SUMMER SCHOOL 2018 53rd - Drama League of Ireland
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53rd
Residential
SUMMER
SCHOOL 2018
Director:
Anne Mekitarian
Booking Enquiries
to Anne
Tel. 087 2741136
UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK
28th July – 4th August 2018
Drama League of Ireland,
The Mill Theatre, Dundrum, Dublin 16
Tel: 01 2969343
Email: summerschool@dli.ie
www.dli.ie
MESSAGE FROM
PRESIDENT
MICHAEL D. HIGGINS
I would like to send my best wishes to everyone
involved in the Drama League of Ireland 53rd
Annual Residential Summer School.
The Drama League is an organisation of which I
am very proud to be Patron. Amateur Dramatic
companies play an important role in communities
across the country and are a wonderful example
of how citizens with different skills and talents can
come together in a spirit of active participation to
achieve a common goal. Amateur dramatics also
play an important role in the cultural life of our
country, introducing many people to the joys of
viewing a live performance and to the works of
many brilliant playwrights.
For the past 53 years, this Summer School has
provided a valuable opportunity for experienced
and novice performers, writers and directors to
come together in a spirit of friendship as they seek
to further develop their talents and gifts. Here at
the Summer School, the joy of creativity can be
shared between like-minded people as they swap
experiences and encourage each other in the
development of their craft.
I wish you all an enjoyable time and every success
in the future.
The
Voice of
Amateur Michael D. Higgins
Uachtarán na hÉireann
Drama President of Ireland
1
53rd Residential
Summer
School
This is the 53rd DLI Summer School and we return
again to the beautiful and peaceful campus of the
University of Limerick.
Founded in 1972 and achieving university status
in 1989, the University of Limerick is situated five
miles from Limerick City in a spectacular park on
the banks of the River Shannon. The campus is
ideally situated for bus and rail travel connections
within Ireland and Shannon Airport is only a short
distance away.
Sports facilities are first-class and those attending
the summer school will be able to access the mag-
nificent 50m swimming pool and state of the art
gym at specially reduced rates.
University of Limerick has a strong connection
with the art world and is home to the National
Self-Portrait Collection and the Watercolour Soci-
ety of Ireland Collection.
Living accommodation is provided in attractive
village-style 5/6 bedroom apartments, each with
ensuite facilities. All apartments have a comfort-
able living-room/fully fitted kitchen.
There will be a full social programme for the week
centred in The Stables where everyone can meet
and mingle each evening. The University of Limer-
ick was named ‘University of the Year 2015’ in the
Sunday Times Good University Guide.
2
All The
World’s A
Stage… Anne Mekitarian
Céad Míle Fáilte romhaibh go léir! I extend a heartiest DLI
welcome to this, our 53rd consecutive Residential Summer
School. I am very pleased that you have decided to participate.
An especially warm hand of friendship is extended to all of
our first-timers. Our cherished ‘regulars’ are welcomed once
more – we are thrilled to have you back again. I hope you
will all enjoy, together, the relaxed atmosphere, the beautiful
surroundings and the inevitable and infectious good humour
that pervades the campus each and every year.
Ours is a special summer school where new friendships
are forged and existing ones renewed. Total immersion in
drama is the order for the week as you indulge in the special
camaraderie of the shared experience while exploring texts,
sharing stories, creating magic, learning new skills and
polishing techniques. Believe me you will enjoy the hard
work, the late nights and early mornings, as you play at your
favourite pastime – what’s not to love about that?!
Full details of the courses and tutors are in the following
pages. A very special welcome is proffered to tutors Peter
McAllister and Bryan Burroughs who are with us for the
first time. I hope you have a wonderful experience. Equally
warm regards are extended to Chrissie Poulter, Vincent
O’Neill, Thomas Conway, Geoff O’Keeffe and Cathal Quinn
who are all making a very welcome return. Our professional
practitioners will ensure an exciting, and challenging week
ahead and there will be a full, well-organised extra-curricular
social programme. Prepare to be busy!
