SHIFTING SANDS WORKSHOPS

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Spontaneous play, interaction and story telling form the focus for these workshops.

We will develop an ensemble/group approach to street theatre that is playful and rich in surprise. Clear, simple clown characters will be developed from individual and group improvisations to create Walkabout and Circle shows.

These are workshops designed to enable the student to initiate and develop group and individual performances. Devising will be presented as a process involving play, masks, visualisation exercises, improvisation and the development of rhythm and relationships. Central to this work is finding ways to play and co-operate.

Scene work on the history plays, tragedies and comedies. We will investigate a variety of ways that will help the actor to gain insight, understanding and pleasure in the text to release its beauty and magic. Following the Chekhov method, we will avoid a psychological approach.

 An invitation to explore the beautiful , vibrant and absurd theatre that originated in Italy. This is the world of Arlecchino, Pantalone, Columbina, Dottore, Capitano,  and the Zanni who attempt to survive in a world full of greed, revenge, intrigue and love. The Commedia provided the foundation for much of today’s comedy and clowning. We explore the main characters, physical expressiveness, the use of status and contrast, the development of scenario and the crucial, central role of  rhythm. All unmasked!

Living on the edge of society, Bouffons are the dark reflection of the Clown. Rejected because they are considered deformed, mad, ugly, morally corrupt and evil, heir mere existence challenges the morals and authority of everyone. Their play reveals the hypocrisy all around them. 

  Clowning is accepting then enjoying your stupidity. It’s serious business! In this workshop we will make it all physical. with a strong focus on rhythm. Forget music notation. Rhythm is movement. It needs to be discovered and studied as movement, not as notation.

The Clown is not a character, it’s a state of playing and of being. Clown is where you glimpse, see and realise what is so stupid about yourself. And then wanting and being able to share this with others.

When we play we are full of energy, alert and spontaneous. There is total belief and honesty.  A performance based on play builds a direct relationship with the audience.  

COME & PLAY!

An extensive workshop to devise and then  perform  a show. The focus will  usually be on either  Clown, Street Theatre, Tragedy, Masks, Commedia, Stories or Bouffon - sometimes a mixture of more than one of these.

How to bring the words of a story alive? We will play and transform them using movement, action and simple props. We will turn Stories into Theatre. We will make words playful and physical. Games, sheets, wigs, bits of anything and everything will be brought together to help us to play with the words and to bring them, and the characters that speak them, alive.  Throughout the emphasis will be on developing ways to devise theatre as a group. 

The performer is the means through which the audience hears the text. What will enable the performer to communicate the text? We will explore various ways of loosening and liberating the text so that both the performer and the audience are connected through it. Games and the playfulness they generate will be the means by which the relationship between performer, audience and text will be explored. 

Masks constrain the performer by reducing some of his or her expressiveness – facial expression most obviously – but by this process they also liberate by requiring the release of deeper, creative resources. Masks transform and change, allowing the performer to discover new rhythmic relationships with the audience. The student will be introduced to neutral, full and half masks.

The comedy, banality, beauty and tragedy of Chekhov rediscovered through the playfulness of the Clown. We will  create high drama from absolutely nothing - boredom, loss of zest for life, inability to move on, hopeless incompetence and arrogance. The tone and themes of Chekhov’s plays are ambiguous - bittersweet, tragicomic, sad and joyful, adultery versus sterile faithfulness – allowing the actor to be open and make discoveries. More details on request. 

Can the Clown still play when the usual setbacks mount up to become a tragedy? When surrounded by huge emotions and overwhelming circumstances we will discover the playfulness and beauty of tragedy and how the Clown can find ways to play with great emotions, not to undermine them.