Beck Academy of Dramatic Art

The Meisner Technique returns to Beck Academy of Dramatic Art.

We are excited to share details of the upcoming Meisner Technique short course.

WHEN: 7th February – 7th March 2025
Days: Fridays 6pm- 9:00pm
15 HOURS
SPACES ARE LIMITED

“The Meisner Technique
is the Academy’s roots. It is my roots.
And, it is the most powerful and
most revealing thing any artist will ever
encounter -
(when its taught as it should be!).
My aim in teaching it is to
make the next generation of actors
fall in love with it and with its core value:
TRUTH”
FAY BECK

BEGINNER ACTORS:
In the 5 week
Foundations Course,
you’ll learn

+ Acting Technique
+ Scene Analysis
+ Embodying Character
+ Identifying Intentions
+ Screen Acting Technique
+ Facial Expression Control
+ Intro to the Film Industry

If that sounds great,
we want to work with you!

Course starts this Sunday!

🎭 Thank You & Holiday Closure Notice 🎭

As 2024 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank all of our incredible students for your passion, creativity, and dedication throughout the year. Watching you grow as artists and performers has been truly inspiring, and we’re so proud of everything you’ve achieved.

To our community of aspiring actors and creatives, thank you for choosing Beck Academy of Dramatic Art as part of your journey. We’re excited to see what the future holds for each of you in 2025!

✨ Please note: The Academy's office will be closed from 24th December 2024 to 5th January 2025.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a New Year filled with opportunities and creative breakthroughs! 🌟

We’re thrilled to announce that our first off-the shelf, ready-to-watch, complete online course, will launch on the 16th December!

You can pre-book the course now and get 75% discount on all options!
Created and taught by our senior teacher Martina Avogadri, 'The Truthful Actor' online course is your ultimate guide to creating authentic, compelling performances—on your schedule, and from the comfort of your home.

https://the-truthful-actor.mykajabi.com/the-truthful-actor-offer

📖 Complete Online Acting Course, from A to Z
✅ Learn to Act Truthfully
⌛ Learn at your own pace, in the comfort of your own home
🖋️ 👁️ Practical Exercises and Demonstration
📝 Actor’s Workbook Included
💰 Truly Affordable

>> Want to Deliver 100% Truthful Performances?

Whether you're an aspiring or established actor, 'The Truthful Actor' online course is your ultimate guide to creating authentic, compelling performances—on your schedule, and from the comfort of your home.

I understand the frustration of striving for authentic performances without knowing how to get there!

That’s why I dedicated years to mastering and teaching the Meisner Technique and now, after coaching students face to face here in London for 6 years, I decided to create my first Online Course to share with as many passionate actors as possible all the knowledge I gathered and All You Need to deliver Compelling and TRUTHFUL performances.

✅ 15 Lessons (over 2 hours of knowledge packed content. To the point, no time wasted!)
✅ 5 Practice Sessions and Demonstrations (DO and SEE - put what you learn into practice and see me demonstrate acting principles to you to facilitate your learning process)
✅ Workbook - exercises to accompany your learning process
✅ Scenes - materials we actively work on during the course

🎭 Start your journey to truthful acting today!
Special Pre-launch offer, from as little as £14.

🎁 Claim your FREE Copy of the Monologues Booklet here: https://the-truthful-actor.mykajabi.com/monologues-booklet-3

We know this is a difficult time for actors.
We're trying to help a little by offering a storewide Sale storewide.

Book our short courses and our 12 Week Study Ultimate Acting Course at massively discounted prices: https://beckdrama.com/book-now/

JOIN US TOMORROW FOR AN EXPLORATION OF THE CHARACTER INSIDE OF YOU

Confused with Information Overload?
Do you feel overwhelmed by all the information out there about which courses to take?
We’ve taken out the stress and confusion and created a course designed to teach you all you need to get started on your acting journey.

We designed the Ultimate 12 week Acting Course to provide beginners all they need to get started on their acting journey.

https://beckdrama.com/book-now/ultimate-12-week-acting-course-beginners/

COURSE BENEFITS:
Ultimate Course encompassing all the modules you’ll need to get started on your acting journey!Stage Performance SkillsScreen Performance SkillsOn-Camera practiceCutting edge knowledge from real Industry ProfessionalsDiscover your uniqueness as an artistCrucial next steps and planning
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
ACTING TECHNIQUE
VOICE TECHNIQUE
MOVEMENT TECHNIQUE
SCRIPT ANALYSIS
STAGE/THEATRE SCENE WORK
SCREEN SCENE WORK
ON-CAMERA PRACTICE
AUDITION
SELF-TAPE
NEXT STEPS IN YOUR JOURNEY

Acting is not always meant to be a
fun ride, at least at the beginning

Many aspects of it are sometimes the opposite of fun.

Many aspects of it are sometimes the
opposite of fun.

This is the case with many of us
working in the industry, writers,
directors included. And currently, it’s not funny for many
people in the film industry.

Many aspects of it are sometimes the
opposite of fun.

This is the case with many of us
working in the industry, writers,
directors included. (And especially
right in this moment).

But we can keep finding the
opportunity to make it fun.

One thing I realised a while ago, is
that the better I got at doing
something the more pleasure I took
from it.

It’s like depth at which I understood
something and the more knowledge
and skill I gained over doing it, the
more fun it became and the better
the work was anyway.

Therefore I let these become my
guiding principles:

Knowledge and depth.

And I try to teach my students to
apply these measures in their work at
every opportunity I get.

