The Poor School - Short Courses

Short Courses

The Poor School runs three short courses; the four-day course, the one-week course and the three-week summer course. The four-day courses run from Tuesdays to Fridays 10.00 am to 5.00 pm at various times throughout the year. Course numbers vary between 30 and 40 students, of all age ranges and abilities. The youngest student has been 15 and the oldest 80. The groups are always eclectic and interesting in terms of background, age and ability. Many people who undertake the course have no acting experience at all; others have sometimes already acted professionally or are interested in taking the four day course by way of an audition process for the two-year training. All that is asked of students is that they arrive on time and awake, prepared to do a small amount of hard and focused work. They undertake classes in acting, voice, movement, singing, dancing, jazz, stage fighting and Shakespeare as well as rehearsing contemporary scenes and a musical number for a relaxed and informal performance on the last afternoon. The course is an excellent self-contained experience; many students remarking a noticeable change in confidence and ability after just four days. It also serves as a fantastic taster for the full-time training, which some students are invited to join following the four-day course. In 2010 theatre critic for The Daily Telegraph, Dominic Cavenish, attended a four-day course at The Poor School. His review can be read here.

The one-week course is essentially an out-of-hours four-day course as it takes place in the evenings from Monday to Friday and during the daytime on Saturday. The content and staff contact hours are identical, and the cost is the same. Evening hours are 6.30-10.00 pm, and there is a 10.00 am start on Saturday and a 5.00 pm finish. The first one-week course took place from September 10 to 15 2012.

The three-week summer courses are similar to the four-day course in their content; students cover a range of subjects and classes, including acting study, voice, movement, singing, dancing, jazz, stage fighting and Shakespeare as well as rehearsing contemporary scenes and a musical number for a relaxed performance at the end of the three weeks. The three-week summer courses differ from the four-day and one-week course in both schedule and rigour. Classes for the three-week summer courses are scheduled in the evenings and weekends, from 6:30 pm to 10 pm Monday to Friday and 10 am - 5 pm on Saturdays. This schedule allows enrolled students to continue working throughout the course and thus provides an experience closer to that of the full-time two-year training, which is also scheduled in the evenings and weekends. As the summer courses are three weeks, they naturally work at a slightly deeper level than the four-day and one-week courses, and there is a greater opportunity for feedback and experimentation. As with the other short courses, the summer course can also serve as a more thorough audition process for the two-year training.

All courses are extremely popular and well reviewed, and the majority of the students undertaking the two-year training now come through that channel. Short course reviews can be found here.

Upcoming four-day courses: 14–17 May 2013; 13–16 August 2013.

Upcoming one-week courses: 8–13 July 2013; 15–20 July 2013; 2–7 September 2013.

Upcoming three-week summer course: 22 July - 10 August 2013.