West Acting Workshop
FOUNDED BY ITV,  the Workshop began it's life in 1985 offering weekly sessions training
the acting skills required to work in radio, TV,  theatre and film. It has gone from strength to 
strength since those humble beginnings and has made numerous documentaries and 
programmes for ITV starring workshop members,  put on hugely successful theatrical 
productions (that have toured the Czech Republic and America as well as a Shakespeare 
Festival in Canada) produced short films and entered them into film competitions (we
haven't won any yet - but that won't stop us!) and have had members cast in 
in everything from Skins to Harry Potter! Now, as the West Acting Workshop we intend to 
continue in this vein and keep those amazing experiences and opportunities available for
our members.

We even managed to persuade Oscar winner  Dame Emma Thompson to be our Patron and she
is incredibly supportive of what we do!

Our weekly sessions are fun and informal, but we take acting seriously and specialise in 
training Acting to Camera techniques (but don't worry, we tackle theatre too!)
We will teach you everything you need to know to hone your skills as an actor.
We are not here to make you famous, we are here to make you great at what you do - act!
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If you are interested in getting involved, please email westactingworkshop@gmail.com
for more information.
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    • 20 +
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workshop sessions content

Here you can find out what we get up to in our weekly sessions and then you'll know that the workshop is for you! 

Tues 13-16 and weds 13-16 and 16-19 and Thurs 18+ - 
tutor lisa hamilton-james

Are looking at Script Work. How to interpret the script and create believable and realistic characters from the words on a page!
We are covering –

which words do you highlight and push and why? –
Finding out about your character through what they do,
 what they say and what other characters say about them –
ACTION / REACTION – listening to what the other characters says and letting that affect your reaction to create realism –
PAUSES – How they are used for a character to think, feel and make decisions –
PACE – how quickly or slowly your character speaks can be a great indication of how they are feeling –
BEGINNING AND ENDS OF SCENES – How important things happen before the first character speaks and after the last character speaks in a scene. The action doesn’t just begin when the first character speaks.

​T​uesday 18+ Group -
tutor lisa Hamilton-james

Working on Acting to Camera techniques, convincing Subtext in a close up, intensity and covering Death and Love Scenes which are some of the most common scenes in many films and TV programmes. How do you die in a realistic way? How action and reaction are so important in a death scene. How timing is everything. And how do you convince the audience that you are in love with someone when you aren’t?

Saturday 9-12 10am and 12.30pm -
​tutor charlotte hobbs

Charlotte and the 9-12 groups are working on different Theatre Practitioners and Theatre Styles this term. Covering Stanislavski (the man who invented ‘Method Acting and how to do it!), Brecht (who used theatre as a tool to teach) and Artaud (Theatre of the Absurd) to name but a few! So far they have tackled Method Acting and Physical Theatre and are having a lot of fun with their Tutor Charlotte devising pieces each session based on a particular style or practitioner!
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