FAY BECK

Instinct begins when technique ends.

FAY BECK

Often, the reason why you’re not
winning at this acting thing is
because you have the attention
on yourself…

You probably have the attention on
your image or on how you want to be
famous and on wether or not you're
going to make it.

While it’s understandable why that
type of focus on the self is there for
many actors, it doesn’t mean it's a
good thing.

Aside from potentially causing you
emotional and mental strife it robs you
from doing your most important task
as an actor; putting the attention on
the other person.

Your attention in any scene should be
on the other person. And outside of
the scene, your attention should be on
the acting work you are doing and on
your progress.

Don’t be lazy or laissez-faire with this.
Those who are winning are already
ahead of you with this, so get going.

This isn’t about competition, it’s about
you understanding the context you are
operating in, being present in the
world rather than being stuck in a
fantasy world about your own success
that has no connect with reality.

If you put 100% of your focus on the
other person in the moment and
outside of the scene you focus on
your craft, you shouldn’t have any
attention left over to put into things
that don’t serve your art.

Acting is perspective shifting. You shift your perspective so that you can shift the audience's.

FAY BECK

Self doubt and rejection wear away at
the artistic soul.

As an artist you should create a
massive separation between you and
your art and this is very often
incredibly difficult to do.
Because all of us put our hearts, our
minds and our souls into our artworks.
(And this is all much more difficult for
the actor anyway because you literally
are your art).

And yet it is necessary for your sanity
and your well-being to do this.

Practically, you have to keep
reminding yourself that acceptance
and eventual success of your art is
the result of many factors, social,
political and economic.
And you can’t fight the world - it’s an
impossible task for any one person.

And you can’t fight the world - it’s an
impossible task for any one person.

With your self and your heart at a
safe distance, keep working, keep
improving for your own sake and for
the sake of art itself and of beauty.
And do share your work meaningfully
if you can.
But
seek happiness and success in other
domains as well as this.

Finding this balance will help ease the
pain of your work being ignored and
of any rejection.

Until the moment when...

The way you’ve been taught to do scene
analysis is probably wrong...

Most acting techniques don’t really
account for differences in genre and
style and that is everything. Actors
are taught most of the time that
acting is the same in a comedy or a
drama for example. I find this very
strange advice. Even stranger is the
advice that the style and genre of the
text shouldn’t matter.

I couldn’t disagree more. Text is
words on a page yes but the structure
of character varies with the structure
of the text so that the same simple line
spoken by a character in a drama and
in a comedy mean completely
different things, and therefore you
have to do completely differently and
differently.

Think about this:

When a character is having an
emotional breakdown in a drama the
thing is serious, the audience is
probably moved, touched, feels the
pain...
When a character has a
breakdown in a slapstick comedy the
audience is probably laughing. Telling
the actor to find the character’s
motivations in a breakdown scene is
misleading.

If you follow the usual advice, you’re
simply not going to really deliver
the character nor the story.
Seek instructors who can teach you
advanced analysis techniques; who
can teach you the difference that style
and genre can make and who can
instruct you on how to adapt your
instrument accordingly. Telling the
actor acting is the same is actually
primary school level analysis.

FAY BECK

The Screen Acting Course, has been developed to answer such questions.

Designed for aspiring actors at the beginning of their acting training, and for stage actors who are new to the screen, the course offers a detailed introduction to on camera acting.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

The course covers essential topics in Monologue, Duologues, Staging, Facial Awareness, Auditioning and Self Taping. The classes run like mini workshops that involve a theoretical component, instruction, discussion, and plenty of on-camera practice sessions with playback for each participant. During playback, the tutor is able to evaluate on screen performances, providing participants with insights on their toolkit.

In addition, participants are introduced to powerful BEAT scripts analysis tools. Actors are empowered by the BEAT approach to script, and feel ready to begin applying what they’ve learnt right after completing the course.

The course features plenty of one-on-one time with the teacher throughout the course!

Students will receive copies of their clips and scenes, giving them a chance to keep track of their progress as they proceed through the course.

Each week we will cover different topics, all important aspects of camera acting:
Scene Analysis Skills
Key to Confidence on-screen
On-screen body and facial awareness
Filming duologues, playback and video analysis
Audition, Self-taping, Cold Reading
Casting Type Exploration

Your urgency to succeed, to ‘make it’, is
what’s stopping you from really becoming
a truly great actor...

Your urgency makes you make rash
decisions about your headshot or your
showreel. Your urgency makes you
take a sh*tty acting job. Or a
dangerous one for that matter. Your
urgency makes you think only about
your needs and desires, leaving little
room for those of the character. Your
urgency makes your work suffer. Your
urgency makes you desperate.

Your desperation and urgency makes
you seek ‘gurus’ instead of teachers.
Your urgency makes you turn away
from doing the type of work that
cultivates your body, mind and your
acting instrument - slowly, deeply,
effectively - and makes you turn away
from teachers who speak about
quality, depth, truth; you know, these
types of things that are no longer
valuable it seems in our industry.

And yet

The biggest success stories are of
people who allow themselves to
experience the long and meaningful
journey into becoming excellent,
into becoming great, into becoming
unique..

Don’t rush;

Replace your need to ‘make it’ to
‘land the job’ with a true deep desire
to learn the craft of acting, to understand
character, to understand life, to understand
the messages so many artists - many of
whom have worked away for years to be
able to share their thoughts and feelings
with the world and with you.

Become an artist; not somebody who
wants to book jobs.

Do the first, the second will follow’.

FAY BECK