Report 2019

Held at Royal Central School on March 8 and continued at the NT on March 22

Auditions were held at The Spotlight on February 21^st,22^nd, 25^th and 26^th. Further auditions took place at The Sheffield Crucible Theatre on 1^st March. Auditions were conducted by Richard Williams, Howard Loxton and Warren Hearnden. Molly Leigh Moy was administrative assistant for the auditions. The auditions were publicised through the STR website, the Molly website, social media and through past participants. A diverse group of 12 actors with at least two years’ professional experience, were selected from the auditions. 9 actors were selected from the London auditions and 3 from the Sheffield auditions. As in the past an invitation to participate was offered to young National Theatre actors, but this year there were no takers.

The Garrick Club had previously granted the Society a grant of £4,000 for the Poel Workshop to be more inclusive geographically. Because the workshop days have to start at 8.30 in order to accommodate the number of planned activities, it has been difficult for actors living outside the London commuter belt to participate. The Garrick funding made it possible to offer auditions in Sheffield, to offer rail/bus fares and modest overnight accommodation for the actors recruited from the north of England. It should be gratefully acknowledged that the actors awarded financial help were painstakingly modest in their claims, thus keeping the fund at a good level for ensuing years.

Day 1
The day started with a warm up session taken by movement expert Ita O’Brien (movement lecturer at Drama Centre and Royal Central School) and this was followed by a vocal preparation workshop from Daron Oram, lecturer in voice at Royal Central School. The morning session was completed by a session on breathing and vocal delivery from Peter Knapp, lecturer at Trinity College of Music.

The afternoon session was a single workshop delivered by Ben Crystal who introduced a number of new techniques to enable a clearer understanding of Shakespearean text. In particular he analysed a number of specimen speeches from the point of view of the clues on interpretation contained within the verse. These clues included a sharp focus on the variations in the use of the iambic pentameter and how this could suggest ways of delivering the lines.

Finally the actors were put into pairs and given a Shakespeare scene to prepare for the second day at The National Theatre.

Day 2
The day started with Ita O’Brien giving a second warm up session, and this was followed by Nona Sheppard (senior lecturer at RADA and the Lir Academy Dublin) giving a workshop on the structure of Shakespeare speeches and how the actor could respond in performance. This was followed by Jeannette Nelson, Head of Voice National Theatre, working with the actors on the stage of the Olivier Theatre on their previously prepared monologues.

In the afternoon director David Thacker (Young Vic, RSC and Bolton) continued on the Olivier stage working with the actors on the scenes which had been selected at the end of Day 1. The day ended with a session from Barrie Rutter, sharing his insights into Shakespearean plays in performance.

The Poel Workshop provides a unique opportunity for young actors to refresh their knowledge of techniques of delivery of Shakespeare text, and to introduce new approaches and ideas. It is generally acknowledged that for most actors there are fewer and fewer opportunities for the development of skills and the chance to perform Shakespeare. The enthusiasm with which the workshop sessions are greeted is testimony to their value and importance. There is no doubt a demand and a market for the workshops, particularly when they are delivered by such high-profile professionals.

The Garrick funding will allow for a repeat and possible extension of the out of London auditions. The 2019 group have stayed in touch and plan to organise themselves for further play readings.

I would like to record my thanks to the following parties: The Society for its continued support of the workshop; Howard Loxton and Warren Hearnden: Molly Leigh Moy for help with the administration; The Garrick Club; The Spotlight for the use of their audition rooms; Royal Central for hosting Day 1; The NT who hosted Day 2 and the teachers, directors and workshop leaders.

Richard Williams
May 2019

Report 2018

Day One at Central School consisted of a warm-up run by Georgina Sowerby from Dirty Market Theatre Company followed by a vocal workshop run by Daron Oram, voice teacher at Central.

The remainder of the morning was led by Peter Knapp,  Professor of Voice at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, teaching the group a series of exercises to improve and strengthen their breathing and consequently their delivery of text.

In the afternoon David Thacker, ex Artistic Director of the Young Vic, Resident Director at the RSC and Professor of Drama at Bolton University worked with each student on their monologues.  He took a broadly Stanislavskian approach to text, emphasising both the emotional and rational aspects of the speeches.

“Brilliant workshop! It was enjoyable, informative and perfectly tailored for the actor.  I definitely will be using new techniques and it was also just great to have old techniques reinforced and refreshed”. Cai Dale

At the end of the day the group was divided into five pairs and allocated a duologue to perform at the National Theatre in addition to their individual monologues.

