Meet our lovely Italian interns

From Bari to Cambridge
Our amazing interns Fabiana Lomoro and Michele Florio talk about their working experience and about the great job they are doing at Acting Now.

Hello!

We are two students from Bary, Italy and our names are Fabiana Lomoro and Michele Florio. We were given the opportunity along with other 13 international students to come to study and work with different companies in Cambridge for three weeks (1st-21st December 2018). Based on our curriculum, we were chosen by the company Acting Now.

We were so excited to start working with Acting Now because we are both very interested in the arts and fascinated by the possibility to stay with a company that helps people through theatre. Our task consists of creating an excel document to help them find new festivals and theatre venues around UK and Europe. We have also made some posters to publicize their workshops and performances and gave a hand with the feedback forms. From this experience, we have learned how to use programs like Excel properly and to organize information. We consider this really important and useful as it is an essential tool of every day job that implies dealing with administration.

We are pleased to be working with them and feel proud of having created something unique that hopefully will help the company to grow and expand their artistic and social projects.

No More Drama! FREE theatre group for young women

NO MORE DRAMA!

Free weekly workshops on Mondays between 5 – 7pm at Parkside Place, CB1 1JF
Start date Monday the 14th January 2019

If interested in joining email babettelind@gmail.com

No more drama is a theatre project for young women supported by Acting Now. We are looking for interested participants aged 16 – 25.

As a young woman life can be full of drama – good and bad. Through the use of various theatre techniques, games and improvisation we will explore what it means to be a young woman in today’s society and think of how to ensure our voices are heard and not undermined.

Together we will create a safe space for self-reflection and growth where we will use the physical theatre language to have fun, increase confidence and improve overall well-being.
Using your personal stories and experiences we will devise an original theatre performance titled ‘No More Drama!’ to be showcased in early summer 2019, in Cambridge.

So, if you are looking for a new experience, to develop new skills, to learn more about theatre or meet new people then this is the group for you. You do not need any previous experience to join and it’s completely free of charge.

The weekly workshops will be held on Mondays between 5 – 7pm.
Venue at Parkside Place, CB1 1JF entrance next to the Cambridge Community Fire Station.
Start date Monday the 14th January 2019 (Project duration is 16 weeks plus extra rehearsals and the Performance).

If interested in joining please email babettelind@gmail.com with the subject line ‘No More Drama’.

Taller de Teatro de las Oprimidas Febrero 2019

Theatre of the Oppressed Workshop: An introduction to Forum Theatre
Saturday 9th February 2019, 10 am - 4 pm
Norfolk Street 47-51 CB1 2LD (The space is just on the right of the Box Café).
£65 - £50 Concession / Early birds: £60 - £45 Concession (Before 24th Dec)
Tickets

Once again, Acting Now is holding an Intensive Forum Theatre Workshop designed for artists and creatives from all sectors, for anyone who is going to benefit from a deep insight into applied drama techniques.

Participants will be equipped with solid knowledge of the Forum Theatre technique and participatory theatre practices. In addition, they will have the chance to explore means of devising dramatic content and narratives and learn tips in facilitating creative programs for education purposes.

WHAT IS FORUM THEATRE
Part of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’ and created by Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal, Forum Theatre is an applied drama technique and participatory theatre practice created to empower audience individuals to determine social change. Lead by an oppressive political and social background, Boal’s efforts consisted in establishing a dialog between audience and stage with the aim of exploring the real needs and issues of his community. The theatrical act by itself is a conscious intervention, a rehearsal for social action based on a collective analysis of shared problems of oppression.

THE WORKSHOP
Suitable for all ages and abilities, this introductory workshop is designed to strengthen community activation and trust-building through interactive exercises developed from the fundamentals of creating Forum Theatre images. In this workshop, participants will hone their storytelling and image building techniques and explore how different styles of presenting multiple perspectives can aid positive problem solving.

FOR ANYONE
This experience is for anyone! Actors and non-actors that are interested in using theatre as a tool for communication, debate and social change within their communities and a MUST for theatre practitioners, social activists, teachers, community workers, charity representatives and youth workers.

MEET THE TEACHER
Marina Pallares, Acting Now's founder and Artistic Director is a professional actress and applied theatre practitioner, with over ten years of experience working across Europe and South America using theatre as a tool for social change. She has developed exciting theatre projects with traveller communities, ex-offenders, adults with learning disabilities, people with mental health challenges, women, teenagers and refugees all over the world.

