TV / FILM DIRECTOR DAVID STODDART | PLAYING ON THE EDGE: SCREEN-ACTING WORKSHOP

PLAYING ON THE EDGE: SCREEN-ACTING WORKSHOP

This workshop is designed to push actors beyond safe, presentational choices and towards a more genuinely risk-driven way of working. It’s built on the idea that compelling performance doesn’t come from indicating emotion or “getting it right,” but from committing to clear, sometimes uncomfortable internal decisions and trusting them without softening or explaining them. Actors are encouraged to take risks in their choices — to go for what feels less obvious, less controlled, and more exposed — and to let behaviour be shaped by what is withheld rather than what is expressed, creating tension, unpredictability, and a stronger sense of immediacy in the work. 

The workshop opens with actors straight on their feet, working cold on short two-page scenes, with a small selection of texts in circulation to create some variation, and no preparation or discussion. The aim is to establish a baseline quickly and expose how easily performances fall into safe, controlled choices. Selected groups are then brought up to present to the room, before the work is redirected through the introduction of more dangerous internal choices. Without changing the text, each actor is given a private objective — withholding a decision, testing the other person, asserting hidden dominance, or concealing an imminent action — and asked to commit to it fully without showing it. The focus is on taking real risks, choosing what feels less comfortable or less “correct,” and letting that disrupt behaviour and interaction. As the work develops, contradiction and shifting status are introduced, asking actors to hold opposing impulses and stay responsive to instability in the scene, creating tension, unpredictability, and a palpable fizz driven by what is held back rather than what is shown. 

The afternoon session shifts from discovering bold internal choices to sustaining and deepening them under pressure, pushing actors to take greater risks and hold onto them as conditions change. Through a “status under fire” approach, actors return to their scenes and work on stage with live, on-the-spot direction that introduces immediate shifts in power, intention and circumstance — gaining or losing status, taking control, being undermined — without stopping the scene. This asks for a more instinctive way of working, where actors adjust behaviour in real time while staying committed to their underlying choice, rather than retreating into something safe or fixed. The emphasis is on sharpening risk rather than smoothing it out, letting instability, contradiction and discomfort drive the interaction. As a result, scenes become more dynamic and unpredictable, with shifts in status, rhythm and tone emerging organically, as actors remain present, responsive, and willing to sustain bold, unresolved choices moment to moment.

Upon request, you have the option to receive your footage after the session for no extra cost!

BIO

David Stoddart recently directed a feature film in Savannah, Georgia, starring Luke Macfarlane, and is now preparing his next project cast by Nancy Bishop and set to shoot this year. Cast includes Stephen Fry, Rupert Everett, Dominic Cooper, Russell Tovey, and Daisy May Cooper. 

He is a writer-director working across film, Television and advertising, with a focus on behaviour, tension, and eliciting authentic human response. Recognised early as an emerging voice in British film , he has since built a career that moves between narrative filmmaking and award-winning commercial work. His campaigns, including the widely recognised #ViolenceIsViolence, are rooted in constructed real-world scenarios, often using improvisation and live public interaction to generate unscripted, emotionally truthful reactions.

**Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions**

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