with each section, can inform greatly how you play the scene.  You may also find yourself writing your own screenplay as a result! You’ll certainly get to practice the skills you learn in ACTION!

The Zoo

Lessons 19-20

Now for the most bizarre sounding module - but don’t be scared.  It is not going to be humiliating, and despite how it sounds, it is incredibly useful.  The study of animals.  Human beings have many shared characteristics with different animals, depending on their personality.  Liam Gallagher, for example, walks in a way that could be compared clearly with certain animals, but we’ll let you decide which. Meanwhile, Keira Knightly, others.  Professional actors use this ‘movement technique’ to inform how they move around a stage as a character. What an actor says is a tiny part of what an audience experiences - so it’s vital to think about this in order to really gain a believable or reliable performance.

Stand Up Comedy

Lessons 21-22

Stand up comedy is, arguably, one of the most popular of modern theatre experiences. Yes, we have gigs, musicals and plays, but stand-ups fill stadiums.  Many people think stand up is a million miles from acting, but the reason stand ups HATE hecklers, is that their script has been honed to perfection, and they are thrown off by interruptions. They are delivering perfectly written sentences, tried and tested, they are - acting.  They do this so well (when they are good) that we actually think they are riffing on a theme, rather than usually following a honed scrip that they have written themselves. It will give you the experience of connecting with an audience, and adapting depending on the mood and reaction of that audience. Plus, you might write a funny joke in the process.

The Chandler Bing Thing

Lessons 23-24

The late, great, Mathew Perry was called a genius. But why? The skills he used in performing comedy were traditional, but expertly executed, to the degree that we always felt it was ‘just him’.  However, Friends is a farce, and farce has specific techniques and rules that are valuable in comedy and beyond.

Clowning

Lessons 25-27

Think ‘Cirque du Soleil’ rather than ‘kids party’. John C Reilly (Stepbrothers) trained at a professional clown school and is worth multi millions of dollars. Many of the top actors in hollywood have similar training.  So why is this rarely touched upon?  Maybe because our relationship with the word ‘clown’ is one of someone with makeup and big trousers.  But clowning is a fundamental, human, form of comedy and drama.  It began with comedia del arte and ended up with Shakespeare and all performances to some degree - comedy or ‘serious drama’ - was informed by that.  Clowning is a vital and brilliant thing to try, and in its purest form is quite difficult!  Expect to feel like you ‘can’t do it’ - and don’t worry, everyone else will feel the same way.  But what you learn will stick with you forever as you try to use it in your own work.

‘Political’ Theatre - Brecht

Lessons 28-31

Don’t run away!  The understanding of Brecht and what is often called ‘political theatre’, is usually BORING.  It is often thought of as stark placards and shouting at an audience. But there is a reason this module comes after comedy and clowning… Brecht, when understood and used properly - really is about bring an audience alive - making them engaged with a performance so that they are thinking and not just passive observers. So stand up comedy is very very close to Brecht, and a million miles away from Stanislavski in most comparable ways.  Here you will learn about the choices an actor can make to let the audience do most of the work, while you relax!

Art Classes!

Lessons 32-34

How on earth can art be relevant to acting and performance? Well, it’s very relevant. Art isn’t about paints and pencils.  It is about observation, and recreating what you observe with your own spin on it.  Art is wrongly misunderstood in the same way that acting is: people think there is no process, that it’s all feelings and natural ability and expression.  This is wrong.  Learning the creative process involved with being an artist, and then using this process in your own performance skills, is incredibly valuable, personal, and bespoke. This will build upon the tools you already possess but give you new ways to apply them.

Direction in Action

Lessons 35-41

The rest of the year of classes now begin with your own choice of a piece you wish to work on.  You may pick more than one piece if you like, you may choose to work with others in a scene.  The first week will be deciding what everyone will work on.  From then on, you will rehearse by watching each other be directed on their piece.  You will take methods from watching others, and apply them to yours. Everyone therefore, in a comfortable and helpful environment, will move forward on their pieces step by step, employing all the techniques from the ‘tool box’ you’ve gained in the modules prior.

Final PerformanceWeek 42

Lessons 42

Time to put your work into practice, and perform your rehearsed piece for the group - maybe even an invited audience - MAYBE even acting agents. (You know we don’t focus on end goals and false promises at Low Fat Drama, but it may be that we invite lots of interesting people.)

Note: the course is a creative course, and each year of participants will differ. This may lend itself to more or less of certain needs, therefore the course detail and modules may change, if it is deemed to benefit those taking part.