Stand-up Course Stroud with Chris Head - Saturdays

5 x Saturdays, 2pm - 5pm
14th March - 18th April 2020 (NO CLASS Easter weekend 11th April)
With an optional showcase gig on the evening of Saturday 18th!
@ Stroud Brewery, London Rd, Brimscombe, Stroud GL5 2BY

VIDEO: The Building Blocks of Stand-up (2 mins)
VIDEO: How to Make Stand-up Less Scary (class lecture from January London course)

LEVEL 1 STAND-UP 
Over five Saturdays learn to write and perform stand-up comedy and create and perform a brand new five-minute stand up comedy act. In the experienced hands of Chris Head (comedy director, teacher and author of "A Director's Guide to the Art of Stand-up") you will be guided through developing your persona, creating material and delivering it so it works. All experience levels welcome. The course will meet you where you're at. Newer acts or beginners will grow in confidence and develop their first material. Acts with some experience will find out more about their persona and comic style, will add some tools to their toolkit and will develop new material. You will also acquire a range of performance skills that are highly transferable to all kinds of speaking contexts and you will learn writing techniques and approaches that you can use in all sorts of creative writing.
A mix of improvisation games and other practical exercises will:

- Help you find your persona (the heightened version of yourself you present on stage)
- Give you practical experience of how comedy techniques such as rule-of-three, misdirection and set-up/payoff work in stand-up
- Allow you to practice performance skills like act-outs and dialogue in a supported context
- Teach you the skills you need to deliver your act and work the room
- Enable you to be your naturally funny self in front of an audience

These exercises will teach you techniques and will also inspire you to create material, responding to stimulating writing 'homeworks' set by Chris . On the course you will learn how to construct and deliver a stand up set without having to write and learn a script word-for-word, as a lot of beginners do. Naturally perfect for improvisers this approach will be recognised by anyone who has had the experience of telling a funny story to a friend socially! This approach sets you up with a solid framework and then through a semi-improvised performance you can:

- Create a freer and more dynamic performance style
- Be more naturally interactive with the audience
- Improvise new lines and ideas on stage

Each week there will be the opportunity to share work in progress in front of the friendly, supportive group and to receive practical and inspiring feedback and direction from Chris. 

If you already have some stand-up experience this is your chance to develop new material, or if you're a beginner you will develop your first routine which will serve as a foundation to build on using the skills you will have learned. On the evening following the final session, you will have the opportunity to perform in a buzzing, friendly showcase in front of any local friends, colleagues and family who can come and along and support. (People often come from far and wide for Chris' courses so don't worry if you can't get anyone to come along!).

WEEKEND COURSE TESTIMONIALS
“Chris Head was very nurturing and encouraging – any joke we came up with had potential and could be salvaged with some tweaks in wording and delivery. His command of comedic theory was useful in helping us see the matrix of standup (and even indirectly provided insight into generating premise for longform improv).” Dani Alon, July 2018

“[The course] was laid out in a very logical way with lots of time at the mic, I think it was extremely well structured.”Course participant, July 2018

“[I liked] Chris’ flexibility in facilitating everyone’s individual style/persona. Was really well designed to produce a fun evening at the end of the course.” Course participant, July 2018

Press:
"Everyone managed to craft five minutes of comedy delivered with surprising confidence and pizazz on the night [of the end-of-course show]. The performances I saw were incredibly polished and (thankfully) very funny. While naturally some were funnier than others, I would never have guessed they were a bunch of first timers." London Evening Standard

"His knowledge of comedy was captivating, encyclopedic."
BBC Arts Editor, Will Gompertz

"The idea person to nurture new talent."
The Guardian