LAMDA Partners With MADS Drama School in Spain
LAMDA is delighted to announce a partnership with a drama school in Spain.
Acting teachers Jeremy Finch-White and Anna Barkan will fly out to Madrid to teach students studying at the Madrid Audiovisual Drama School (MADS) this summer.
The two-week ‘Acting in English’ masterclass is suitable for beginners and experienced actors and designed to help them access their full potential when acting and working in English as a second language. The course, which runs from Monday 26 June to Friday 7 July, will also provide a condensed training and offer actors the opportunity to explore acting and language from new angles.
Students can expect the teaching to take shape in any of the following formats including vocal work and warm-ups, approaches to developing characters and analysing scripts, movement, improvisation and audition technique and self-tapes. The course concludes with an ‘open rehearsal’ of these scenes, attended by tutors and fellow students.
After performing for over two decades Finch-White trained as a voice and singing coach at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and teaches regularly at LAMDA. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jeremy trained as an actor after reading English at Cambridge University and most recently played Kendall Nesbitt in an award-winning European tour of Lady in the Dark for Opera Zuid. He has worked at the Royal National Theatre, Donmar Warehouse, English National Opera.
Barkan studied acting at the prestigious Vakhtangov Theatre School in Moscow and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She also holds an MA in Actor Training & Coaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, where her research included working with International multilingual casts.
For over 20 years, Barkan worked as an actor on stage, film and TV in Russia and the UK and formed CHAIKA Theatre company where she produced premieres of lesser-known Russian classics in original translations. She is also a co-founder of The Drama Academy which specialised in theatre for young actors aged 8 to 18 in the UK, USA and Russia, and has taught and directed productions at LAMDA across a number of courses.
LAMDA principal and chief executive Mark O’Thomas said: “Language is an essential part of our identity and is a key part of an actor’s toolkit. When working with English as your second language, it can sometimes feel like a barrier - especially if we are self-conscious in pressured situations, such as auditions or in performance.
“This two-week course will develop language and acting skills of those students attending MADS, whilst exploring how words and language can be used to create characters and express emotions, all in a safe and supportive environment.
“Using the dynamic and practical tools of drama training, this unique course will improve their communication skills and build their confidence. Taught by the same tutors and industry professionals that teach our full-time acting LAMDA courses, class work will involve rehearsing short scenes, enabling students to use their languages skills with greater fluency and efficiency, practical pronunciation exercises, and physical work to connect breath and voice to your body.”
Applications close Friday 16 June 2023. Learn more about the course and begin your application on the MADS website:
