3-day RADA workshop for professional actors

The British Council will hold a three-day regional workshop for professional actors, led by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) from tomorrow at Katara. Leading professionals from RADA will conduct the workshop, entitled ‘Working Together – Creating Chorus/Ensemble‘, aimed at actors with between five and eight years of professional experience from Qatar, Yemen, Iraq and the GCC. They will explore the impact of actors working together and examine the traditional Greek chorus as well as modern versions of onstage ensembles. RADA is one of the world’s leading dramatic arts academies offering vocational training to actors, stage managers, director, designers and technical stagecraft specialists. The academy prides itself and the expertise of its staff and the highly personalized level of training it provides to each and every student. The British Council in collaboration with Katara recently brought RADA specialists to Doha to conduct a workshop for around 32 actors in Qatar, which helped actors of all levels and experience to recognise the importance of expression and consider the process of delivering text from script to stage. This first workshop was a great success, and it provided RADA with an excellent insight into working in Qatar alongside the British Council. The workshop comes as a direct result of the long-standing partnership between the British Council and the Ministry of Culture. “Sponsoring and leading cultural events has been a practice of governmental institutions for a very long time. Cultural events remain strong contributions to our life and community,” said Senan al- Meselmany, Theatre Department head. “Theatre, as a cornerstone in culture, contributes to developments and reflects change. Since the early days of theatre in Qatar in the 1950s, theatre movements have been an outcome of efforts exerted by innovative youth and others concerned with culture and education.” Since it was established in 2008, the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage has actively worked to highlight Qatar’s role on the international cultural scene and opened doors to international exchange to develop and enrich the local cultural and artistic scene. The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations and has a history of launching projects in the field of arts and culture, which are designed to foster relationships and develop partnerships . This workshop falls under the British Council’s Arts programme and covers theatre, dance, literature, music and visual art.