Prasanna Ramaswamy’s acting workshop in Chennai soon

CHENNAI: Central Sangeet Natak Akademi and Kalaimamani award-winning theatre director Prasanna Ramaswamy is organising a 16-hour acting workshop in collaboration with Chennai Art Theatre on March 4,5 and 11,12 at Medai, Alwarpet.

The workshop will use Natyasastra as its base and detail the principles of acting. Speaking to DT Next about the workshop, she says, “After I got into directing plays I completely lost touch with the teaching side of me and I wanted to bring it back. I chose the text Natyasastra as there is no better text that will help a person understand the art.”

She says acting is a minute form of dancing and while the text has religious connotations, it is scientific in approach and reason. “While this text is used for classical dance, it can also act as an acting manual as you learn how to emote and the various ways in which it can be done,” she adds.

As a part of the workshop, attendees will be taught the basics and principles of Natyasastra and different ways and methods to emote their emotions. “In this session, actors can explore stylised and realistic acting. I’m using the term ‘realistic’ because we will teach you to tap into personal experiences and niches and apply them while performing.

“Actors and dancers alike will directly get connected to their work. There’s something personal for everybody in this session. It is not limited to just actors or dancers. These techniques from Natyasastra will not just be a guide to acting but will also teach life lessons in a unique way,” she adds.

Talking about how she wants to take this course to another level, she says, “I’m going to test my material and see how this series is received by people, if it all goes well I will try putting together a course and would like to teach it.”

The workshop is open to all above 18 years of age and is priced at Rs 4,000. For more details, call 9094038623.