Day Two started in one of the National Theatre’s rehearsal rooms with a warm-up again given by Georgina.

This was followed by a session led by Nona Shepphard,  director and currently consultant to the Lir drama school in Dublin and senior lecturer at RADA.  Her workshop focused on the clues for performance given in Shakespeare’s text.  This was followed by work on stage in the Olivier Theatre on the monologues, when Jeannette Nelson, Head of Voice at the NT, took each actor in turn through their monologue giving invaluable expert help in terms of meaning, delivery and staging.  Jeannette continued in the afternoon with work on the duologue scenes, giving the students the benefit of her long experience and knowledge of the challenges of a large stage like the Olivier.

The day ended with a session from Barrie Rutter, founder of Northern Broadsides Company, who spoke inspiringly about his work with Shakespeare and classical text, illustrating his ideas with exercises using the opening Chorus speech from Henry V.

“Thank you, it was a delight to be part of it.  I have definitely gained some fantastic techniques.  The only thing I would say was that I wish there were more days!”   Gabrielle Sheppard

Acknowledgements

The Poel Workshops team and the Committee of the Society for Theatre Research wish to convey their warmest thanks to all the workshop leaders, and to The Spotlight, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and The Royal National Theatre for making this year’s Poel Workshops such a success.

“It was perfect”  Carrie Rock

Report 2017 from participant Charlotte Gallagher 

What better way to start a new year than with The Poel Event?  12 actors trundled up the steps of Central School of Speech and Drama on January 4th to a warm, friendly, and reassuring welcome which set the tone for an inspiring, explorative and evolutionary two days.

A warm up helped us loosen up our stiff, hibernated limbs, shaking out the nervous energy, after which Daron Oram, Central’s voice teacher, took us from the simplicity of receiving the impulse to breathe to inhabiting the sophistication of the Elizabethan worldview.  We worked on releasing tension in our own bodies before meeting every other actor in the group with wordless noises and new-found gestures. Daron had set us up to be both vulnerable and daring with each other, beautiful ingredients for both days. He reminded us to receive to give, which could be another way of explaining the Poel Event.

Physically and vocally we were ready for Sam Yates to share his vision of full-hearted Shakespeare with us. He expanded us so that we could meet the largeness of the characters we were playing without sacrificing nuance. We ‘hit our ‘t’s’, prizing clarity and delivered our pieces with commitment and daring.

After lunch we piled into the theatre to work with Erica Whyman. Sam came too. Erica aired then absolved our fears and under the banner of ‘no hiding’ we worked our pieces. Erica’s agenda was gender – she wanted us to have the freedom of exploring the characters without limitation and with her they were allowed to live in both the past and the now. It is a delight to be directed by masters of their craft because the actor simply flourishes, which is what happened that first day.

It was rounded off perfectly with Emily Jenkin’s tutelage on our duologues for our next meeting; the Richard III / Lady Anne Act 1 sc.1 wooing scene. She gave us the tools to discover what Shakespeare was doing textually that makes the scene live. She helped us uncover stage directions embedded in the verse and gave us the keys to recognise Shakespeare’s cunning semantics. Invaluable acting tools! Thank goodness – as it meant that we were prepared for the second day.

It’s a testament to the Poel Event’s atmosphere that everyone had enthusiastically met up and rehearsed before congregating at The National at 8.30 am thirteen days later.

We warmed up on a set floor that was as slippery as banana skins in some places and hazardously splintery in others. But we survived!

Barbara Houseman took a generously diagnostic approach, sitting us in a circle and letting us tell her our voice worries while she prescribed us exercises for our individual needs before offering general voice health exercises.  We focussed on engagement, letting the sound travel.

Paapa Essiedu arrived and led us in different ways to approach the text and we had a ball (in fact there were lots of balls in Paapa’s session, and also post-it notes!). By the end of the workshop each pair of actors seamlessly performed their section of the scene until Lady Anne was Richard’s.

Lunch was once again, a very important part of the Poel Event and we were welcomed into the NT canteen with its view of the river, preparing ourselves for the afternoon’s opportunity to perform on the Olivier stage.

Jeanette Nelson warmed us up and let us play in the space offering techniques and vocal guidance. It was a genuine pleasure to see everyone grow their performances to match and encompass the Olivier auditorium. And how can you follow on from such an experience? Well, Ben Crystal used sticks and tennis balls. He led us in a tennis ball self-massage to release and relax our muscles and then had us dancing at arms length with each other by virtue of the sticks we held suspended between our fingers. It was an adventure in proximity before touch and a way of exploring the physical dynamics of a piece. It was meditative, imaginative and playful and was a very freeing way to end the day.

