Summer at City Lit

Nowadays there are so many ways to watch film - smart phones, tablets, TVs - just as there are so many different spaces in which we encounter the moving image - cinemas, galleries, our homes, to name but a few. This day-long course will broaden and deepen your critical awareness of the diverse formal and experiential possibilities of cinema, both as they have developed in the past and as they are transforming in the contemporary moment. It will do this by reflecting on two questions: ‘what is cinema?’ and ‘where is cinema?’.

What is the role of poetry ‘off the page’ in public spaces? Can a poem change the way we might re-encounter cultural history? Do statues serve as ‘informants’ from the past? We read poetry by Jackie Kay, Lemn Sissay and Dorothea Smartt commissioned for bridges, pavements, monuments, even super sewer ventilation shafts to identify the challenges, revisions and celebrations that emerge from exploring the place of poetry in public spaces.

A fun and intensive workshop all about the incredible world of narration. This enormous and lucrative area of the voiceover world includes podcasts, e-learning, documentaries, audio books, medical/technical narration, explainer videos and more. You’ll learn how to deliver great reads from the inside out. It’s not just about the sound of your voice!

Why do we value art? For the pleasure it gives us, the emotion it expresses, its truthfulness, its form? In this introduction to the philosophy of art we will consider various approaches to these questions and others.

Working with an experienced theatre director, explore the multiple aspects of directing theatre productions, including rehearsal preparation, text analysis and research, collaborating with the design team, and techniques for getting the best performances from actors.

Come and consolidate your upper-intermediate French. You will develop your listening skills and practise your oral French by taking part in discussions, debates on news items and cultural events.

Ranging from sixteenth century love sonnets via bawdy Restoration verse to a Victorian eroticised poetic narrative, this course examines how the language of love and desire, and the poetic representations of gendered bodies, provide an idiom that can be used to express both conservative and more subversive cultural ideas.

Do you want to sound more confident, grounded, self-assured and assertive? Improve your vocal skills through a series of exercises that will support you to become more vocally confident, expressive and dynamic without appearing arrogant.

Come to celebrate 14th July with songs. From La Marseillaise to La Carmagnole, enjoy singing and learning famous revolutionary French songs. Any level welcome.

Have you ever thought you could cut it as a TV presenter, but been unsure where to start? Discover your TV presenting potential. Learn how to present to camera, read autocue, memorise a piece to camera, interview and talk to time. All this in one weekend!

Discover some key literary movements and novels that influenced the Italian cultural scene in the 19th century, through the study of three writers: Alessandro Manzoni, Giovanni Verga and Tarchetti.

This innovative and one-off workshop shows you how to integrate modified Pilates movements with voice training as a holistic approach to voice, starting at breath release and progressing into phonation and resonance. Through this combination you may begin to find a link between body and voice through the core muscles of support. A fun but intensive Saturday workshop in the college.