Organised by the not-for-profit organisation LEATSS a.s.b.l., the Luxembourg European Annual Theatre Summer School (LEATSS) 2017 annual summer school and intensive workshops are to be held this year from Saturday 22 to Sunday 30 July 2017 inclusive, at the Clairefontaine Centre d'Accueil (on the border between Luxembourg and Belgium, only ten minutes drive from Arlon and from the Brussels-Luxembourg motorway).

For applications or detailed information please see www.leatss.lu or contact email: admin@leatss.lu   SUMMER SCHOOL: 

An intensive 8-day residential course for directing, acting and music theatre singing students revolving entirely around project work and led by professional, UK based tutors.

The work is creative and inspiring, the pace impressive but rewarding, the atmosphere friendly and supportive. Because the emphasis is on process and not product (how can we do it, not how well do we perform), we can encompass a wide range of age, experience and skill.

Students can choose one Theme and one Skills project.

THEME PROJECTS – Forging Ahead

Recent years have seen considerable political turmoil dominated by wild claims and “forged” facts. How will theatre respond to the current crisis? How have playwrights contributed to similar crises in the past?

Challenging for Change (singing, acting through song): music with a social as well as artistic base – Looking at musicals that have satirised and discredited oppression and injustice (ensemble, duets and solos)

The Power of Uncertainty (acting): making it up as we go along – Using playful improvisation to explore the response to uncertain times with humanity’s capacity for invention and humour Acting in a Political Context (acting): theatre that speaks for its own time – Exploring the work of playwrights who have struggled to create ‘continuously disturbing’ theatre that has contemporary relevance

Unleashing the Spirit (acting): theatre that dances with danger – Using a variety of techniques to explode into the work of practitioners who have challenged and provoked the status quo

SKILLS PROJECTS

The Full English (singing): Looking at songs from different eras that have made English music a distinctive and enduring presence in musicals and song writing.

The Alchemy of Archetypes (acting): An integrative approach to creating unique yet universally recognised characters through looking at archetypes and their gift to the actor.

The Actor as Animator / Storyteller (acting): A practical course using masks, puppets, dolls and inanimate objects to explore the use of invention and enchantment to create unique and imaginative performance.

Creativity, Communication and Craft (directing): The variety of ingredients a director needs to gather in order to make a creative cake, looking at set design, music, sound, performance, environment and stage configuration.  

INTENSIVE WORKSHOPS

In addition to the summer school, three separate 2-day Intensive Workshops (Master Classes) will be held on:

- 23-24 July 2017 Getting in Shape for the ‘Write’ Way Forward (writing for theatre) – A practical course on the marriage of structure (framework, style) to narrative drive, using structure to allow creative ideas to bloom

- 25-26 July 2017 Realism / New Realism (acting) –Creating characters and relationships of psychological and emotional complexity by way of Chekhov’s The Seagull and Tracy Lett’s August Osage County

- 28-29 July 2017 Single and Loving It! (acting, solo performance) – Using some of the methods of Grotowski and his physical action style to explore the creation of solo performance, be it cabaret, stand-up, monologue, dramatic, poetic or artistic

FEES (all-inclusive):

Summer School (all-inclusive charge): Residential €800; Day students €560.

Intensive Workshops (all-inclusive): Residential €275, €500 and €700; Day student €225, €400, €550 for one, two and three workshops.