based on the observation of some environment outside the school. Besides this, each student is given an individual “set-piece” assignment, a theme for a personal creation, dramatic or otherwise, based on his or her own insights. And finally, each student is given a “movement phrase”, to be developed using a series of set movements drawn from the movement analysis classes plus a number of free figures.

The quality of the student’s daily work determines his or her passage to the second year: acting ability and creative autonomy are the two main criteria. Students are continuously assessed and are given objective and diagnostic rather than judgemental feedback.

This allows the student to gradually map out his or her own course and take the reins of what will hopefully become an artistic career. A detailed evaluation at the end of the year gives students advice about which path to follow, at the school or elsewhere.

PROGRAMME SECOND AND THIRD YEAR

The second and third year are two parts of a single whole: a voyage of discovery through the great texts and traditions of theatre history, a journey to the extremities of theatre and thus to the ideal training ground for an actor. Greek tragedy, the Elizabethan theatre (Shakespeare & co.), the Commedia dell’Arte, the great melodramas and pantomime are reinvented in present day sensibilities, fed by comic strips, television soaps, cinema and virtual reality. We devote a term to each of these dramatic domains, each of which is closed

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