Occasional interludes
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Actors and Acting

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Rehearsals begin: workshops, complicité, and creativity

Saturday was a bonding day, a day when the acting company came together to work for the first time on the stage. The Director’s approach to this production has consistently been to point us towards the notion of the reality of the historical events surrounding this play, and the impact those events had upon the

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“Ich bin ein Berliner!” or trying to sound like it.

I had my first accent coaching session with a German colleague yesterday. She’s a native of Berlin, teaches German language at university here in Australia, but has been immersed in an English-sounding world for around 10 years or so. As a result of this, I had to ask her to work at strengthening her German

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The Actors’ Nightmare

I was chatting with a couple of theatre colleagues this morning and as inevitably happens, we started swapping trade stories. We discovered that we shared the same kind of anxiety dream, what I’ve always called the actors’ nightmare. You’ve probably also experienced them if you’re an actor or have had to give a public presentation.

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Cabaret begins: meet and greet

Here we go, here we go, here we go! It’s been a couple of months since auditions and the announcement of the cast. This afternoon was the first company gathering … what’s called a ‘meet and greet.’ For most it was the first time we had got a chance to meet some of the rest

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When all is said and done …

Image via Wikipedia I suppose every profession has its jargon, its arcane rituals which can look and sound absurd to outsiders, and which even initiates can find complex if not downright puzzling. When it comes to acting, many have struggled to give expression to the nature of the artform; what it is, how it happens

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Slam poetry and the power of speech

Rhetorical power was the subject of some attention this week. One of the US Democratic Party’s hopefuls in the presidential primary race gave a marvellous ‘Yes We Can’ concession speech which used repetition to make its point. Barack Obama is a forceful, clear speech-giver. You can catch it here. I like this take on the

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