Of course, it wasn’t the end; we had drinks in the Green Room bar because over the course of those two days we had become friends.

Report 2016 from participant Sarah-Jayne Butler 

The Poel Event is hugely empowering. It has given us an incredible training and a beautiful foundation for performing Shakespeare. Those are true gifts indeed but they are made rare and exquisite by the atmosphere of the event.  That you attract such high calibre leaders of their fields to uplift a group of working actors for free is a testament to the character of the Society. I hope you are proud of this event because we are surely proud to be a part of it. Thank you.

The Poel Event is an incredibly important facility for us as actors to touch upon, revisit and expand our knowledge of Shakespeare. It provides a free platform where we, as professional actors, can practice new ideas and approaches with directors and practitioners who are at the forefront of this work in our industry today.

The 2016 event had a roll-call of extraordinary guest tutors: Jeremy Herrin, Jeanette Nelson, Timothy West, Ben Crystal, Caroline Byrne, Barbara Houseman, Daron Oram and Nicole Ribet all helped to make the two workshop days varied, challenging and truly inspiring.

On the morning of day one at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Nicole Ribet took us through our paces with a rigorous movement session that helped to open our bodies, and in turn our minds, to the work we were about to undertake.

Following on from Nicole’s physical warm up was Daron Oram’s extraordinary voice and text session which focused on connecting the body and voice with the text through many of Kristin Linklater’s exercises. Reminding us of the significance of the elemental and bodily humors in Elizabethan belief and how this in turn informed Shakespeare’s work, Daron worked with us to unlock the emotions associated with these organs and areas of the body through the voice. By the end of the session we all felt very much like an ensemble. There is nothing quite like sighing with your knees interlocked to create a bond between participants!

We next embarked on Caroline Byrne’s text session on The Taming of the Shrew.  As Caroline was currently working on this play for her own upcoming production at The Globe later this year, it was fascinating to expand and explore the themes and ideas surrounding the play with her as well as being an exciting insight into how production ideas such as concept, approach and edits are developed from the director’s perspective.

We began by splitting into two groups and creating a shortened, dumb-show version of The Taming of the Shrew, which allowed us to identify the key plot points of the play. The results couldn’t have been more different; one group took a comedic and slapstick approach to the storytelling, whereas the other focused on the physical telling – an approach which created a strong impact when dealing with Petruchio’s harsh treatment of Kate after they are married.  Again, we were reminded about what a complete vision is required of a director and also how other elements can inform and support artistic choices.

The afternoon began in RCCSD’s beautiful theatre space, with a paragon of British theatre, Timothy West. We had been set individual soliloquies to prepare for this session and it was a welcome challenge to have the opportunity to look at some of Shakespeare’s biggest speeches. One by one he worked with each of us on unlocking the text on the stage. Tim helped us see that Shakespeare’s soliloquies can be broken into three categories that could help us to find the focus and address of each speech; these were the inner, the outer or the upward. The inner, comprising of working out ideas within yourself, the outward working out ideas with the audience and the upward, which discusses these ideas with broader elements such as time, nature or God. To try out new ideas, be introduced to new approaches and to be guided with the text individually by Tim was an incredible experience and his generosity and passion made this session extremely inspiring.

And so to the final session of day one, led by Emily Jenkins. Emily split us into groups of two and three to work on scenes and duologues, which we would later expand on during day two at the National Theatre. Our scenes were taken from Twelfth Night and centered on the relationship between Viola and Olivia. Working with Emily on the text we explored the sometimes erratic line structure and textual clues found in the scenes, with a view to meeting up in our groups during the intervening days prior to Monday’s workshops at the National. I had been given the first meeting of Viola and Olivia and what became apparent was how both characters spoke in different forms – Viola predominantly in verse and Olivia in prose right until the end of the scene where she falls in love and subsequently, into verse. Emily pointed out to us that verse was spoken because it was the truth at the heart of a character whereas prose was often used when a character was disguising something. This again gave us a fascinating insight into the inner life of Shakespeare’s characters.

Five days later on a frosty Monday, we were reunited at the stage door of the National Theatre – a unique opportunity for us to embrace the skills we had learned so far and develop them further. Beginning the day was Nicole Ribet with another terrific movement session that got our bodies responsive and prepared for the work we were about to embark upon.

