'NATURAL CASTING'
'ACTING 101' - FIRST YEAR OF ACTING
TRAINING
You have experience of acting in school or pre-university
courses? Here is advice for a college or university acting course.
Or for an acting school.
This 'ACTING 101' course plan aims at achievable results
for a wide range of students.
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ONLY 'NATURAL CASTING'
- ONLY CHOOSE ROLES THAT ARE NEAR TO YOU (age and gender). |
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Work only with stage roles near to you in age and gender.
You aim for what is achievable, without losing your individual
characteristics on stage. |
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No performing as a man (if you are a woman) and vice
versa. No 'cross-gender' acting. |
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'Cross-gender' roles demand too much from the 'ACTING 101'
student, at this phase of your learning. Those roles are more
advanced. They are for the third-year actor when further techniques
have been achieved. |
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You must build foundations for yourself from 'natural
casting' roles - achievable roles, that empower you to discover
more of your performing self.
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BUILD ON YOUR PREPARATORY ACTING CLASS AND MOVE ON:
You may have acted 'cross-gender' roles already, in school
etc., and you could well be proud of what you achieved. You may
have won praise for your acting. That was then. Courses for those
who are under 18 years serve other needs (preparatory acting).
The drama course may have explored a wide range of techniques
but may also may have been about socialisation (discovering roles
in society and in the group), and citizenship.
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Your preparatory acting course may have been forced into
cross-gender casting because there were not enough boys or girls
in the class. You may have explored plays from the curriculum
(literature) rather than scenes suited to acting techniques. |
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Once you are 18, training must change. You have
to advance your skills. That may mean discarding some approaches
from the preparatory acting course. |
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Some few students find that difficult. They refer back
constantly to achievements at school and to the first acting
teacher. Consider this: 'Change is easy. It's NOT "changing"
that takes time, it's "not-changing" that takes
time.' There are new challenges to meet once you are 18.
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DITTO: No performing older characters (no mothers, grandmothers
etc.). |
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OBSERVATION TECHNIQUE: For your character, you do
fieldwork. |
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Get out there and find people similar to your stage role.
Talk to them. If they are your friends, or friends of friends,
then you do participant-observation (as it is termed in
anthropology). It means being with and talking to people, asking
them thoughtful and empathic questions. |
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To WELCOME PAGE for this site: http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/actor/index.html
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'ACTOR' SITE
This site gives advice about: 'ACTING
101' - FIRST YEAR OF ACTING TRAINING
You have experience of acting in school or pre-university
courses? Here is advice for a college or university acting course.
Or for an acting school.
This 'ACTING 101' course plan aims at achievable results
for a wide range of students.
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Radio Drama - directing, acting, technical, learning
& teaching, researching, styles, genres
This is a complete curriculum of scripts, techniques, advice,
sound files - effects and atmoses (with no copyright and so free
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This site's address: http://www.savoyhill.co.uk/actor/index.html