Registration: at Dromroe Village Hall on Saturday 28th
July 2018 from 2pm – 4pm. Bring comfortable working
clothes, soft shoes etc.
Play texts: you will be notified, individually, by email of
any required reading.
DLI Summer School is run entirely by volunteers. The tutors
have been primed, the parties planned, and the curtain is
about to rise on a week of personal challenges, innovative
ideas and inspired tuition. My team and I will do our utmost
to ensure that you experience a week to remember and one
that will live up to your expectations!
My wish for each and every one of you is that you may find
a space in which to grow, recharge your creative batteries,
and, above all, have some FUN! It continues to be the best
(working) holiday around!
Anne Mekitarian
DLI Summer School Director 2018
3
Chairman’s Address
Welcome back to this our 53rd year of the DLI Summer School
and a special welcome to all of our first timers. The Summer
School has proved to be the most important DLI function
each year and with your continued support, it continues
to grow. I would like to welcome back especially all of you
who continue to return year after year and who support DLI
in its goals and aspirations. To those of you here for the first
time, I hope this is the beginning of a long and beneficial
relationship with our Summer School. I know you will all
have an exhilarating week of fun, full of quality instruction,
renewing old friendships and making new ones.
Anne Mekitarian will be in charge for the week as she has
been for many years. Anne devotes much of her time each
year to this venture together with all her other duties. I
cannot stress enough the enormous undertaking this is and
Anne and her team carry it out with panache and aplomb.
DLI are extremely lucky to have such dedicated volunteers
working to make our Summer School a success each year.
As we head into our 53rd year of Summer School we will, as
always, keep our standards high, our courses relevant and
our prices keen. Because we are a fully amateur organisation,
none of your course fee goes on administrative costs. As we
are all involved in our local organisations, we appreciate
the issues facing you and can tailor our courses to suit your
needs. In this respect I wish to thank the other DLI Board
Members for their selfless dedication to the Drama League
of Ireland.
A special expression of warmth to our quality instructors.
Welcome to Limerick Chrissie, Thomas, Cathal, Vincent,
Bryan, Geoff & Peter - I hope you all have a great week.
DLI is greatly appreciative of the support we receive from
Member Groups, Individual Members, Drama Festivals and
County Councils in providing scholarships to attend Summer
School, recognising that DLI Summer School has in no
small way contributed to the very high standard of amateur
theatre in Ireland.
Our commitment to you our participants is that you will
be entertained, enriched, exerted, enhanced, exercised
and enlivened by your week with us so that you go back to
your communities energised and enthusiastic about future
projects. Enjoy … enjoy … enjoy …
Jackie Scanlan
DLI Chairman 2018
4
Course A
Do Re Mi...
Tutor: Chrissie Poulter
No, it’s not a singing course (‘though we may raise a tune or
two!) Remember the words? ... ‘Let’s start at the very beginning
/ A very good place to start / When you read you begin with ABC
/ When you sing you begin with do re mi’...
And when you act????? What does ‘beginners’ mean? On
the night of a show you’ll hear it backstage in some theatres
‘Beginners please’ - meaning 5 minutes before curtain up so
you’d better be ready if you’re in the first scene!
‘Beginners’ is a joy! It means it’s OK to say: What’s that about?
How does that work?
‘Beginners’ is where you get to take things to pieces. You can
take your time. Keep exploring how it works. So if you want to
spend a week being ‘a beginner’, this is the course for you.
We’ll look at scripts (bring your favourite) and stories (tell us
your favourite one) and songs with words and tunes with none.
We’ll look at objects and how they can help us tell a tale. We’ll
enjoy the outdoors (if the weather smiles on us!) exploring
the inspiring campus of Limerick University for spaces which
intrigue and entrance and which help us tell the story of this
place and this time. Or just as easily that story of that time. What
a treat: Playing with playing and plays. See you there!
