IMPROV ACTOR TRAINING

Course Overview

At The Pretend Company, we believe improv can be heartfelt and hilarious in equal measure, that it can be theatrical without being self-serious or overly pretentious, and that it can tell stories in a way no other medium can.

This course will take performers with a minimum of 1-to-2 years experience under their belt and cast them into an ensemble of 8-to-10 like-minded artists. That ensemble will be paired with a director who will lead them through 16 weeks of training aimed at instilling the attitudes and techniques needed to become a professional improviser. This can be broken down into four major topics - Connection, Stagecraft, Artistic Voice, and The Show.

Access to this course will be by application only (more info below). We will be running two ensembles this year - one based in Southend directed by Ali James, and one in London directed by Chris Mead and Liam Webber.

While each ensemble will have a lead director, both ensembles will get to work with all three directors as we feel that working with different perspectives makes us better as performers.

Who is this Course for?

This course was designed by Ali, Chris, and Liam to bridge the gap for improvisers who want to create more theatrical work and for actors who want to take on the challenge of improvising theatre. More specifically it’s for:

Improvisers who…

• Have been improvising a few years or more.

• Have finished the core curriculum at another school.

• Want to explore performing more theatrically.

• Want to explore creating long-form work.

• Are looking for that next step to add polish and professionalism to their work.

• Want to work intensively with the same group of people over a 3 month period.

• Want lots of individualised feedback and notes.

Actors who…

• Want to be more present and reactive in their scripted performances.

• Want to experiment with improvisation as a part of their practice.

• Understand that improvisation is becoming more and more of a required skill in the casting process, and are looking to invest time in developing those skills.

• Want to build essential tools for devising and creating their own work.

Course Structure

Our course differs from most improvisation training programmes in a number of ways:

• Smaller ensemble sizes of 8 to 10 people to allow more personalised feedback.

• Longer course length to enable us to dive deeper into topics.

• More of a focus on doing scenes in front of audiences with feedback.

• A holistic approach to the artform - what ‘professionalism’ means in an improv context and how that feeds into our practice as artists.

Unit 1: Connection

For the first 4 weeks of the course we will focus on what we believe is the core foundation of improvising - Listening, Readiness, and Joy. We will work together to get to know each other and how we play, build our ensemble, and reconnect with the core attitudes that make great improvisers great.

Unit 2: Stagecraft

For the second 4 weeks, you will work with your ensemble will work on technical skills that elevate your performance. In this unit each ensemble rotate and work with every director on a specialised class:

• Voice and Sound with Ali James

• Ensemble Movement with Chris Mead

• Stage Presence and Playfulness with Liam Webber

Before coming back to your lead teacher to put it all together ahead of the mid-term showcase.

Unit 3: Artistic Voice

If the first 8 weeks of the course are aimed at providing and polishing the tools all great improvisers have, the next four weeks are all about you. What makes you great? Where are opportunities for you to grow as a performer. Ensembles will once again work with all 3 directors, getting different perspectives on their work.

Expect lots of scenes, lots of personalised feedback, and lots of self-reflection.

Unit 4: The Show

In the final 4 weeks of the course, we will build a show with professional values and practices and explore how to work with creativity, teamwork and constructive criticism.

Why Choose The Pretend Company?

The Pretend Company are theatre company based across London, Farnham, and Southend that produces works of improvisational theatre.

All our classes are filled with hard-won lessons learnt from creating professional level improvised work, and are designed to instil the attitudes and techniques we feel are necessary to become a professional improvisational actor.

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