Overview

Led by industry experts, experience hands-on, skill-based learning. Our classes are for students at any stage of their creative development with a focus on both personal and artistic growth. NIDA Open provides a dynamic environment where young artists can explore their passions, gain confidence, and develop their craft in an inspiring and supportive environment. 

Learning framework

Each term we focus on a specific area of performance practice to ensure students have a varied experience and learn a range of essential creative skills. Students are able to join us at the start of any term during the year. NIDA Open Drama courses are designed across a four term structure within the following learning framework: 

Term 1 Improvisation and Performance Craft 
Term 2 Voice and Movement 
Term 3 Devising and Contemporary Practice 
Term 4 Script Work and Technique 

Term 1: Roll With It

What happens when the script stops and you’re left to keep the scene alive? Step beyond the text and discover how improvisation can transform an on-screen performance. Work with a NIDA Open teaching artist and develop the skills needed to think quickly, listen closely and make confident choices in the moment. Explore improvisation technique and character development exercises as you discover how to stay present, take creative risks and create authentic screen moments where anything can happen.

Components

• Performance Craft: Participate in improvised scene work to develop basic acting and improvisation technique.
• Spontaneity: Utilise improvisation skills to build a screen performance.
• Characters: Experiment with vocal and physical expression to create an original character.

Term 2: Out of Time

Step back in time and discover how to bring characters from another era to life on screen. Inspired by stories including Little Women, Dodger and Dead Poets Society, explore how the era in which a character lives shapes the way they speak, move and behave. Work with a NIDA Open teaching artist to explore vocal techniques and physical expression to embody characters shaped by the social conventions of the past. Develop your voice and movement skills and discover how to create believable characters and nuanced on-screen performances that authentically capture the distinctive qualities of another time and place.

Components

• Voice: Introduction to how the voice works, exploration of fundamental vocal performance techniques.
• Physical Awareness: Exploring skills to embody character development
• Creative Expression: Participate in fun and engaging acting and technical screen exercises to develop new creative ideas with others.

Term 3: Double-Take

Inspired by films including Back to the Future and Freaky Friday, explore what happens when time shifts, identities swap and the rules of your world change! Collaborate with your ensemble to devise a pilot episode for your own TV series. Develop original scenes as you experiment with given circumstances and embody characters in extraordinary situations. Bend reality, break the rules, and bring your own ideas to the screen.

Components

• Collaboration: Work in a group, incorporate shared ideas into a new, recorded performance work.
• Screen Writing: Devise and script original scenes for screen.
• Character Development: Develop a unique character for recorded performance.

Term 4: Viva La Villain

Are bad guys really ALL bad? Investigate the inner workings of the villian’s mind and discover what makes them tick, tick, boom! Develop text analysis skills and take a deep dive into the underworld of these sordid characters, bringing your own interpretation to their twisted tales. Explore the complexities of the given circumstances as you craft a compelling performance that persuades your audience to turn a blind eye to bad deeds.

Components

• Acting Technique: Use Stanislavski technique to unlock your character’s inner life.
• Text Analysis: Interpret and bring to life a short written text for screen performance.
• Screen Performance Craft: Consider the elements that contribute to the physical realization of a performance.

For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions.

For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions.