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ClassinAction
Prague, Czech Republic
Accommodation is based on three-sharing in triple rooms in 3* and 4* hotels. Please note that note all triple rooms have three single beds.
The price does not include flights or transportation while in Prague but we would be happy to offer you best fare at the time of booking. We can also coach transportation to/from festival functions as per your requirements.
Thank you for hosting such a fantastic festival. We all had a great time and have forged friendships across the world. We will have to make a special effort to come and defend our title next year. A special thank you to you Josef for helping us on the Sunday, we eventually got the new passport and arrived home safely.
Mr. Graham E Barker, A590 Youth Theatre, United Kingdom
It's a pleasure for me, to say on behalf of the whole group "Teatrum Perpetuum Mobile" a lot of thanks for your hospitality. ...the lovely ambience, your helpfulness, the city of Prague, maked a lasting impression on us. And last but not least: our guide Mrs. Eva Petrankova, was a real angel. ...she took great care of our group with a great heartiness, she had a quick fix for our trouble with the car. She war simply sovereign. Once more: thank you for all.
Mr. Peppe Mairginter,Teatrum Perpetuum Mobile, Italy
My students had a great time and, once again, really enjoyed the experience. The hotel was fantastic, an upgrade from last year and all were very happy where we stayed. Thank you.
Brendan Harris, Tasis, Thorpe, United Kingdom
I just wanted to write quickly and let you know that my students had an excellent time at your conference. It was a very enriching experience for them, and I learned many things that I will implement in my Drama and English classrooms. We look forward to attending next year. KUDOS!
Ms.Emily Rankin, The English College in Prague, Czech Republic
May I once again thank you and everyone involved in this year's Class in Action festival. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Everything was perfect - from the flights, airport transfers, hotel accommodation, our guide (Eva), the boat trip, the workshop and of course, the festival itself. On the way home all of the young people were talking about coming back again next year - that was how much they enjoyed everything! Please pass on our thanks to everyone involved for such a marvelous time and we look forward to renewing old friendships and making new ones next year!
Gordon Bird, S.P.U.D.S., Reading, United Kingdom
The requirements for both categories are exactly the same.
The idea of the non-competitive category is to encourage less experienced groups (or totally inexperienced groups) who would like to have the Class in Action experience, without the added pressure of being in competition.
Both categories will be watched by a jury, but in the non-competitive category the jury will provide supportive feedback without choosing a winner.
ClassinAction is as much a showcase as a competition and everybody is welcome to participate.
ClassinAction welcomes a mixture of experienced and non-experienced groups as well as native English and non-native speakers. Native speakers and drama groups should remember to tailor their skills to also appeal to non-native English speakers.
Inexperienced groups always learn a lot from the experience of playing on a real stage and from watching their more experienced colleagues. Last year a group of first-timers came close to the top prize too.
The shows will be inspired by themes which shall be advised by organisers on request.
How you interpret the themes is up to you, but don’t be too indirect. The jury should be able to see how the show is related to the theme without having this carefully explained to them.
Groups will have a maximum of 6 minutes before the show to prepare the scene and your technical requirements and a maximum of 6 minutes after the show has finished to return everything to it’ s original position.
The actual show must be between 10 and 15 minutes in length not including the time taken to prepare and dismantle the set. Shows which are longer or shorter than this will be penalised (but not disqualified).
Movement based shows are possible, but the shows should not be totally silent. Sections of the show can be silent or mimed, but not the whole piece. One of the reasons for the festival is to encourage the use of English as an international language.
Shows should have some kind of recognisable narrative and should not be purely atmospheric or abstract. We would like to encourage shows that are interesting to watch and clearly tell a story.
There are no restrictions regarding the style of your show. It can be very stylised or a classic acting piece. The shows should be accessible to people of different nationalities though, ie everybody should be able to understand it. This does not mean that everybody must understand every single word, but it should be clear what is going on. Assume that your audience is of an intermediate level of English.
Shows will be judged on how clearly they tell a story. They will not be judged for how well the actors speak English. Some of the groups will actually be native English-speakers. These shows will be judged on how well they can be understood by an international audience.
All of the groups will have an opportunity to see the space where they will be playing on the day before the shows take place. However please note that this is a two hour time period where all of the groups will look at the theatre and meet the staff. There will be an opportunity to talk to the technical staff and get help and advice about how to prepare the show as quickly as possible, however, there will not be time for everybody to set up and have a run through. There will be a maximum of 10 minutes stage time per group.
The jury is made up of both native and non-native speakers, theatre experts, those involved in education and language-teaching specialists. The jury will choose the winners from each competing group. The jury will follow the rules above in making all decisions. The jury’s decision is final.
To register, you must submit a completed registration form by 30th June 2010.
Theatre performances to people who do not speak the language of the play as native speakers is in many ways quite different to playing for people from your own country. The language will be, to some degree, a barrier for the audience. It is important to be aware of this and to help them with that barrier wherever possible.
The following are tips and hints as to what could help your performance achieve this. They are not hard and fast rules. In other words, a brilliant performance could ignore everything here and still win, as long as it tells a story clearly. However, these tips are from our past experience of performing for an audience who do not speak English as a first language.
On reading this, it may look as though ClassinAction is looking for slow shows with huge hand gestures where everything is made as obvious to the audience as possible. Of course this is not the case. But you must remember that your audience in Prague will probably be different to the audience you usually perform for. The trick is to remember the advice above AND make your show theatrical and entertaining at the same time.
***This sample itinerary is for information purposes only. All final itineraries are tailored to individual choirs requirements. ***
Choir Contact International experienced travel consultants are able to advise you on the most appropriate flight options and will advise best fares at time of booking.
Once you enquiry with CCI you will be given your own dedicated festival planner, and this planner will also assist you with the booking of flights for your group.
We use the most up-to-date modern technology for searching best fares including low cost carriers, allowing us to book you the best flights at the best fares for a fully co-ordinated service. We use both low-cost internet fares and our long-standing relationships with other carries to ensure that we can secure the best travel option for your choir.
We will advise you on luggage allowance and all details relating to your flight booking.
CCI are happy to arrange airport-hotel-airport transfers for all choirs who have booked flights with us. Unfortunately, we are unable to arrange airport transfers where flights are not booked as part of the festival package.