Chrissie Poulter: director, deviser, writer, lecturer, trainer. From
Leeds Youth Theatre to a degree in drama from Birmingham
University and on to a life of creating theatre with anyone who
wants to do that – amateur , professional and non-actors - in
Ireland, UK, Poland, Greece, France, Spain and Norway. Chrissie
has led training workshops for visual artists, writers, directors,
teachers, community drama facilitators and more, focusing
on ways of working with people to bring out the best of their
creativity and expressivity in collaboration with others. She
is now Head of Drama in the School of Creative Arts in Trinity
College Dublin which she joined in 1990, teaching on both the
four year honours degree and the professional actor-training
course. Chrissie is no stranger to the intense and fun world of
the DLI summer schools.
5
Course B
Oh Brave, New World That
Has Such Plays In’t: Directing
language-based approaches
to playwriting
Tutor: Thomas Conway
‘What we do share, I think, is a sense of play: we are all playing with
theatrical conventions, structure, and language in ways that excite
us…’ Young Jean Lee (playwright)
‘In this dramatic universe, acuity of perception and theatrical high
jinks are their own reward.’ Mac Wellman (playwright)
What have The Wire, Mad Men and Deadwood in common? They
are written by playwrights who have cut their teeth with new
approaches to playwriting. And what makes them so new?
They are having fun with language and letting audiences in
on the fun. But what’s the big deal, haven’t plays always been
language-based? Ah, but they haven’t drawn attention to
the fun that can be had with language quite like these plays
do. These plays are exuberant, outlandish, ribald, dangerous,
scandalous, breathtaking and fully engaged in our world. These
plays are alert to how language is used in our everyday lives as
never before, and they break a few rules to let the fun take over.
Suitable for both novice and more advanced directors, the
course will bring tried-and-trusted directorial approaches
to bear on some of the best new plays of our times. You will
discover how the techniques of improvisation can take on
a whole new level of inventiveness and exhilaration when
rehearsing these new plays. You will also discover the sense of
liberation that comes with these plays, not only for everyone
working on them, but also for audiences.
Thomas Conway works as a director, dramaturg, editor and
lecturer. Directing credits include the world première of Enda
Walsh’s Gentrification. As a dramaturg, he has worked with
Druid, Painted Bird, Pan Pan, and Michael Keegan Dolan,
among others. He is the editor of The Oberon Anthology of
Contemporary Irish Theatre. He teaches contemporary theatre at
The Lír: National Academy of Dramatic Art and at NUI Galway.
6
Course C
Strengthening the
Voice & Owning the
Text...Vocal Techniques
Tutor: Cathal Quinn
The voice, that most valuable tool of the actor, needs to be
cared for, cherished, shaped, developed and exercised. This
course will be an invigorating and comprehensive approach
to improving and expanding your vocal technique. We will
engage in vocal work-outs each morning using, primarily, the
voice methodologies of Kristin Linklater, Professor Emerita at
Columbia University, NYC. As well as honing our technique,
in the afternoons we will introduce text and look at poetry
and plays of two Irish literary giants: James Joyce and Nobel
Laureate Samuel Beckett. This course will be suitable for actors
at all levels of experience. It will be intensive, enjoyable and
very worthwhile. The late great John Hurt, arguably one of
Britain’s finest actors, maintained that ‘50% of acting is in your
voice’. Let’s see what we can achieve together in a week and
surprise ourselves!
Cathal Quinn is Head of Voice at The Lir, Trinity College, Dublin.
A professional actor for over thirty years, he trained as an actor
at the Royal Scottish Academy. He has a Masters in Voice Studies
from Central School of Speech and Drama and has taught at
Oxford School of Drama, and at The Gaiety School of Acting. He
also works as a voice coach in theatre, television and film. Cathal
is Artistic Director of two theatre companies: Mouth on Fire has
staged highly successful productions of Shakespeare, Wilde,
Samuel Beckett and Yeats. The company has toured to the UK,
India and Japan and won awards for its Beckett shows in Russia.
