FAQs on Acting and Actor Training Part 2
Hello everyone, thanks again for stopping by! This is Part 2 of my FAQs for Acting and Actor Training. I get a lot of emails asking me very similar questions and I wanted to take this opportunity to answer many at the same time. Of course, if anyone has any specific questions that they would like addressing on the blog, please do email and ask!?
What do your classes contain? What do you do in a Practical Aesthetics acting class in Glasgow?
The classes are usually eight weeks in length and most last for two hours. The classes are designed so that students can enter on the ‘Intro to Acting’ course and work their way up to the Advanced Classes, although progression is by invitation only and depends upon the development of the student. Not everyone has the personal qualities to take them through the training. I’m not talking about talent, I’m talking about personal character. Training as an actor takes excellence in the field of being human. Some people are not so good at that.
All classes begin with a thorough warm up, teaching the student to prepare their body and voice for work. Classes then focus on teaching the basics of Practical Aesthetics (the technique that we follow). We teach scene analysis, performance technique, repetition, improvisation and audition technique as our major subject areas. In the intro class, we usually work on one short scene. In the advanced classes, we essentially do scene study, aiming to develop in the acting students to ability to prepare, rehearse and perform scenes without tuition.
I do also teach CPD classes in Scotland for professional actors with no Practical Aesthetics experience.
Does Mamet disagree with training altogether? What about Voice and Movement training, surely it’s needed?
Mamet rails against the American University Drama Dept training, where he believes that SEVEN years of training is probably too much. If a student follows the BA and then the MFA route to becoming an actor, they are still in school at the age of 25. Yet, I’ve had lots of students ready to work at the age of 20. Some would say that they need this time to mature and develop their craft. SEVEN years? Three or Four years at most seems realistic. Of course, it all depends on what you’re training an actor to do in that time. If you’re teaching them to believe in imaginary stuff, that would probably need a hundred and seven years. If you’re rigorously training them in the basic skills of the actor outlined by Practical Aesthetics, then 2.5 years is enough.
In Bruder et al’s book A Practical Handbook for the Actor, they set out the necessary curriculum for actor training:
A Strong Clear Voice
Good Clear Speech
A Strong Supple Body
The ability to analyse a scene correctly
Semantics -the ability to use words specifically
Memorization by rote
The ability to work off the other person
The ability to act before you think
The ability to concentrate
Bravery
Will
Common Sense
Mamet is not at all against Voice and Movement training, he is very much for it. The Practical Aesthetics programme at Atlantic includes a great deal of specialist teaching in these areas, from some of the best teacher’s in New York.
Mamet disagrees with over-training, with unnecessary training and with hiding out in school longer than needed.