All you have to do is choose which workshop you want to do for each workshop session (first, second and third choice for EACH workshop session) by filling in the form linked below and getting it back to us by 10 July so that we can allocate people to each workshop. There is a limit on numbers for each workshop so we may not always be able to give you your first choice.
PLEASE NOTE that you can submit your options online at ridinglights.org/sts/forms
Every participant should choose at least one of the workshops highlighted in red as one of their options for each day.
If you have attended one of the other workshops (not the red ones) before on a previous Summer School then please choose one of the new ones before repeating something you have done before. If a worskhop covers aspects of your course and is taught by your tutor, we suggest selecting a different workshop as it may cover information you’ve already been looking at in your course.
If you have any concerns or confusion, please contact Esther (summerschool@rltc.org or on 01904 655317)
WORKSHOP A
BEHIND THE LINES with Abi Oscroft
‘You’re welcome’ – a phrase that can mean a dozen things. It can be used to thank, scold, mock… What changes it? The motivation. In this workshop we will be exploring what goes on behind the lines, giving you the tools to bringing your script to life in exciting new ways.
THE ART OF THE ENSEMBLE with Rachel Hammond and Patrick Burbridge
Live music brings that sense of togetherness to a performance, because when playing on stage without a conductor, you are forced to listen to each other. Is it possible to achieve this sense of ensemble without the music? What if you’re not a musician? In this workshop, we’ll be exploring what it means to be an ensemble, to support one another on stage, with or without music. From Hamlet to Spear Holder 1, everyone has an important part to play. We’re better together!
PHYSICAL THEATRE with Briony Bowers
Have fun together, using some techniques from the UK’s leading physical theatre companies. This workshop will look at ways to devise some instant and powerful theatre through movement and ensemble work. (Comfortable clothing for movement essential.)
COMEDY IMPROV with Jonathan Bidgood
Are you funny? Funny how? Ha ha funny? In this workshop we’ll be exploring the art of the spontaneous and seeing how many kinds of humour can be spun out of thin air. From clowning to farce to satire, improv lends itself to humour like a duck lends itself to water. Come and explore the comedy lurking beneath the surface of the everyday. You’ll be surprised how funny everything can be. Including you.
BUILDING TENSION with Jon Boustead
Using the methods of Jaques Lecoq and in particular his ‘seven states’, this workshop will explore how to devise and shape short, dramatic scenes that keep us on the edge of our seat, desperate to see what happens next…
IMPROVING THE SOLO SONG with Tim Burnage and Erin Burbridge
Whether for some professional or amateur show, or for an audition context, we are often invited to sing a song of our own choosing. Learn some really useful musical and staging tips to make sure that you give a strong account of yourself. Tim and Erin will help you develop your performance by focussing on how to enhance both music and ‘theatre’. Ideally, bring a song along that you would like to work on.
SHAKE IT UP! with Sally Maddison
How do you make this Shakespeare stuff make sense and come alive for young people? This workshop will share lots of practical techniques to help engage young people and provide ways to help make the text accessible to all ages. Sally’s ideas have been developed from running RL Youth Theatre sessions, from workshops at the RSC and lots of practical experience in schools.
DIRECT ACTION with Paul Burbridge
Directing the action… the actors… the final Act… the atmosphere… the attention… there’s so much to think about when directing a piece of theatre. We’ll think a little about some of these in a very practical session to improve your approach to rehearsal and confidence in the rehearsal room. Lots to try out. The workshop will aim to get you at least from A to D… if not from A to Z!
HOW SHOULD I ACT? with Rich Hasnip (a lecture/discussion on Theatre and Ethics)
Theatre asks questions about how we should live. What virtues should we celebrate? What vices should we deplore? And what is virtue or vice anyway? The formal study of these questions falls into the branch of philosophy known as ethics. This lecture and discussion will introduce you to some of the major ethical systems and seek to apply them to theatre.
WORKSHOP B
STATUS AND YOUR ACTING with Rich Hasnip
In theatre, ‘status’ means social importance. Are you a King or a slave or somewhere inbetween? Status games lie behind many of the plots of famous plays. They can also make for wonderfully silly and fun ways to devise theatre. This workshop will explore some simple tools for portraying, experiencing and changing status through games, scenes and a whole array of ridiculousness!
HEARING (funny) VOICES with Paul Burbridge
Character voices, accents, comic quirks – how to create them and sustain them in performance. A practical workshop concentrating on strengthening your voice and exploring its possibilities for all that might lie ahead this week. Join a session that will aim to add colour and range to way you use your voice on stage and enjoy hearing the difference this makes as we dip into a variety of theatre texts.
