Online acting masterclass led by Professor Barry Primus (Los Angeles, USA)

2 December 2020 was the last day of a three-week intensive acting masterclass organised for LMTA students in Film Directing and Acting and led online by Professor Barry Primus (Los Angeles, USA).

During the masterclass, Professor Primus revealed the techniques of such masters as Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner, and Stella Adler. The students learnt to take a deep dive into themselves and explore who they and their dialogue partners in the film episodes are. The workshop focused on the actor’s emotional preparation for a single film scene and on the emotion that is not acted but genuinely experienced on the screen. In the workshop, the Film Directing students not only directed their own short film scenes but were engaged in them as actors. This enabled them to experience the actor’s job, expand the actor’s capacity on the stage, and appreciate the importance of the actor-director relationship for the creative outcomes.

The workshop became a challenge not only for the lecturer who due to the COVID lockdown had to switch to the online mode. It too was a challenge for the LMTA Music Innovation Studies Centre team, the administration and students of the Acting and Directing and Film and Television departments: all of them were simultaneously working in three separate rooms and sometimes — for safety reasons — from home. And yet, this international online masterclass has gone beyond the expectations of the participants! After the workshop, the students willingly shared the gained experience while the follow-up feedback from the participants revealed multiple thanks and compliments to Barry Primus and the unanimous praise for the highest quality of his masterclass.

Actor, director, and acting coach Barry Primus is a living Hollywood legend. His acting career began with such famous US directors as Elia Kazan and Harold Clurman. Over the course of 50 years, Barry Primus has played in about 50 films and worked with the world’s distinguished film directors Martin Scorsese, Sydney Pollack, Mark Rydell, James Toback, and Roger Vadim. Barry Primus is the director and co-screenwriter of the film The Mistress featuring Robert De Niro. Barry Primus is often referred to as the acting coach of Oscar winner Robert De Niro. In the world of cinematography, Barry Primus is also known as the author of many screenplays, and a theatre and film director.

As a member of the acclaimed Actors Studio, Barry Primus has been frequently invited to teach directing and acting at the American Film Institute, the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the University of California, Loyola Marymount University, and Columbia University.

The project was co-funded by the Education Exchanges Support Foundation within a teacher mobility programme. The masterclass was partially funded by the LMTA. 

LMTA information 
2 December 2020