Every session is practical. Concepts arrive only after you have done the exercise, and everything you make is shown, critiqued and made again.
The instrument is prepared, and the group becomes a company.
A structured warm-up rooted in Kalaripayattu, the movement tradition of Kerala — body conditioning, footwork sequences, low stances, jumps and controlled breathing, with the emphasis on the spine and on grounding through the feet.
You leave with a daily physical practice you can keep, and a body that is awake before any acting begins.
Study the gait, rhythm, weight and gaze of a chosen animal and rebuild it in your own body. The work then moves towards abstraction — carrying a trace of the animal into a human walk, a gesture, a way of sitting.
You leave with a method for building physically distinct characters, and freedom from your own habitual posture.
Ensemble games — name work, rhythm, circles, mirroring and trust exercises — pitched so actors and non-actors take part on equal footing. They look competitive; their real job is attention, contact and shared risk.
You leave with a group that can fail in public without embarrassment, which everything after this depends on.
Spontaneity is trained, and the body learns to speak on its own.
Acceptance and offer, status play, given circumstances, spatial improvisation and scene-building with no prior discussion. Stakes rise, constraints appear suddenly, and scenes reverse mid-way.
You leave with the ability to respond truthfully in the moment and build with a partner rather than compete.
Silent performance drawn from mime and physical theatre — the invisible object, the changing space, the silent conflict, and short solo pieces performed with no speech at all.
You leave with precision of gesture, and the understanding that the body communicates before the line does.
Practices adapted from yoga and dynamic meditation — breath regulation, progressive relaxation, sensory awareness, points of concentration and stillness under distraction.
You leave with a pre-performance routine, and the ability to stay relaxed under the pressure of an audience.
Material is gathered, read for action, and put on its feet.
Gather real incidents — your own, or those collected from family and neighbourhood — and shape them in small groups into short performance pieces. What to keep, what to cut, and how to find the dramatic centre of an anecdote.
You leave with a first experience of authorship, and the recognition that usable material is already in your own life.
Seated and standing readings from classical and contemporary plays. Dramatic structure, exposition, conflict, reversal and climax — and the practice of marking a script for beats, actions and pauses.
You leave with the ability to open an unfamiliar script and see what is actually happening beneath the dialogue.
Working in pairs and small groups from plays, short stories and novels: beats, given circumstances, relationships, blocking, use of space and object. Each group presents, takes direction, and reworks the scene.
You leave with a complete rehearsal method — from cold reading to a scene you can repeat and keep alive.
You stand alone, then you stand together — in front of an audience.
Choose a character from classical or contemporary writing and prepare a solo speech: breaking it into intentions, identifying the listener, making physical and vocal choices, and holding a room alone. Everybody performs.
You leave with a prepared audition piece and the experience of sustaining attention on your own.
An applied introduction to what actors actually use: motivation and need, defence mechanism, memory and association, temperament, and the gap between what a person believes about themselves and how they behave.
You leave with a vocabulary for building character from the inside, so choices are justified rather than arbitrary.
The whole group builds one piece, combining improvised material developed across the four days with written text — selection and ordering, ensemble staging, transitions, technical run, and presentation to an invited audience.
You leave with a finished performance, carried from first impulse to public showing as a company.
You do the exercise first and discuss it afterwards. Concepts are introduced only once there is physical experience to attach them to.
Even solo work is prepared in front of the group and shown to it. You learn as much from watching as from your own turn on the floor.
Scenes are shown, critiqued and shown again. Nothing here is performed only once, because the second attempt is where the learning is.
Progress is judged on participation, on your scene and monologue presentations, and on your contribution to the final performance. Everyone receives individual verbal feedback across the four days, and a certificate from The Act Cafe on completion.
Tell us a little about yourself and we will confirm the dates of the next batch.
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