Everlasting Voices has put on shows with music, song, dance
and great Irish poetry by Yeats, Heaney and Beckett, touring to
India and Japan.
7
Course D
The Directing Dynamic:
Experienced Directors
& Actors
Tutor: Vincent O’Neill
What are the essential elements of successful directing? How
can we acquire these elusive skills? How do we apply them on
the rehearsal floor? What are the tools of the directing process
which will make us much more effective actors? What is the
magic that transforms a team of actors and designers into a
powerful force which can create a production, regardless of
the style, which engages, fascinates and entertains? We will
uncover the secrets, skill-sets and techniques for creating
impactful and dynamic productions. The techniques of
directing are very precise but eminently learnable, and are
also invaluable to actors, who through an understanding of
the director’s viewpoint, are empowered to create much more
comprehensive and visceral characters in performance.
The two principal plays explored in depth will be Jean-Claude
van Itallie’s experimental work Interview and Martin McDonagh’s
modern Irish classic, The Beauty Queen of Leenane. Bring a scene
from your own favourite play, which we will explore and stage,
in order to cover a wide range of styles.
Be prepared for a thoroughly practical, fun and challenging
week at the end of which your skills as actor-director will have
reached an exciting and impressive new level. Let the journey
begin!
Vincent O’Neill: Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Irish
Classical Theatre Company, Western New York’ s pre-eminent
theatre company, Vincent trained as an actor at the Abbey
Theatre School of Acting, and as a mime artist with the legendary
Marcel Marceau in Paris. He won the Harvey’s National Theatre
Award for Best Newcomer in Irish Theatre. In 1985, he became a
member of the Abbey Theatre Company, with which he toured
to Edinburgh, London, Paris, Philadelphia, New York, Hong
Kong, Leningrad and to Moscow Arts Theatre. He toured his
internationally acclaimed one-man-show, “Joyicity”, extensively
throughout Europe and the USA, with two runs off-Broadway,
and also to Toronto, Sydney and Tokyo. Since emigrating to
Western New York in 1989, he has worked both as actor and
director in all of the region’s major theatres.
He has won Western New York’s Best Actor Award for ten
subsequent years, and he has also won awards for Best Director,
Outstanding Playwright and Career Achievement.
Vincent is also Director of Theatre Performance at the University
at Buffalo’s Department of Theatre and Dance. He was honoured
recently by the Buffalo News as Citizen of the Year.
8
Course E
Physical Theatre in
Professional Perfor-
mance & Storytelling
Tutor: Bryan Burroughs
As actors, the primary conveyer of meaning onstage is the body:
physically, vocally, spiritually, imaginatively and emotionally.
This workshop week is designed to give actors a firm footing in
how to use their bodies in the fullest expression of themselves
and their art. We will work to discover what are the blocks, limits
and personal challenges that inhibit our ability to perform
consistently at the high level and sustained standard we set for
ourselves. Working daily on developing an effective physical
warm up, training in physical craft and technique, developing
our physical, spatial and imaginative awareness and our
relationship to other actors, the ensemble and the audience,
we’ll take that work directly into a variety of scenes from a range
of theatrical styles that demand specific physical ability and
often multiple transformations to accomplish. From Berkoff’s
Metamorphosis to Martin McDonagh’s Cripple of Inismaan, John
Breen’s Alone It Stands, Iseult Golden’s Tick My Box, Philip Ridley’s
Tender Napalm and more, we will explore a practical, engaging,
effective and enjoyable approach to taking on the most
challenging of roles to the highest standard whilst building on a
repertoire of skills and craft that we can bring into any rehearsal
room throughout the workshop week and beyond.
Bryan Burroughs: An actor, director, movement director,
teacher and writer, Bryan trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre
TCD. He now teaches physical theatre at The Lír Academy of
Dramatic Art. As an actor, award-winning performances include
My Foot/My Tutor (Articulate Anatomy), Johnny Patterson: The
Singing Irish Clown (Barabbas). More recent performances
include: Angela’s Ashes – The Musical and James Joyce’s Ulysses
at the Abbey Theatre in 2017. Bryan has written and regularly
performs his one man show Beowulf: The Blockbuster which has
toured in Ireland, Great Britain, France, Australia, New York and
won the STAGE Award at Edinburgh Fringe 2014.
