Puppetry Skills (16+)

Each day you will explore different areas of puppetry skills as you move towards a short sharing of your work to each other.

Key Areas will be:

• Gravity and motion
• Character and communication
• Sharing the space
• Alone with your puppet
• Narrative and design

You will be encouraged to share project ideas with the group in a  project consultation session which will help you develop and collaborate within the devising process. 

This is an open access course with no specific entry requirements. However acting and performing experience would be beneficial.

During the course participants will be invited to present an idea for a potential puppet project they have been thinking of. The group ‘consultation’ can be extremely useful when devising your own work.

Feel free to bring your own puppets if you have them!

Students should bring bottled water and a writing pad and pen to take notes during the course.

Gavin Glover 

With over 30 years experience as a theatre practitioner, Gavin Glover specialises in contemporary puppetry and visual theatre. He has developed his own distinctive style of work in both visual and text based performance as a director, designer and occasional performer.

Freelance since 2011 Gavin has collaborated with many artists from all theatre and arts disciplines. He runs specialised workshops in contemporary puppetry including

The Darker side of Puppetry and Micro Cinema Theatre.

He is often invited to coach actors in theatre institutions – most recently The National Theatre of Scotland and The Abbey, Dublin.

Having originally trained at The Little Angel Theatre in London, he went on to co-found FaultyOptic which toured its deliciously dark and surreal adult puppet shows around the globe from 1988 – 2011. Shows included Snuffhouse-Dustlouse, Soiled, Tunnelvision and the ground breaking live feed video performance Bubbly Beds.

FaultyOptic was a Regularly Funded Organisation by Arts Council England and the company was often supported by the British Council for foreign touring.

The course runs Monday – Friday, 14 – 18 July, from 10am to 5pm.

Summer Accommodation

We are pleased to welcome students from across the world to our Summer Schools. Our course fees do not include accommodation or food, and these should be organised by the student. Our campus is located in Glasgow city centre, and you can find the addresses below.

We recommend Base Glasgow, as purpose-built accommodation for Conservatoire students, with Rehearsal Rooms, Practice spaces and Dance Studios. Base Glasgow is perfectly suited for our summer school students; both safe and secure, with 24/7 staff presence and only 3 mins walk from our main Renfrew Street building, keeping travel costs to a minimum.

Classic En-Suite rooms come with a 3/4 bed, en-suite bathroom, ample storage, mirror, study desk and chair. The shared area includes a spacious lounge and kitchen area.

Please note that Short Courses staff are not affiliated with BASE or on site outwith the summer school teaching hours, and therefore cannot take responsibility for students outside of these hours.

For more information about booking accommodation at BASE Glasgow you can contact them directly via website BASE – Student Accommodation in Glasgow or email baseglasgow@herestudents.com.

Alternatively, there are plenty of hotels, hostels, and b’n’b options available. We are located close to transport links should you wish to stay outside the city centre. If you are travelling to Glasgow for a course, we strongly recommend purchasing travel insurance that covers course fees, travel, accommodation, and cancellations due to COVID-19 – as RCS will not refund in this circumstance. You can view the Cancellations and Refund policy for full information.

For students under 18 years old, we strongly advise travelling with a responsible adult should any emergency situations arise during class. Students are only monitored by staff during class times.

Renfrew Street Campus: 100 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3DB
Wallace Studios Campus: 210 Garscube Road, Glasgow, G4 9RR