JOHN
BOLTON
THEATRE
SCHOOL
MELBOURNE 2015
Four months integrated theatre training
with John Bolton in Melbourne
Information sheet
August 3rd - December 4th, 2015
[ Break: 5th – 9th October ]
The Course
This course requires total commitment of imagination, intellect, body and a sense of humour. In
return students will be offered the most freeing and adventurous acting course, developing inner
strength, the naïve child and the ability to embody the darker side all with charm and dexterity.
Students will explore in depth four major styles of acting; the Play of Mask, Bouffon, Clown and
Vaudeville, as well as dynamic ways of working with text. We will study analysis of movement, mime,
investigate the practice of creating new work and play extensively with Shakespeare’s Pericles.
Given a rigorous and secure environment participants will leave fueled with a sense of action, more
confident in voice and body and in their ability to stand in front of an audience or camera. In the
last week of the course we will create a performance based on our research - a collage of various
experiments we have made.
This course is appropriate for professional actors interested in refining their previous training or
younger performers keen to develop their craft.
Areas of Study
Neutral Mask
The Neutral mask puts us in touch with our most authentic and intuitive self. It integrates mind and
body, clarifies impulse, and allows the wearer to experience the power and fragility that come from
living in the present which is the basis of any other performance work.
Energy normally wasted on eccentricity and character is now directly used in coherent action, from
still point to still point.
Basle Mask
These white, full-faced masks are a step towards character and a gentle precursor to clown. Always
naïve, never fixed in their attitudes or responses, they inhabit the same silent territory as the neutral
mask with hilarious and shocking consequences. Where the Neutral Mask is without concepts or
mistakes these idiots are full of ideas and plans that inevitably fall flat.
Bouffon
The world of these malformed and anarchic people is perfect.
Their beloved task is to make the audience die of laughter by parodying their ways and gleefully
mocking their hypocrisy.
Clown
Nothing can be hidden in clowning: all of your stupidity, charm and child-like play surface and
dazzle the audience, taking them to an imaginative place reserved for naivety and magic.
As well as helping to develop a circus clown who can do tricks, falls and circus routines, this section
of work reveals the actor devoid of tricks and routines; the actor who can stand on stage or in front
of a camera whole and secure in his or her vulnerability, completely spontaneous.
Vaudeville
Finally, we will inquire into the world of Vaudeville. As well as entering into Melodrama, students
will create their own unique theatre by integrating or focussing on one of the styles we have
studied. From the serious to the absurd, these explorations are platforms from which participants
can continue their investigations after completing the course.
Pericles
Pericles play will be our major springboard for exploring word and story in theatre. There will be
analysis of text, image making and classes on connecting with words, the revelation of meaning and
how to embody character.
We will create a performance based on this research in the last week of the school, a collage of
various experiments we have made.
dates
August 3rd – December 4th, 2015
Monday – Friday 9:00am – 2:30pm
[ Break: 5th – 9th October ]
Fees
FULL FEES:
or
$AU4750 / $NZ5000 (Inc. gst) [ To be paid before 1st June, 2015 ]
EARLY BIRD FEE:
$AU4500 / $NZ4735 (Inc. gst) [ If paid before 1st May, 2015 ]
NB: These figures include a non-refundable deposit of $NZ400 / $AU375 to secure a
place after application is accepted
about John bolton
John trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris.
A Fellow of the Australia Council, he has received numerous awards for directing and teaching
including two Melbourne Green Room Awards, The 2002 Kenneth Myer Medallion for services to
Theatre in Victoria, and the 2005 Teaching Excellence Award at the Victorian College of the Arts.
He ran his own school in Melbourne for 9 years and was Head of Acting at The Victorian College of
the Arts between 2002 and 2006.
He has been commissioned to create pieces for The Malthouse Theatre, The Melbourne International
Festival, Taki Rua, Stalker, Kage, as well as being Director of Movement for The Melbourne and
Sydney Theatre Companies. His works have been invited to the main stages of The Melbourne,
Adelaide, Dublin, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore International Festivals as well as the
International Theatre Event at The Barbican Centre in London.
contact
For an application form or queries contact Laurel Devenie:
[email protected] / + 64 (0)27 419 9966
MASK
mOVEMENT
MOVEMENT
BOUFFON
MELODRAMA
CLOWN
VAUDEVILLE
PERICLES