Directorial credits include: the award-winning Fight Night and
The Games People Play (RISE Productions) both written by Gavin
Kostick.
As Movement Director recent productions include Beauty
Queen of Leenane (Druid), Glow-worm (Umbrella), Inside The
GPO (Fishamble), Alone It Stands (Yew Tree), Stones In His Pockets
(Moylan Productions), Tarry Flynn and The Skriker (The Lír
Academy), Fool For Love, The Wake (Abbey Theatre), Hamlet and
Macbeth (Second Age).
9Course F
Work Hard.
Play Harder!
Tutor: Geoff O’Keeffe
For the actors with some experience who are seeking to
develop their craft and become more expressive and playful in
their performance, this is the course for you! We will examine
the power of ensemble movement and choral voice work to
create pieces with and without words. We will investigate ways
of aligning a stylised, theatrical and visual aesthetic to text so
that we might learn to see it with new eyes. Exploring a mix of
classic and contemporary texts, this course seeks to afford the
actor the opportunity to make fresh and exciting discoveries on
the rehearsal room floor.
We will look to the physicality of the actor and how the body can
be used to tell the story. We will create dynamic and engaging
pieces of theatre that are rooted in ensemble work and in
doing so we will push ourselves to be braver, at times bigger
and always bolder. The course will offer participants strategies
to unlock the text, placing the actor at the centre of the work
and recognise that the language of silence and the language of
space are as important as the words on the page.
In a supportive, encouraging environment, we will take risks
and push ourselves further. To do this we will work hard, but
always remembering that we ‘play’ every time we make theatre.
We will Work Hard but we will Play Harder!
Geoff O’Keeffe is a theatre director, actor and drama
adjudicator. Recent credits include: James And The Giant Peach,
Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, God of Carnage, Othello,
Macbeth, Talk To Me Like The Rain And Let Me Listen, Frank Pig
Says Hello and A Christmas Carol for Mill Productions at dlr Mill
Theatre, Dundrum. He has also written and directed seven
highly successful Christmas shows for young audiences.
Geoff has worked as an actor for stage, film, T.V. and radio.
Personal acting highlights include, Paul in My Second Self; David/
Divina in Aul’ Divina and Me; James in Dinner for One; Ms. Kitty in
Billy Redden at International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, 2010, -
awarded Michael Mac Liammoir Award for Best Male Actor.
He has facilitated workshops for drama groups all over the
country and is in great demand as an adjudicator. He holds an
MA in Theatre Studies from DCU.
10Course G
‘Streetcar’ & ‘Salesman’
- (Acting in C20th
American Drama)
Tutor: Peter McAllister
In this advanced workshop for experienced actors, we will
explore two of the greatest post-war plays of C20th American
Drama - A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1947)
and Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller (1949).
Using a range of techniques from The Method as taught by Lee
Strasberg and practised by members of the New York Actors’
Studio, we will look at how to approach the characters and the
scenes from the two plays.
In the mornings we will focus mainly on creating the characters
through improvisation - using exercises in sensory imagination,
objects, clothing, animals, music, paintings etc. - while in the
afternoons we will work on selected scenes as in a professional
theatre studio.
Note that the core text for this workshop will be Streetcar with
only one or more scenes from Salesman as a contrast. There
may also be some pre-reading and pre-learning required.
Peter McAllister is Senior Lecturer in Acting at the Royal Central
School of Speech and Drama in London where he has taught
on the BA in Acting Course for nearly twenty years. Previously
he was Course Co-ordinator of the BA in Acting at the Samuel
Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin, as well as Lecturer in
Acting and Direction at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music
and Drama in Glasgow. His former students have appeared in
many award-winning film, theatre and television productions
in the Republic of Ireland, the UK, and the USA.
