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:
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 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