N.B. Refund policy. In the event of cancellation, we will refund your payment in full if you let us know 30 days before the start of the course. If for unforeseen reasons, your availabilty changes while the course is running and you cannot complete it, we will be happy to discount the remainder of the sessions if you book another course, but refunds won´t be available.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE 

Watch this video to know more about this workshop:

 

Physical Theatre course for beginners Jan – Mar 2019

Physical Theatre course for beginners. Introductory course (II)
Weekly sessions on Wednesdays between 6.30 pm to 9 pm
8 session course starting on 16th January 2019
Early-bird prices before 24th December
Tickets

A great opportunity to explore or continue exploring Physical Theatre Techniques. Our workshops are an alternative to conventional drama lessons and are based on body movement, freedom and creativity. Students will continue practicing physical exercises, improvisation and movement, and will be encouraged to devise their own short solo and ensemble theatre pieces, developing self-awareness and discovering the expressive possibilities of their body, gestures and voice.

This acting course will focus on:
- The body, its sensitivity and expressiveness: the course will make the students highly conscious of how their own bodies can move. Students will be introduced to bodily and spatial awareness, exploration of truthful expression and personal creativity, the importance of observation of the world and its movements as well as ensemble and solo improvisation.
- The poetry of the movement: the body will be trained to transform life into poetry. By using the poetry of the body students develop creative possibilities. Stories go beyond realism into another stage of imagination. By the end of the course, the students will have acquired a broad palette of physical theatre techniques.
- Voice: in physical theatre, voice originates in the body and the two are inseparable. We will look at the expressiveness and possibilities of using voice in performance, vocal improvisation and using text in physical theatre.

For Anyone:
This acting course is the continuation of our Autumn course, however this experience is for anyone! Actors and non-actors aged 16+ interested in exploring the expressive possibilities of their bodies and developing their acting skills. Physical Theatre has a big potential when it comes to working in the community, so this training can be interesting not only for theatre practitioners and acting lovers, but also for social activists, teachers, community workers, charity representatives and youth workers. Acting experience is not required.

Physical Theatre
Physical theatre is a genre of performance which makes use of the body (as opposed to the spoken word) as the primary means of performance and communication with an audience. Physical theatre can be distinguished from dance in that it tends to focus more on narrative, character and action. Acting Now uses the pedagogy of Jacques Lecoq, one of the finest teachers of acting in our time. As Lecoq’s puts it “the body knows things about which the mind is ignorant”.
This Introductory course to Physical Theatre will draw on various approaches and techniques, including plastiques and corporeal mime, Viewpoints, Duende ball work and others.
About Acting Now Physical Theatre School
Acting Now is an applied theatre company established by Artistic Director Marina Pallarès-Elias in Cambridge. We are committed to bringing about change in communities and participants from all walks of life, especially those who experience disadvantage.

We have developed our very own methodology through working with these communities by drawing on the ethics of applied theatre and the aesthetics and principles of physical theatre. We call this Raw Theatre (or Theatre of Yes). Alongside this, we run physical theatre courses and training programmes, which bring together theatre practitioners, educators, community organizers, charity representatives, social workers, activists and many others who are interested in exploring and developing their acting skills and using theatre as a tool for communication, empowerment and debate.

Meet the teacher

Judita Vivas is a Lithuanian actress and physical theatre artist. She is a Physical Theatre Practitioner with Acting Now, Associate Artist of DUENDE, and Research Collaborator on Icarus Performance Project (Malta). She is also Founder and Co-Director of Foxtale Ensemble (international female theatre collective) as well as Double Trouble (female theatre-duo with Miriam Gould).
Since 2008, Judita has trained with various international theatre practitioners, devised and performed in a large number of performance projects in Europe and the UK, and collaborated with theatre and multimedia artists. Her performances are physically and visually dynamic, drawing on real stories, mythologies and autobiographical narratives. Judita is passionate about socially engaged theatre projects and connecting with different communities. She regularly leads theatre classes and workshops where she combines somatic sensitivity with movement, ensemble work, storytelling and playfully experimentation with tangible materials.

DETAILS about the course:
WHEN: 8 sessions on Wednesdays 18.30 pm - 21.00 pm from 16th January 2019
WHERE: Ross Street Community Centre, Ross St, Cambridge CB1 3UZ
PRICES:
EARLY BIRDS PRICES Before 24th December 

General £118 / Concesion £102 (students, senior, unwaged)
General £140 / Concesion £120 (students, senior, unwaged)

Get your tickets here
For more information contact us at hello@actingnow.co.uk or 07879913576
Check some of our videos to see what our students are capable of after training with us:

Acting course Feb 2018:

Complicité (Acting Now Physical Theatre School Summer 2017 at Corpus Playroom Theatre, Cambridge)