11The Drama League of Ireland is the
national body which promotes and
fosters all aspects of amateur drama
in Ireland.
Run by volunteers, the Drama League of
Ireland offers a wide range of services and
a network of support including:
Workshops and seminars throughout
Ireland.
A public liability insurance scheme
designed specifically for amateur groups.
A quality magazine focusing on Irish
amateur theatre and articles of interest to
amateur groups.
Training with renowned theatre
practitioners at the annual residential
summer school in theatre arts.
Library – access to 2,000 play scripts.
Resource service providing information
to member groups on facilities, tutors,
training and equipment available in Ireland.
Advisory service for new amateur theatre
groups.
Advice on hosting and programming one
act theatre festivals.
The Drama League of Ireland is the sole
rights agent in Ireland for Josef Weinberger
Plays Ltd. and for many independent Irish
playwrights including
John B. Keane.
Yearly membership fee:
Groups: €120.00 Individuals: €35.00
12FEES
Fees cover the following: tuition, single room en-suite
accommodation at Dromroe Village, social programme, lunch
and dinner (breakfast self-service).
OPTION A - Residential
Tuition, Single room en-suite Members €450
lunch, evening meal and Non-members €530
full social programme.
OPTION B – Non-residential
Non-residential Members €250
Includes tuition, lunch, Non-members €295
2 evening meals and attendance
at social programme.
Payment should be made in Euro by cheque/money order/
bank transfer made payable to The Drama League of Ireland.
On-line payment will soon be available on the new Drama
League of Ireland website www.dli.ie
If paying by bank transfer, please remember that it is
ESSENTIAL to include your own name on EFT.
DLI Bank details are on the Booking Form
Cheques/Postal Orders to be sent to:
Anne Mekitarian, DLI Summer School Director, ‘Mandel’, Kill
Village, Co. Kildare, W91 P8P7
Members include DLI group and individual members, and
associates of National Association of Youth Drama.
A non-refundable deposit of €100 must be included with your
booking form.
Deposits are non-transferable.
THE BALANCE OF THE FEE MUST BE PAID TWO WEEKS
BEFORE THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL
Intending participants
• must be over 18 years,
• must have a reasonable level of fitness
• must be responsible for their own needs.
The DLI reserves the right to replace a tutor if required.
The DLI reserves the right to refuse an application.
The DLI Summer School is run entirely by volunteers.
Please note that communication for the most part will be
by email so please remember to include your email address
when completing booking form.
13DRAMA LEAGUE OF IRELAND
53rd RESIDENTIAL
SUMMER SCHOOL
Saturday 28th July
– Saturday 4th August 2018
Booking enquiries to Anne: 087 274 1136
E-mail: summerschool@dli.ie
BOOKING FORM
Name:................................................................................................................
Address:...........................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
............................................................................................................................
Contact Telephone No.:..............................................................................
Email:................................................................................................................
Age bracket: 18-25 q 26-35 q 36-50 q >50 q
Membership No.:..........................................................................................
Have you attended DLI Summer School before? Yes q No q
If so, how many times (including this year)?......................................
Course Choice:
1..........................................................................................................................
2..........................................................................................................................
Accommodation Option choice:
Residential q Non-residential q
I enclose €100 as deposit for a place on the above course.
Payment should be in Euro by cheque/money order/bank
transfer - payable to The Drama League of Ireland.
DLI Bank details:
Bank: AIB Bank Centre Branch
Account name: Drama League
of Ireland Ltd. Summer School Account
National Sort Code: 93-13-65
Account No.: 08371-002
IBAN: IE03 AIBK 9313 6508 371002
BIC: AIBKIE2D
Please note that deposits are NON-REFUNDABLE
Signature:........................................................................................................
1453rd
Residential
Drama League of Ireland,
The Mill Theatre, Dundrum, Dublin 16
Tel: 01 2969343
Email: dli@eircom.net
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