As I approach day #100 at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, I realise I haven’t yet provided any description of what a typical day at BOVTS entails…
About time I remedy that!
But first, an introduction to my wonderful class of fourteen. In our MA Acting course there are ten women and four men (including yours truly).
The women are:
Alice, from Sydney, Australia
Avery, from Portland, Oregon
Claire, from Toronto, Canada
Darby, Indiana born, New York & Los Angeles based
Freja, Danish born, New York based
Jessie, New Jersey born, New York based
Leerin, from St Louis, Missouri
Marine, from Montreal &
Rachel, from Los Angeles
The men:
Adam, from New Orleans, Louisiana
Brian, from Portland, Oregon &
James, London born, Qatar based
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Days at school officially start at 8.45am, although we have to be signed in by 8.40 am. However, this term I have been arriving early around 8am for an extended personal warmup. This usually involves fifteen minutes of Yoga in one of the studios, followed by ten minutes of vocal exercises or singing practice, and ten minutes of stretching.
8.45 – 9.05am: Group ‘Limber’ warmup.
This entails an upbeat physical dance routine, vocal limbering (spinal rolls, facial stretches, warming up the articulators etc) and group singing exercises.
9.05 – 9.15am: Scramble Time.
Filling up water bottles, dashing to the loo, just generally getting my s*** sorted for the morning classes. I have gotten progressively worse at checking the timetable ahead of time (although I bring everything I might need for any class every day regardless), so I often use this ten minutes to see what we have in store for the day. Each day is broken down into six one-hour blocks, usually with a mix of single-session classes, and longer ‘text project’ sessions that can last two or three hours.
9.15 – 10.15am: Class One
This Monday (Day 89/Term 2/Week 7) we had Actor’s Movement with our teacher Michelle. A movement class can entail anything from Yoga, exploring the Laban choreographic methodology, ‘Animaux’ animal movement, physical-contact duo work etc. In this particular class we spent the first thirty minutes learning a sequence of bird-inspired balance positions, and then for the second half we paired up to devise short movement sequences based around how lovebirds (the literal bird species- Greek name Agapornis) interact with each other.
10.15 – 10.30am: Scramble Two
Snack. Loo. Manic.
10.30 – 11.30am: Class Two
Class two on Monday was Stage Combat with Bristol Old Vic stalwart, and Head of Movement, Jonothan Howell. J. How has been teaching Stage Combat for forty years- the man knows his stuff. He likes to keep us guessing as to what any given class will cover, so its usually a case of turn up and find out! In this particular class we continued our work on unarmed combat, specifically exploring a sequence of grips, containing an attacker, headlocks, the illusion of head-punches and groin kicks for the stage.
11.30 – 11.45am: Scramble Three
Loo. Snack. Not enough time.
11.45 – 12.45pm: Class Three
Class Three on Monday was Voice with Carol Fairlamb, Bristol Old Vic’s lovely Head of Voice. We had just finished a text-project of Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov the previous Wednesday, and in reviewing the project from a vocal lens, many of our class had reflected on the challenge of ‘getting colour into the voice’ when playing characters of different gender and/or age to themselves. To help this exploration finding vocal variety, Carol brought in a poem- Invinctus by William Ernest Henley- for us to dissect. Pitch, Pause, Punctuation, Power, Character Intention, Given Circumstances; to name but a few possible elements an actor can use to ensure a poem isn’t one dimensional.
12.45 – 2.00pm: Lunch
Lunch is 75 minutes on most days, which can sometimes be way too long, and on other days can feel like nowhere near enough time! On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I usually go on short run at the start of lunch, typically 3km or so on the beautiful Clifton Downs that are right beside school. I am usually back at school by 1.10pm to eat, have a shower if it has been a physical morning, chill out with students from the other acting classes, and have the always crucial 1.45pm coffee.
2.00 – 3.00pm: Class Four
In what was a timetable irregularity, we had Carol Fairlamb again after lunch- however this class was dedicated to exploring Shakespeare’s Sonnets. In two weeks time we have a Sonnet performance evening with the first year BA (3 year degree) and first year FDA (2 year degree) students, where we will all be performing two sonnets (I have chosen #23 and #34). In this particular class Carol went over some of the basic linguistic structures and techniques used by Shakespeare in his Sonnets, encouraging us to delve deeply into the specific word and punctuation choices that he has made in our pieces. Probably the most valuable point that I learnt was regarding enjambment- where Shakespeare ends a line without punctuation, implying that the thought flows into the next line. I was very familiar with enjambment, however this class was the first time I had heard a teacher suggest that an actor should never breath after a line with enjambment. Carol suggested that as rule (in Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets alike) the next breath should only be taken on the first stressed syllable of the following line. Things learnt!
3.00 – 3.15pm : Scramble Four
Sit down. Fresh air. Snack.
3.15 – 4.30pm: Class Five
Our fourth session on Monday was Acting Basics with Head of Acting, Paul Chesterton. This class was a continuation of a previous session in which we had been exploring the ‘States of Tension’ methodology of theatre practitioner Uta Hagen. To very briefly summarise what has been (at time of writing) now five hours of classwork into a couple of sentences: States of Tension is a way of framing how a character is feeling at any given moment on an eight-stage scale- stage one being the least amount of tension, and eight being the most. Titles of the stages can vary, but the wording we have been using are:
1- Catatonic
2- Californian
3- One Thought
4- Neutral
5- Is there a bomb in the room?
6- There IS a bomb in the room
7- Your worst fear has appeared in front of you
8- Rigor Mortis
In this particular Monday class we spent most of our time looking at states 6 and 7, particularly what it is to have your body be completely gripped by fear, tension and concentration simultaneously. In one exercise we as a class spent ten minutes crossing a fifteen metre room, at a painstakingly slow pace as if crossing a minefield. The amount of sheer focus made for an unreal ensemble experience.
3.15 – 4.15pm: Scramble Five
Snack. Water. Loo.
4.30 – 5.30pm: Class Six
To cap off the day, we had a Period Movement class with (again) Jonothan Howell. In Period Movement we have been moving through the 13th-19th centuries, exploring different historical dance forms. Currently we are looking at the early 1800’s period, and so naturally Pride and Prejudice provides quality content to be examined. We have recently been focusing on the famous dance scene between Mr Darcy and Elizabeth, in which the two main characters exchange sparring dialogue whilst engaging in a group dance with the other ball-goers. Period Movement is always one our more lighthearted classes, although the content that we cover is very valuable for our overall theatrical education, particularly for working in Great Britain!
5.30pm : Day Done!
…That being said, I often stay at school for another hour or so for extra combat practice, individual singing work or any of the hundreds of ongoing tasks.
All in a day’s work…
JCL xx
"Doing The Work"- Reflections on Drama School. 