WORK DEMONSTRATION in EXPRESSIONISTIC ACTING

We have been working with a series of exercises (physical, vocal, emotional, contrapuntal) that expand an actor’s expressive range and complexity.

In our final two weeks we will be applying the work to a series of short scenes by British playwright Howard Barker that challenge the students’ abilities to build a bridge from sincerity to expression. We take as a guiding principle that there is no such thing as “over-playing.” The problem would lie somewhere else: an absence of support, a dearth of passion, an unwarranted fear of theatricality.