Physical Comedy

Join choreographer, actor and experienced physical comedienne Charlotte Bydwell for five weeks of tips & tricks aimed at sharpening, specifying and spicing up your comedic work. Explore the use of time, space and physical posturing to nail your punchlines, embody larger-than-life characters and hone your comedic instincts as an actor. Learn to generate physical choices from a place of joy and fun, while also getting really specific about the demands and style of the text. This 5-week course should leave you excited about all the ways your traditional acting work (who, what, where, why, when…) can serve you to craft unique, truthful and repeatable moments of physical comedy.

Whether you’re looking to improve your self-tapes/in-person auditions, to feel more excited about the choices you bring into a rehearsal room, or to simply get back into your body after years of acting on Zoom, these classes are sure to connect you to the funny that is innately and wonderfully YOURS. End the five weeks with renewed confidence in your body’s impulses, in your personal humor barometer and in your ability to get laughs by reacting honestly (and fully) to imaginary circumstances.

Charlotte’s workshops are aimed at inviting the actor’s body back into the early stages of their exploration, so they can be viscerally engaged and in a state of action from the very beginning of their work on a scene/monologue. All the tools are designed to be immediately useful to you in the practice of your craft. Learn something today, and use it on a self-tape tomorrow.

NOTE: No preparation is required in advance of this workshop. Participants should have a piece of comedic text on hand that they are interested in exploring physically (either memorized or easily accessible via a phone/tablet or a hard copy). It can be text from an upcoming/past audition, a monologue, chunks of material from a current project or just something you’ve always admired from afar.