Intro is a starting point for any new member regardless of experience. Starting 4 weeks of classes of Homework & Studio, it takes place on a Wednesday and Thursday evening online at 7 PM for approximately two hours, the session is longer as it starts with an opening talk.
Over the two evenings the opening talk, alongside the demonstration/practice/discussion of both basic relaxation and a sense memory exercise, will give you a practical and also creative understanding of the core dynamics of the Method.Â
This now gives you the means to engage the Homework/Studio unit which follows for the following three weeks. The Studio sessions are more engaging and a more significant proportion of the unit, the primary classes develope & build the foundations of your technique and understanding to step into the STUDIO. Just as we prepare to walk on the Film Set or a Stage.
That way, when we come into the Studio, you are expanding on the work in INTRO & HOMEWORK. These classes are recorded, so you can recap and observe your work via a private link. This also means you can catch other classes you miss or can’t attend.
Evening 1. Opening Talk & Intro to Basic Relaxation
Evening 2. Recap. Intro to Sense Memory
Wednesday 7 pm – 9.30 pm
Begins with an opening talk about the background and purpose of the exercises, tools and techniques developed by Lee Strasberg building from the works of Konstantin Stanislavski. Then the first exercise, known as basic relaxation will be demonstrated. Which you then will do under instruction and follow up after with a discussion and pointers for practice.
Thursday 7 pm – 9.30 pm
The first 2 sense-memory exercises will be instructed and covered, at present, you will remain working in the chair by yourself on the course dynamics of the exercise, focusing on how to bring truthful inspiring thought, impulse and emotion into play for the text & character.
METHOD INTRO FEES
Intro / Studio/Homework £220
Intro & Homework (Online Only) £100
Both fees cover all 4 weeks of the May Unit
Then the Intro classes lead you into The AM or PM classes of the Homework / Studio Classes. This is where you learn to build on the technique of Lee Strasberg, which is covered in Induction. You also expand your application into scene work. You only need to attend one Tech & Scene Study class per week for the arch of the classes, but you are welcome to come to more each week, there is no extra charge. Classes run AM or PM so there is flexibility to work around other demands.
Homework is to embrace the discipline that acting starts with what you need to do before you get to what you want to do. With self-tapping, much now starts in your own home space. Plus the challenges of the actor are increasingly bringing your creativity & craft to a very technical environment. Homework builds the truth that the first studio is your own which becomes your primary creative space to act from.
The Studio gives the expansive space to build both technique and scene work. Homework is the primary place to build your foundation, Studio is where the opportunity to play & create more with what is technically evolving. Acting is both personal and collective so working from both spaces enables you to meet each step and each challenge.
METHOD Homework Week 1,2, 3
Monday 10 – 12 noon 0r 7.30 – 9.30 pm (Technique)
Tuesday 10 – 12.30 noon 0r 7.30 – 10 pm (Scene Study)
METHOD Studio Week 2
Wednesday 7 – 10 pm (Technique)
Thursday 10 – 1 pm (Technique)
Thursday 7 – 10 pm (Scene Study)
Friday 10 – 1 pm (Scene Study)
METHOD STUDIO INTENSIVE Week 3
Friday 10-6 pm
Saturday 10-6 pm
Sunday 10-6 pm
I want to discuss how you consider the three steps of classes offered in each Month-long Method Acting Unit.
Acting is about preparation. Firstly, the longer-term objective of developing your instrument and craft and how you construct an approach to any potential acting opportunity in the shorter term. If these can’t effectively be engaged, your work will be random.
Homework
Intro & Homework is the primary. It also represents the initial inert space in that the actor begins the journey. The inert space represents the initial sense of no natural external stimulation except the text itself. Requiring interaction from you to bring it into life. Just like when you receive a self-tape for an audition or prepare to work on a role you have booked. It is how you turn nothing into something. Although you only see obstacles at first, you find the means to unlock the opportunity.
Homework also is the best place to start so you can focus much more internally. When we come into the Studio space there will be more emotions and needs, so to start in your own space means you can engage that primary relationship with yourself. Plus as the Homework classes are recorded it gives greater feedback both technically and creatively.
With regards to your instrument, the work is always primary. Each time you engage in relaxation and sense memory. Each time you work experientially from yourself, you build and develop your instrument. Homework we begin the first important steps and the build on the over the four weeks in both Studio & Homework.
As important as the instrument is a relationship with text and character. Like the musician, you should pick up different music pieces to practice your craft and expand your vocabulary and understanding. Not to stick to the tunes that you know and like most. In the demands of the industry, this level of sketching sustains you when you have to make quick, creative choices.
Therefore homework is your studio. Without this foundation, you cannot truly grow in this industry—the technical demands in the 21st-century present considerable challenges. Consequently, the challenge and discipline of homework are to build the muscles to create with such obstacles rather than just overcome them.
Studio Process
The face-to-face work now has true meaning in the context of the homework. The primary homework preparation means that the studio space becomes a studio to explore and expand the primary work you have established in homework. It becomes a more organic opportunity to examine the potential of your instrument and your creative process where you can pull apart and engage both the character and the text—building a richer ability and a greater understanding of both yourself and the opportunities of acting.
Studio Intensive
The intensity in the final three days replicates the challenges and opportunities of the camera or the stage. Now you can bring both your primary and process work into the opportunity of two scenes slots. Or to immerse and observe fellow class members reaching out to fulfil such a creative challenge. Everybody will work with sense memory and text in the morning, evolving the ability to work from your thoughts, impulses and emotions. To create from a heightened state of self while obtaining the lucidity of creative thinking.
The Choice
As Stanislavski said the talent is in the choice. Nothing is automatic, particularly in acting. The specific steps of the three-week unit are designed for you to properly engage and unlock your true creative potential. To develop the sensibility and creative muscles to take on the challenges and opportunities of the professional acting industry.Â
In straightforward terms, the three steps in each unit are to see how you can genuinely raise your game.
Sam