Munsbach Summer School

“Munsbach” as we all call it, is a fully integrated short burst of intensive training for a group of committed and enthusiastic amateur theatre enthusiasts, held in sequestered surroundings, currently the Clairefontaine Centre d'Accueil on the Belgium-Luxembourg borderthe last week in July every year. There’s room for 50 or more of us, together with four or five tutors, professional theatre practitioners with a passion for teaching, who share their knowledge and experience, as willing as the students to commit almost every waking hour to developing their skills, their knowledge, their trust and their instincts. There’s no experience or ability qualification, and no set lower age limit, though it is essentially an adult school.

We’re proud of our origins. Munsbach traces directly back almost 80 years to theatre courses launched by, among others, George Bernard Shaw, and continued unbroken by the British Drama League and the British Theatre Association, until its demise in the late 1980s click on A bit of history for more. Summer school has always existed to bring professional and amateur practitioners into close creative contact. Tutors have always come from “the business”, be they actors, directors, drama school teachers, musicians, writers or other specialists click on Who are the tutors? for more; and students have always qualified for attendance on grounds of enthusiasm, without discrimination as to age or experience.

Summer School goes on. On the participants’ side, the thread is unbroken. Enthusiasts on the European mainland had attended BTA courses, in Cheltenham, Lancaster and elsewhere, and, when things became difficult, responded to the call. So, in 1988, the school crossed the Channel to Brussels under the leadership of Anthony Cornish, Deputy Director of the BTA and long-standing Course Director in the UK. On the European mainland, its natural platform has been the community of Anglophone theatre groups who invented their own variant of networking a quarter-century ago in the guise of FEATS, the annual Festival of Anglophone Theatrical Societies, of which Anthony Cornish was an early Adjudicator. And so its basis, always non-profit-making, has now become cooperative. Not that this means exclusive : the summer school is open to all and welcomes students from the UK and much further afield. It has thriven ever since, for the most part in and as “Munsbach”, with Mike McCormack, now Senior Lecturer in Drama at John Moores University, Liverpool, leading the course from 1996 to 2003. The Course Directorship then passed to Graeme Du Fresne, who first tutored on the Luxembourg Summer School in 1994. Graeme is Lecturer and Practitioner in Brechtian Theory and Practice at London Metropolitan University. He also teaches at the Italia Conti Academy in London as well as pursuing an active career in the theatre, where he usually wields the baton as Musical Director. Thus, within the FEATS community, it is the New World Theatre Club of Luxembourg that customarily hosts the school. Scores of students have now attended ; many come time and again for an experience which is truly extraordinary.

Munsbach has evolved and integrated. The venue – first the old château and its little surrounding park, now Clairefontaine with its woods, fields and nearby ancient abbey ruins - certainly serves the venture, and there is a palpable creative surge and interaction that develops. All sorts of students of all ages and “abilities” (though such notions, like success, let alone failure, are meaningless in this supportive yet adventurous environment) have found this a deeply fulfilling, and in some cases even life-changing time click on Students’ Contributions for more.

The whole school revolves entirely around project work click on What are projects for more designed to accommodate both directing and acting students. The various projects interweave from time to time : there are sessions where staff move across from one project to another (swaps) ; particular explorations are shared or pooled (shares); there can be developments that briefly pull in the entire student body. The process is dynamic ; these developments are not planned – they really do just happen, and it’s pretty exciting for those involved. By the end of the week, we promise, everyone samples something of the experience of everyone else – and has an opportunity to enjoy the enormous range of material taken on board. All this fits into a very sophisticated but practical timetable, the fruit of much deliberation over the years click on Students’ Contributions for more.

The two main projects, with equal time dedicated to each, run side-by-side throughout the week, offering a choice from four "theatrical skills" options (e.g. directing, music, movement, improvisation etc.), four more thematically-based options and a third project in which the tutors act as guides and mentors and the student body leads, often working with original material and more recently with keyboard-fresh writing from the Internet.

Well, yes, we are active throughout each day, with one afternoon and evening off, when there’s an outing and a chance to do one’s own thing in town. Other summer courses allow for a spot of holiday, between times : our students never want to stop. But we do insist on liberating you - and the tutors - for these few hours : there's only so much you can manage. However, the atmosphere is relaxed, and of course we ensure that there is time - in breaks, around the grounds and in the bar at the end of the day (we run it ourselves) - to chat and share the experience.

The Clairefontaine Centre d'accueil lies on the Luxembourg/Belgian border, about 6 km from Arlon and 20 km from Luxembourg City. Formerly a boarding school, it has spacious classrooms, working spaces, refectories and sleeping accommodation (most students can be offered single or double rooms) and a very fine chapel, all overlooking the forest. Through the spacious grounds runs the Barden Brook : the Centre lies just downstream from the ancient ruins of St Bernard's Abbey and Ermesinde's Chapel and a mere stone's throw from the Grand Duchy. It is best reached by road (map on request) or by rail (Arlon, on the main Brussels-Luxembourg line, is about 10 minutes by cab). You may also fly to Luxembourg ; the Airport is about 25 minutes' drive away.