Our philosophy and process
“All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie” – W. H. Auden
“Real acting begins where there is no character as yet, but an ‘I’ in the hypothetical circumstances” – Stanislavski
Acting is doing action with a sense of truth and belief in the imaginary circumstances.
The circumstances give us what we are, how we are, and who we can become: our voice, body and whole being are responding to something. We receive through our breath and solar plexus, and respond with action.
The dynamic in any piece of action is created by ‘if I am in these circumstances what do I do and what do I want?’ – and our interaction with others. How we act is a response to that.
We experience the events and interactions of the dramatic action moment by moment, with spontaneity within a structure.
The character needs to be expressed not through externalized illustration, in a represented mode, whether recited or ‘naturalistic’, but experienced and embodied through our voice and whole physicality: our will, feelings, intellect, imagination, mind, body and voice become one integrated whole.
Equally in training, acting and voice and movement ‘skills’ should be integrated into one whole process within rehearsal and performance.
In creative work we prepare and organise consciously – mainly a left brain function, and then allow release into imaginary action – mainly a right brain function. We go from the conscious to the subconscious.
“I have felt so free working with you, I have never been trapped in my head” – Francis Thurston-Crees
We communicate not just literal meaning of text but the subtext and whole imaginary world of the play. We go from text to subtext and back to text.
“John’s work on classical texts results in young actors “owning” the dialogue, fully aware of the meaning and the reasoning, with the ability to tell us the story with clarity and commitment.” Kate Williams – Actor and acting teacher
Through imagination and action we transform the raw material of who we are into the character of another.
Every inner impulse has a physical manifestation, and every physical action creates a psychological response: it’s a psycho-physical process.
We develop skills through our training, but also remove blocks to the expression of our unique and common humanity.
This expression must communicate itself clearly to our audiences in all types of space and media.
We aspire to truth and belief through the dramatic action, and freedom and spontaneity within artistic discipline and structure – but this can only be created through the free flow of the imagination, exploration, play and discovery.
We are here, not just to entertain but to reveal, challenge and provoke, and to communicate the writer’s themes and the truth of recognizable human experience: we have an important role in society beyond our own individual careers.
“Thank you for a wonderful experience” – Daisy Prosper