We moved on from our bodies and into warming up our voices next with the inimitable Barbara Houseman. Barbara’s session was tailored to our own needs and requirements and allowed us to work on any areas we individually felt needed support and guidance. She took time with all of us, dispelling voice myths, suggesting exercises and helping to identify areas that needed work. It is rare as an actor to have the opportunity to ‘check in’ with technical skills after training and Barbara’s session was yet another reason why the Poel Event is such an invaluable resource in helping professional actors to improve their craft and to continue to develop and build their skill-set.  We were now able to fully commit to the language we were about to work on and felt ready to begin work on the vast stage of the Olivier with director Jeremy Herrin.

Jeremy worked with us on the text as he would in rehearsals – excavating the language and meaning. He encouraged us to question and be bold with our decisions. We had the opportunity to work our scenes with him on the stage and through this work Jeremy helped us ensure we were not getting lost in the words at the expense of the story. A helpful reminder that all of our technical work so far has been to open up, release and connect with the text so we could best serve the story.

As we began to gain confidence with the text (and with the view of the Olivier’s 1,600 seat auditiorium!), we were introduced to the National’s Head of Voice, Jeanette Nelson, who took us through our paces with a thorough warm up before we began embarking on some more detailed scene work. Jeanette very swiftly worked out our individual areas of tension and offered useful ways to unlock them. The detailed and specific advice she offered to each of us during the session helped us all to connect with the space and perform with a newly found ease, on arguably one of the most important (and largest) stages in the country.

Having found our feet on stage at the National Theatre, we then headed back to the rehearsal room for the final session of the day with Ben Crystal. With Ben we worked using sticks to balance and find our centre and by doing so, releasing the focus from the text and allowing it to flow. The session was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with instinct and the body, and was a useful reminder that sometimes by using an outside focus, we can free the text and open up new possibilities of rhythm and relationship. The final half of our session with Ben and of the day itself focused on the First Folio text and how we can initially approach a speech through the clues in Shakespeare’s rhythm, line length and thought-structure.

Over the two workshops days we developed new skills and reconnected with the extraordinary language and form of Shakespeare’s work. By exploring his plays through movement, voice and text sessions we were reminded that as actors we must commit fully both technically and imaginatively in order to realise and release the depth of Shakespeare’s work and characters. The Poel Event has been an exciting and inspiring opportunity for myself and the other participants to continue developing our understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s work and it has made me eager to continue this learning.

Day One at Central School consisted of a warm-up run by Georgina Sowerby from Dirty Market Theatre Company followed by a vocal workshop run by Daron Oram, voice teacher at Central.

The remainder of the morning was led by Peter Knapp,  Professor of Voice at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, teaching the group a series of exercises to improve and strengthen their breathing and consequently their delivery of text.

In the afternoon David Thacker, ex Artistic Director of the Young Vic, Resident Director at the RSC and Professor of Drama at Bolton University worked with each student on their monologues.  He took a broadly Stanislavskian approach to text, emphasising both the emotional and rational aspects of the speeches.

“Brilliant workshop! It was enjoyable, informative and perfectly tailored for the actor.  I definitely will be using new techniques and it was also just great to have old techniques reinforced and refreshed”. Cai Dale

At the end of the day the group was divided into five pairs and allocated a duologue to perform at the National Theatre in addition to their individual monologues.

Day Two started in one of the National Theatre’s rehearsal rooms with a warm-up again given by Georgina.

This was followed by a session led by Nona Shepphard,  director and currently consultant to the Lir drama school in Dublin and senior lecturer at RADA.  Her workshop focused on the clues for performance given in Shakespeare’s text.  This was followed by work on stage in the Olivier Theatre on the monologues, when Jeannette Nelson, Head of Voice at the NT, took each actor in turn through their monologue giving invaluable expert help in terms of meaning, delivery and staging.  Jeannette continued in the afternoon with work on the duologue scenes, giving the students the benefit of her long experience and knowledge of the challenges of a large stage like the Olivier.

The day ended with a session from Barrie Rutter, founder of Northern Broadsides Company, who spoke inspiringly about his work with Shakespeare and classical text, illustrating his ideas with exercises using the opening Chorus speech from Henry V.

“Thank you, it was a delight to be part of it.  I have definitely gained some fantastic techniques.  The only thing I would say was that I wish there were more days!”   Gabrielle Sheppard