Learning How to Speak...Advancing the Way We Act

     Studying at the London Dramatic Academy has been absolutely sensational and has taught me so much about my acting and myself. I’ve learned so much already and I am eager to learn more. The focus on voice and dialect has been one of my favorite parts of the program. Our voice teacher Simon Money, has a great way of giving each student personal attention. I know specifically what I need the most work on, and I’m also given ways to work on these things outside of the classroom. And the best part is it is so much fun! Each of us comes into the space happy to be there and we’re excited to see ourselves and our peers improve. I have seen so many improvements in my voice already. My breath capacity is SO much better, and it has only been a month. Being able to communicate clearly is an essential part of making great theater, and the London Dramatic Academy recognizes that.

     It has been really interesting studying the RP dialect. I don’t know what it is, but Americans love British accents (myself included). And what better place is there to study British accents than London? Simon pays close attention to our dialects seeing as we are all very different parts of the United States. He then teaches us the specific differences in pronunciation from our American dialect to a proper British dialect. I would be lying if I said it was easy. The way the British hold the their mouths is different than in America. I’ve learned that an American accent is an east west accent, meaning it requires much more of a horizontal stretch of the mouth. The RP accent, however, is a north south accent making it more vertical. Because of this, we as Americans have to learn exactly where to place the sound in our mouths in order to achieve a believable British accent. It’s really hard work, but Simon is a phenomenal teacher. I have no doubt that we’ll get it it just takes time.

-Winter

One-on-One

My time at the London Dramatic Academy has been extremely rewarding, especially the one on one audition sessions with my tutor, Eunice. Once a week on Tuesday mornings I have a private session with Eunice where we work on audition monologues. We also talk about what is proper audition etiquette, how to present myself, where I direct my focus, and how to be ready to perform in moments instead of minutes.
In my 5 weeks here, Eunice and I have looked at 3 plays and have worked on 4 monologues. We have worked on As You Like It and King Lear by Shakespeare as well as Love for Love by Congreve. These private sessions have already increased my confidence level and overall performance. I am excited to see how much more I will progress!

-Chanelle

Don't Think!

"Don't Think!" This was the mantra that our new Shakespeare instructor, Leo Wringer, kept throwing at us as we tossed around a soccer ball while trying to remember how to say our names backwards and forwards. Needless to say, turning off our brains was much harder than we thought...haha get it? puns...god I'm dumb. Anyway, after this brisk warm up we gathered together in a circle and Leo told us what we should expect from this class and what he expected from us.  The class, he explained, was not about having fun, its about being able to do the work at a much higher level so we don't end up with just a good performance. In his words, its about the plus, the little extra that keeps an audience with you throughout your entire performance and keeps them talking about it even after they leave the theater. It was clear that he was going to push us like we've never been pushed before both physically and emotionally so that we could all get to that point.

After that thrilling, yet terrifying, introduction, it was time for us to introduce ourselves. Our intros consisted of us saying where we're from, how much experience we've had with Shakespeare, and of course, ending with us speaking some Shakespeare text that we've worked on. With Leo calling us out in a random order, we each got up and showed him what we had with him coming in throwing different scenarios and physical motivations at us to get us past our thinking minds to just accept what we were being given. As exhausting as it was, we were all up to the task and eventually got to touch on what Leo was asking of us. This process lasted the full 2 1/2 hours of our first class and continued on the next morning as the other half of us got up to work, each one of us showing the strengths we had in our back pockets and discovering the things that we actually have to work on.

You know when you're stuck in class for 2 1/2+ hours and you're just thinking, when the hell is this thing gonna wrap up? Never crossed my mind for a minute, even when I wasn't personally up working  because when someone else was working, it was still time to learn from what they were bringing to the table and from what Leo was asking of them. Leo is just one of those incredible teachers who you don't realize will push you so hard, because he's got such a warm and welcoming personality and a laugh like a monkey when you're just speaking to him. I can tell that he genuinely wants us to succeed and pick up the tools that he's trying to impart on us so that we can perform Shakespeare with that plus. I can't really speak for the other Shakespeare section because they have a different instructor but I know that the people in my section will come away from this class with more experience and knowledge than we could ever imagine.

-Danny

p.s. We're also gonna be working on Measure for Measure and Macbeth for the term if you were wondering.