We talk to Natalie Grady and Katie Lewis about their forthcoming workshop series.
Note – The workshop discussed here has now happened! Keep an eye on the site for further dates.
What made you want to set up ‘The Actor’s Toolbox’ at The Library Theatre?
KL: I ran several shorter workshops earlier in the year at The Library Theatre, which went very well and I wanted to continue with ‘The Actor’s Toolbox’ and offer people the chance to take part in longer and more in depth workshops. I found that there were a number of people who were interested in learning about different techniques such as Laban and Actioning but not enough opportunities in Manchester so we wanted to create workshops that could fill this gap.
NG: I’m from Manchester originally but spent 10 years training and working as a professional actor in London. I’ve been back over a year now and I was so surprised at the lack of opportunities in Manchester for actors wanting to hone or learn new skills. There seems to be a lot of Television based acting workshops. But what about the theatre? In London and New York, these types of workshops are very popular and as this is my home city, I feel strongly that it should be more available to actors here.
What kind of things will you be doing in the upcoming workshop?
KL We will be breaking down the whole process of auditioning from the very beginning when you are making sense of the scenes you have been asked to look at, to the recall audition when you may have to read with other actors in front of a panel of people. We will be sharing information and experiences from different audition processes, performing and directing audition speeches and finding ideal speeches for participants.
What would you like to do next with the ‘The Actors Toolbox?’
NG We aim to continue this style of workshop over one or two days, once a month at The Zion Arts Centre. We will be looking at a number of different techniques and areas of theatre as well as working on classic and contemporary texts. We are also open to what people would like to learn more about and so suggestions for future workshops are very welcome.