PLEASURE TO PLAY
An online acting master-class led by Kristine Landon-Smith and Fabio Motta
Overview
Our work explores the intersection of an intracultural methodology directed by Kristine Landon-Smith and working from a clown state in the work of Fabio Motta. We come together as practitioners who believe in the mantra coined by Philippe Gaulier, the pleasure to play.
This master-class explores the principles of having the pleasure to play at any given point of rehearsals or performance through:
Finding self in the creation of work and upholding the idea that one’s unique personality is valuable currency in the making of any work
Finding complicité with a scene partner and the audience
Exploration of the clown state
This master-class explores complicité, clown state and intra-cultural training using a variety of texts.
It works on the principle of coming to self as its first port of call. While many methodologies prepare actors to find their character, this workshop asks you to find yourself first. We believe that in doing so, the actor transforms and is then able to go anywhere. This unique workshop forensically examines what the actor needs to do in order to play well in every moment on stage, on screen and even on Zoom, whether in scene, monologue, rehearsal, performance or audition.
The master-class will reveal to the actor how to stay present and connected not only with a scene partner but also with the audience. Kristine Landon-Smith and Fabio Motta will take you through a series of games, improvisations, text and clown exercises that will increase an actor’s sensitivity and awareness by bringing one’s authentic self to your performance and consequently experience the pleasure to play.
Complicité
A central part of the master-class is focussed on learning complicité – the effortless connectivity and collaboration between actors and also the audience. If an actor can find a warm and generous communication with the other actors on stage they can then create something wonderful together. It is the live electricity flowing between two actors (not the characters) in front of our eyes which the audience engages with. The stress that can come from thinking too hard about character and background is removed as actors find a pure channel of communication between each other with nothing getting in the way. This is what directors often describe as being present and playing moment by moment.
The Clown State
When actors are asked to find complicité with an audience they are asked to work in the clown state. To play in a clown state, the actor needs to be fully present and to listen intently to the audience in order to be guided by what the audience seems to be asking for and what they love about them when on stage. Laughter from the audience is usually the main indicator of when the clown state is closest to the actor.
This master-class lays down the basics around finding self through complicité, clown state and hence finding the pleasure to play.
Intra-cultural Practice
The work is based around the principle of bringing one’s authentic self on stage or in front of a camera. Our 21st century rehearsal rooms our made up of a diverse range of pluralistic backgrounds. As practitioners, the facilitators understand how to embrace and play with unique difference rather than disavowing it. By allowing every individual the same position in the rehearsal room, one begins to play with the intracultural dynamics of the ensemble and uncover what can emerge whether that be in a devised piece or an extant text.
Who is this for?
Actors at any point of their career. Beginners, intermediate and advanced career artists can all participate and the facilitators are experts at working with varying degrees of experience and expertise within the cohort.
The breakdown of sessions is as follows:
Play: learning complicité through games
Improvisation: holding the openness and complicité with each other found in games and threading this through to improvisation
Text work and scene work: holding the open complicité found in games and improvisations and threading this through to text work
Clown work: Utilising the above effortlessly in clown work to extend one’s understanding of how to forge a complicité with the audience
Giving an understanding of how theatrical clown work is an integral part of actor training and how what is learnt through clown work can be applied in scene work
Students Outcomes:
A sense of self and the importance of you and your unique self in any work
Effortless easy playing
An understanding of how theatrical clown work is an integral part of actor training and how this learning can be applied in scene work
Value of Improvisation: threading the openness and complicité with each other found in games and improvisation through to text work
Establishing excellent complicité with scene partners and audiences even over Zoom
Forensic understanding of what it is to play well on stage and on screen
An easing of any nerves or anxieties when performing
Greater confidence in one’s unique ability and the fact that this will be seen and recognised. This will lead to an increased success rate in auditions and a greater sense of ease in early rehearsals.
Better prepared for the industry as one stops trying to second guess what is being asked of them and replaces this with the idea that employers are looking for a unique sense of self - not mimicry.
WHERE: Online via ZOOM
WHEN: 21st and 22nd May 2021.
TIME: 7pm-10pm AEST, 8am – 11am GMT
COST: $120.00 AUS/£70 GBP
Quotes from previous workshops:
“Beyond expectation… I loved playing with a text and bringing it to life. So much pleasure!”
“Life changing… the teachers cultivated a kind, productive and open space to play – please do it again.”
“Thank you for a beautiful week, truly beautiful and opening.”
“The single best master-class I have done online or face to face. I felt inspired, empowered and more confident in my ability as an artist.”
“Actors were open, free and sensitive. I believe if more actors were trained this way, we would see theatre that really moved us”.
“This master-class opened up my body to a new and exciting way of working. Bringing my full self, my complicté and my pleasure to play at the centre of my work.”
Kristine Landon-Smith
Kristine Landon-Smith is a theatre practitioner and educator. She has recently returned to the UK after a three year posting as Senior Lecturer in Acting at The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) Australia. She joined the institution in 2013 after more than 22 years as a Founder member and Artistic Director of Tamasha, one of Britain's leading middle-scale touring companies specialising in artist training, new writing and intra-cultural theatre practice. Prior to founding Tamasha, Kristine was a Senior Producer for BBC Radio Drama.
She currently freelances as a teacher and director in the UK and Australia. Her practice encourages the actor to “play” well and at all times (with or without text), while nurturing the individual personality and spirit of the performer. Working closely with the actor’s cultural context and language in particular plays a large part in her practice. Kristine has been hugely influenced by her former tutor and mentor, the French master of clown and bouffon Philippe Gaulier, and has frequently taught on the Greek Tragedy, Chekhov and Shakespeare courses at his Paris-based institute, L'Ecole Philippe Gaulier.
Fabio Motta
Fabio is an actor, clown and teaching artist who has acted and devised theatre in Australia, Italy and the USA. Most recently, he co-devised “Me too us too me too too too” with Physical and Political, under the direction of Giovanni Fusetti. He also devised and performed his solo show SPOT, with a sold out season at Theatreworks in 2021. Fabio has run workshops at New York University, HB studio, 16th Street Acting Studio, St.