CLOWNING FOR BEGINNERS with Esther Irving and Jared More
Let’s take being ‘funny’ back to the basics! There’s no need for face paints or silly costumes – you just bring yourselves, we’ll bring the red noses, and together we’ll find our inner clowns. Get ready to fail at being funny, fight for the audience’s attention, and hopefully we’ll all have a lot to laugh about! (Comfortable clothing for movement essential.)
IMPROVISATION AND CONFIDENCE with Phoebe McDonald
A fun and relaxed introduction to improvisation and how to increase your confidence. Using lots of games and exercises to help you relax and allow your creativity to become (more confidently) spontaneous. You don’t have to be brave or clever, just willing to dare to open your mouth and see what comes out!
FILMING MOVIE MESSAGES ON YOUR SMART PHONE with Bernadette Burbridge
Phone technology is a remarkable thing but when it’s unfamiliar, it can feel very daunting. If you think your smart phone is a bit of a mystery but you wish you could record and edit a short video to send to friends or family, or even to create a memorable piece of ‘theatre’, then this workshop will help you. We will look at framing the shot, how to avoid ‘wobble’, tidying up the beginning and the end… and then sending it to the right people. What could go wrong? (Oh, remember to bring your phone and make sure it is charged.)
PUPPETRY with Briony Bowers
Taking lots of practical exercises from Little Angel Theatre and Gyre and Gimble, we will look at the main principles of effective puppetry in performance. And then we’ll put some new skills into some immediate scratch performances.
‘STAND BY LX CUE ONE. … AND GO!’ (technical theatre basics) with Oliver Brown
A ‘brilliant, illuminating’ (see what we did there?) taster workshop on using lighting for the theatre. Learn what theatre lights are, what they do, how to use them and get experience in rigging lighting equipment.
JUNK PERCUSSION AND THE SPOKEN WORD with Patrick Burbridge
All forms of theatre are making increasing use of ‘the spoken word’, borrowing from current musical styles a rhythm, a rhyme and a repetition to strengthen words in performance. Using simple ‘junk percussion’ instruments, we will experiment with creating ensemble rhythms to enhance and underscore the text. You don’t have to be ‘a musician’ to enjoy this exciting experience… but some aptitude for ‘the beat’ can’t hurt!
WORKSHOP C
THE ACTOR APPROACHES THE TEXT with Jon Boustead
Discover some new ways to approach your text. Through practical exploration and a small dose of Stanislavsky, this workshop will help you to develop your own interpretation of a generic script. Learn some solid acting techniques to help you in your creative work this week.
SING LIKE A GOSPEL CHOIR with Phoebe McDonald
Liberate your voices, fill your lungs and come and learn some gospel songs. Add in a sway and clap and maybe even a little harmony if we’re feeling adventurous. Exhilarating singing with a smile!
STREET-HOP FUSION with Erin Burbridge
Come and spend an hour learning a hip hop/street fusion routine, it’s a style of dance that is very free and once you’ve cracked the basics, has very few rules. You’ll also have the chance to make your own moves which you can show off at the party on Friday night! (Comfortable clothing for movement essential.)
SITE WORKS with Abi Oscroft
Thinking outside the black box. This workshop will challenge you to create theatre work for and in unconventional spaces. Inspired by work by theatre companies such as Coney, Blast Theory and Third Rail, we will head out of the theatre to find our own stages. This practical workshop will arm you with the basic exercises and techniques you will need to devise and write your own ‘site works’.
FEEL THAT SAMBA BEAT with Tim Burnage
Discover the fun and the energy of joining a Samba Band – one of the most inherently theatrical of all those pulsating street performances.
SHADOW PUPPETRY with Sally Maddison
During this workshop you will get the opportunity to create your own basic shadow puppets and use them creatively to re-tell traditional tales. With enchanting results!
BIBLICAL STORY-TELLING with Ross Meikle
Come and find out what we can learn when we take the biblical text as our script and also what we can ‘give away’ to others. Drawing on engaging performance criticism techniques used for studying the bible, we will explore these stories in a new and exciting way.
GET A PROPER JOB! (instead of spending your time working in the theatre and beyond) with Richard Everett
A Q&A workshop plus film clips with someone who has spent 45 years as a stage actor and playwright, working with Anthony Hopkins, Derek Jacobi, Vincent Price, Penelope Keith and many others you may have heard of. Oh, and how to adapt the ‘Mr Men’ into a feature length Christmas special, the screenplay of a major WW2 feature film and the inspirational fun of running drama workshops with the L’Arche Community of adults with learning disabilities.
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