Students form our A-level Drama and Theatre Studies and from our BTEC Performing Arts courses were treated to a workshop held by Nathan Crossan-Smith, who trained at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art) – one of the most prestigious drama schools in the world. He is a professional director who is also a poet and hip hop educator. He is from Manchester and runs ‘Tipping Point’ (Deutsche Bank Award) in prisons and on stage.
Students worked on taking movement into the body through a vigorous series of warm ups, ensemble work which involved getting out of their comfort zones in order to continue to expand their comfort zones, breaking down a script into bits (inspired by Stanislavski’s work) and really exploring the given circumstances and adding precise detail and character intentions – through speaking aloud objectives, through movement and through focus on the character’s urgent want or need. The work was highly creative, allowing spontaneous and new discoveries to be made.
This was followed by an in depth Q and A session, run by Sophie Connolly and Nathan Crossan-Smith, about training at drama school, living in London and any other questions to which our students wanted answers! Loreto’s and LAMDA’s shared aims are to encourage greater diversity in those who train for and work in the industry and so represent the whole of society rather than only a small section. Our students were fully engaged and loved the experience and some have definitely been inspired to follow this career path and work very hard to make their dreams come true.
Well done all who participated!
Miss Sherwood – Teacher of Drama and Theatre Studies and Performing Arts
Students comments:
The LAMDA workshop introduced me to the exciting world of drama school, and how they explore everything, from breathing exercises to scripted dialogue, in unique and interesting ways. It re-ignited my hope of being able to get into prestigious drama schools as I’ve realised the only thing they care about is whether you’re passionate about theatre, film, acting, directing etc. and your raw talent. The Q+A helped to wash away any fears I had and I learnt how supportive financially LAMDA is and how extensive their range of topics is on the course: from musicals to historical dancing!
Overall I learnt that LAMDA is for everyone, regardless of their background.
Grace Gough
I thought yesterday’s workshop was engaging and energy filled due to Nathan’s positive energy. The information the leaders gave us was so helpful and they answered our questions truthfully and in depth.
Emily Pickering
I loved the workshop and enjoyed every part of it! I didn’t know a lot about drama schools and the type of work that they do there but now I feel like I’m more aware and definitely more informed about the work they do. I learnt how you can gather so much information from a short extract from a script just by splitting it up and finding what the character wants to do or get. I also learnt that developing a character in such detail helps when acting, as you can channel all the different emotions of the character and therefore play a believable character. Overall I loved it and found it fun and informative!
Eve Murray
I really enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside practitioners from LAMDA, it allowed me to further my understanding and knowledge on some of Stanislavski’s techniques and taught me how to break down a text into separate parts to help me develop a character and their purpose in a scene. This workshop was energetic, fun and overall a highly enjoyable experience.
Oliver Taylor
What an enlightening experience- very informative and an opportunity like no other! Thank you LAMDA.
Oceana Cage
I really enjoyed the script analysis exercise. I thought it was really interesting and I will use the skills we developed when I learn a script in the future.
James Valentine
Nathan was inspiring. His successful time at LAMDA was insightful and goes to show regardless of your background, drama school can be for anyone as long as they put the work in. I’m glad I’ve met him and heard his story, I’m excited to audition now.
Their accepting and welcoming attitude towards diversity is refreshing. I’m confident now that there is a range of ethnicity and backgrounds welcome at LAMDA.
Adam Ali Gseebat
During the LAMDA workshop, I enjoyed the warm up with the hand swinging, I thought it was very relaxing and new, something I haven’t done before. I have heard and used ‘given circumstances’ before from Stanislavski but from the workshop I understood it even more and thought it became easier to apply. I found it really helpful to then get into my character a lot better. The detailed work was also really useful and effective later on in the workshop. I thought that the Q&A session at the end was really helpful and made it clear what drama schools are about and what they teach.
Julie Polaskova