Teaching
A teacher of some 20 years experience, Mark offers a variety of classes and courses which can be tailor made for school, University and Conservatoire training programmes. He also runs weekend workshops and week long summer schools open to all (please watch this space for details of upcoming courses).
All classes are practical; a mixture of games, exercises, improvisation and devising that allow the actor to fully 'play', embracing risk-taking and allowing the actor to take creative control in their own work.
Specialist courses include:
Clown
Find your personal idiot and use this character to create your own work. This is ideal for actors/comedians exploring the nature of comedy and their own comic personna, but is also an essential component of any actors complete training.
Bouffon
An amazingly physical and high energy approach to satire. The actor uses three character types to create solo and group scenes of varying degrees of coarseness and vulgarity.
Chorus
Starting with basic movement in the space and growing to encompass classic tragedy and comic forms this course looks at ensemble storytelling: including use of the body, text and sound effects with a choral group.
Melodrama
An exploration of the traditional form of 'peasants tragedy', involving song, use of chorus and the exploration of the extreme emotions.
Introduction to Lecoq
Basic course looking at 'le jeu', movement and use of space and principles of improvisation. Ideal for beginners.
Clown Group
Created by Mark Bell and Charlotte Riley in February 2011, this is a regular group for professional actors. We aim to explore comedy and character using the red nose Clown as a starting point but bringing in other forms as it grows and depending on where the work takes us. As long as it makes us laugh.
The group meets every two or three weeks. The sessions are open. The mix of members/clowns will be different each session as we don't expect everyone to be able to make every session. In fact it is our preference that we have a 'floating' group, so people get to work with as many other people as possible.
Each group weekend is a mixture of improvisation, play, games and devising led by Mark and/or Charlotte. Its main drive however, is wherever the work takes us, so its up to you idiots to lead us.
Clown Group is currently on holiday! More details as soon as we have them.
Summer Schools
The week long summer school courses are perfect for actors looking to extend their training, those just beginning their career and also those who like to keep trying new things and learning.
All courses are practical and will involve improvisation, movement and devising components. No experience is necessary although the courses are aimed at professional actors or those who wish to have a career in the Theatre.
Sadly no workshops or summer schools have yet been announced for this year.