Creating Complex Characters with Julia Pascal

How do we move away from simplistic tropes and stereotypes to create challenging theatre that questions the status quo? How do we create multi-layered, complex characters who defy cliché? These are the questions at the heart of this course.

Julia Pascal draws on radical theatre techniques from Yiddish and Eastern European Theatre during this one week intensive to provoke and expand theatre techniques for writers, directors and performers. This is aimed at creatives who wish to explore imaginative methods of making innovative and challenging theatre.

Students will be focusing on freeing the self from learned vocabularies and work towards a theatre which surprises and stimulates. By the end of the week the participants will have learned new skills and ways of theatre-making to increase daring and develop practice.

Course Outline

During this week-long course students will:

Investigate techniques that can help a writer, performer or director develop original and complex characters that avoid cliché and tropes.
Engage with theatre techniques that are political, disruptive and challenge the status quo - a Theatre of Activism.
Explore radical storytelling and how to work without self-censorship.
Explore the joke as a method for creating structure and of subverting stereotypes - drawing on the importance of satire in Yiddish Theatre.

On the final day students will present a piece of individual work, explored during the week, which will be creatively discussed. A second draft of this performative work will be shared at the end of the day.

Course Dates

Monday 8 July - Friday 12 July

1 week, 5 sessions (Mon - Fri), 10am – 4:30pm

Please submit your application by 11.59am, 1 May 2024

Submit your application

This course is aimed at those who have already trained in a performance or theatre-making discipline, in particular writers, actors and directors.

Days	Monday - Friday
Times	All times listed are either GMT or GMT +1 (depending on the time of year). If you’re joining from overseas, please use a timezone convertor before booking to establish what the local time will be for you.
Age	The minimum age is 18 on the first day of the course. There is no upper age limit.
Max. class size	16 students
Course Delivery	All of the Summer Short Courses take place onsite at our Swiss Cottage campus in London.
International students	We welcome International Students to our courses, however please ensure you are on the correct visa. As our Summer Short Courses are classed as part-time, non-accredited short courses they are not eligible for a Tier 4 Student Visa however you may be eligible for a Short Term Study Visa.
Language requirements	Applicants must be confident speaking and reading English to a conversational level (IELTS score of 7.0 or equivalent). You may be expected to read texts/scripts that have advanced vocabulary.
Attendance	Due to the structure and the collaborative nature of the courses, full attendance is requested.
Refunds	We are able to offer a full refund up until 14 days before the course begins. After this, the course will become fully non-refundable.
Cancellations	Central reserves the right to cancel this course if we do not meet the minimum number of participants. In this instance, a full refund will be made to you. We are unable to refund any other costs you may have incurred.

Alumni of undergraduate, postgraduate and diploma courses are eligible for 10% off this Artist Development course.

You will be able to claim the discount when offered a place on the course, by contacting short.courses@cssd.ac.uk.

Course Tutor

Julia Pascal

Julia Pascal trained and worked as an actor before moving into direction and playwriting. She was the first woman director at the National Theatre, and her plays are produced in the UK, the USA and Europe. She is published by Methuen and Faber. www.juliapascal.org