EXERCISE 1. RADA
RADA
A
Becoming a truly great actor requires talent, hard work and hours of study. In Britain, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) 1 has trained and produced many of the country's most famous actors since it was established in 1904, but just how does RADA turn passionate young hopefuls into respected professionals?
B
One of the methods RADA teaches is the Stanislavski acting technique. The technique was devised 2 by the famous Russian actor Konstantin Stanislavski in 1911, after he had been performing in theatres 3 for over thirty years. It requires actors to really live the role that they are playing. The actors not 4 only have to learn the lines that they have to say, but also recreate everything about reate everything about the character's life.
C
But if modern audiences would be surprised to discover that students learn an acting technique that is over a century old, they might 5 be astonished to discover that they also study a form of theatre that has been around for over two millennia: Greek tragedy. The Greeks used to study playwriting and acting and produced some important theoretical works on the subject. Their ideas are still considered very relevant today and anybody 6 who wants to obtain a degree from RADA has to study them.
D
RADA students also spend many hours training their voices and learning 7 to use their bodies to communicate in the same way that a musician learns how to play an instrument. A RADA student's objective is to use their creativity to transform written words into a three-dimensional character. Evidently, becoming an actor is 8 a serious business and definitely not for people who are only interested in fame.
