Key Techniques in Theatre-making by Professor Syed Jamil Ahmed Tickets

About Key Techniques in Theatre-making by Professor Syed Jamil Ahmed

The masterclass is underpinned by the notion of abhinaya (acting) articulated in the Nāṭyaśāstra thus: "the root ni- with the preposition abhi which means towards, gives the word abinaya because it carries (ni-) the performance towards (the audience).” It will elaborate this notion of abhinaya by drawing on Stanislavski, Barba and Suzuki, and focussing on four key techniques. The substance of the first of these, an actor’s ‘scenic presence,’ is the extra-daily body techniques involving balance and bodily centre, that distinctly articulate the actor’s intention and dilate his/her energy (prāṇa). ‘Action’ is that which a character does, mentally or physically, in order to achieve his/her overreaching objective. ‘Communion’ is an actor’s power of attention that allows his/her creative faculties to be completely and intensely absorbed with other actors, objects or some interesting, creative problem on stage. Finally, ‘tempo-rhythm,’ as Mary Johnsson explains, is the actors’ ability to “incorporate speed, intensity and variability into their movement and speech actions to engage the audience in the shared experience of character-building and performance.” In the masterclass, these notions will be explored by means of theatre games and improvisations. Syed Jamil Ahmed is a director-designer based in Bangladesh, with numerous production credits at home as well as in India, Pakistan, and the US. This event will take place at: Brady Arts & Community Centre 192-196 Hanbury St London E1 5HU