Meisner Tehnique for Beginners

The Meisner Technique is a series of exercises aimed at increasing actors' attentiveness and their ability to focus their attention solely on their acting partner and what is happening in the moment.

The technique was developed by Sanford Meisner, who in the 1930s began developing his new method at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, drawing on, among other things, Konstantin Stanislavski's earlier thoughts. Meisner training is an interdependent series of training exercises that build on one another, all based on the principle that the actor should be sensitive to surrounding impulses, and their focus should be on their partner, not their own thoughts or intellectual analysis of the role.

This short course aims to provide the fundamentals for attentive work with a partner, which actors can later use in any genre. The value of the trainer lies in observant work with the participants, during which actors learn to let go of tensions and mannerisms, read their partner's body language and intonation, and use the information obtained in their character's reactions. Engaging with the Meisner technique makes the actor's work more organic, thereby making it more honest and engaging on stage.

The course will take place on June 14-16 according to the following schedule:
14.06 - workshop from 14:00 to 17:00
15.06 - workshop from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00
16.06 - workshop from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00

The course will be held in Tallinna Rahvaülikooli Vanalinna maja Teatrisaal (Vene 6, Tallinn).
Price: 96 €

Keith Farquhar started teaching theatre at 16 while working with kids during the summer holiday and apart from a fifteen-year hiatus to play in a rock band he’s been teaching ever since.
He has a master's degree in applied Human Psychology, a French state diploma in acting as well as a postgraduate diploma in Acting from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He qualified as a Meisner technique teacher with Larry Silverberg at the Eckerd College of Performing Arts in Florida.
He developed his eye for staging while working as an assistant to numerous directors at Lyon Opera such as Peter Stein (Schaubühne, Berlin head in the 60s) Yoshi Oida, Declan Donnellan, and of course Keith Johnstone.

For the past twenty years, he’s used improv and elements of the Meisner technique to teach public speaking, negotiation and self-confidence at Lyon Jean Moulin University. He’s also head of theatre at Atre école de théâtre in Lyon, a theatre school in Lyon which gives a state qualification.

Recently he’s been in the Netflix show "Les 7 vie de Leah", and the movie "Reprise en Main" and toured Tunisia with a Yasmina Reza play. He has studied and teaches a mix of The Meisner technique, the Keith Johnstone system, The Chubbuck Method and David Mamet’s approach. He believes like life, all acting is improvising.

You can read more about him from here: https://m2macting.com/

The course is organised by Rahel Otsa Improkool and The Estonian Amateur Theatre Association.
The course is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.