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TO YOU, THE ARTIST...

sprezzatura

Grace and Pace

I recently had the privilege of working with an old friend of mine, James (Jimmy) Hayes.

Jimmy has done more shows at the National than any other living actor and has written a fabulous book about his 50 years in the industry, called Shouting In The Evenings.

We were playing Stephano and Trinculo respectively in the RSC’s Tempest.

Jimmy is full of incredible stories and nuggets of wisdom and threw this particular gem out quite casually one night in our dressing room

‘Grace and Pace’. It really caught my ear.

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flower-tree-growing-concrete-pavement-101

CREATIVE GUILT PART TWO

In the last post, I explored the idea that there is a pervasive view of creativity being less than a worthwhile professional pursuit.
I pointed out that the education system in Britain makes no bones about whipping the dramatic arts off the curriculum and likely will do with fine art shortly.
Sad times. However, repress anything fundamental to human flourishing and it will find a way to break through. You see, we are all artists. That’s right. Everyone of us.

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cubicle

Creative Guilt part 1

‘The glory of God is a man fully alive’ said Saint Irenaeus. How right he was….

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Si Actioning

ANOTHER FREEBIE!!

I would like to offer another FREE place worth £80 to you or an actor you know on April 8th and 9th 2017 on the hugely popular Action Weekend at ICAT’s studios in central Manchester.

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winner

Winner!

And we have a winner for the Action Weekend competition…..Jennifer Carss! Jen is a graduate actor from the Manchester School of Theatre who is currently setting up a children’s theatre company. She will join a group of actors and students this weekend on a two day intensive at ICAT (www.icat.actor) learning the principles of Mike Alfreds for FREE. There are still places left, if you would like to book on please follow the link http://independentcentreforactortraining.co.uk/calendar/

Keep watching this space for more insights, freebies and tips.

Different Every Night

FREEBIE!!!

I would like to offer a FREE place worth £80 to you or an actor you know this weekend on the hugely popular Action Weekend at ICAT’s studios in central Manchester.

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Ashcroft

IF IN DOUBT, SHOUT! (RSC blog part 2)

When I was a younger actor, I heard a phrase that stood me in good stead (for a short while) and that was ‘If in doubt, shout!’ The idea being that if you are ever caught with a piece of text that you didn’t understand, say it really loudly and confidently and no one will be any the wiser. It was, and is, a terrible bit of advice.

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blog 1

A FOOLS BLOG

I have spent the last 3 1/2 months back in Stratford On Avon with the RSC rehearsing and opening Greg Doran’s groundbreaking production of The Tempest. I have been blogging on the RSC website, Whispers From The Wings and am sharing them as posts on To You The Artist.

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peak

PEAK PRACTICE

Here’s one for you. Take a moment to think about how you feel after an embarrassingly bad audition/rehearsal/take.
I’m sure it won’t be long before your imaginings set off a series of physical sensations. Tight breath, sweating palms, tense neck, gut wrenching cringe. We’ve all been there, grim isn’t it?!

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imitation

IMITATION

When shooting a series recently, the director approached me and asked me to bring the shared laugh down at the end of a joke my character was telling.
I realised as I processed the note, that he was absolutely right, my laugh was in no way honestly connected to the joke I was telling. It was an imitation of a laugh that I had done over a joke someone told at lunch time.

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