Freeing the Natural Actor: An Actor-in-Performance Workshop (Auckland)

We are thrilled to offer this very special workshop with the esteemed Timothy Douglas, theatre expert and good friend of Equity NZ board member Jeff Szusterman and ex-board member Cameron Rhodes. Often in the attempt to expand and deepen authentic and efficient uses of actor training and/or performance experience, too many of us tend to engage that approach like a fish swimming in the ocean looking for the water. Genuine advancement and refining of the individual process will only happen once old and useless patterns no longer engage. It doesn’t take time or effort to address this truism effectively … it simply takes Awareness. By way of an in the moment investigation of mind/body/breath consciousness, this workshop is geared toward the actor’s full release - complete with a centered and organic Truth, by way of dynamic expression though spoken text. Utilizing foundational principles from Kristin Linklater’s Freeing the Natural Voice, both participants and observers alike will foster an infinitely greater impact, and appreciation of creativity and self. Participants are required to prepare 8 - 10 lines of memorized *Shakespeare verse from a play … (no sonnets or poems, please). Ideally, the chosen text is new to the individual (never been worked on before), and the role’s gender and/or cultural identity need not be considered for the purposes of this workshop – the primary goal is choosing a piece of text that meaningfully speaks to the actor speaking it. Although MEMORIZED, NO ‘character work’, please! All that's required is knowing, and simply 'making sense' of the words/thoughts as they are spoken. *If anyone has compelling reservations to engaging the works of Shakespeare, then the use of any other heightened language text from a play is absolutely welcome. Participants should dress prepared to 'move' … (please no snug jeans or belts, nor any other clothing that might unduly restrict the belly/waist area).