Physical Theatre

The following is a brief outline of the type of workshops available from the company.

Company:Collisions’ original works and adaptations rely more on vocal and physical action and imagery rather than text to communicate with its audiences. The workshops will embrace the following working practices that Company:Collisions uses for training and for making theatre.

The Ensemble

Regarding physical awareness and sensitivity as essential for creating and performing theatre, the workshop will explore fun ways to simultaneously build fitness and team spirit through a range of games and exercises. In particular, the workshop aims to work towards building a level of intuition and focus between fellow performers promoting exciting as well as safe theatre practice.

Part of the workshop will be dedicated to learning and creating sequences of movement, working towards a high level of physical energy and commitment.

Training

As part of every rehearsal the company trains for at least one hour a day and believes this to be the basis of each days’ creativity. The training is influenced by many different practices including Astanga Yoga, Martha Graham, Suzuki, Grotowski and Butoh. These practices and methods can be passed on through a variety of sequences and improvisations.
Approaches to devised work

The big question of "where do you begin" will be addressed and hopefully resolved by the use of devising tools including games and limitations. The workshop will be engineered to release creativity and create an atmosphere where ideas can be generated without the fear of failiure. We will also look at "when do you stop" and examine the processes and benefits of consistency and editing.

Performance

This workshop will be engineered to the development of individual and group presence on stage. Drawing on the training methods mentioned above, we will work from the principle of movement and breath as the primary source of expression.

Comedy and Tragedy

All of the company’s productions have been inspired by stories of extreme human experience. Not concerned with the accurate representation of pedestrian life and psychological realism, the company aims to use the stage to express a heightened state of reality.

Drawing from different techniques such as butoh and clown the company will lead the performers to explore these standard extremes with their endless levels and manifestations.

Vocal Action

Using the voice as another means of dramatic action rather than simply the clear imparting of information the workshop will cover a range of vocal exercises to strengthen the voice and its relationship with the emotional centre.

A refreshing approach to music which is not about having a ‘good singing voice’, but an ability to express emotion and lend vocal accompaniment to a scene.

This part of the workshop will also explore sound through dead languages such as ancient Greek- though not in an academic way- it is fun!

Exploring the Relationship of Movement with Text

The workshop will explore different uses of text alongside and through movement. We will look at the physical and artistic possibilities of combining the two, and explore avenues where they work harmoniously or deliberately discordantly.

Assessing the performance space

Whether the production is site-specific or in a standard theatre, the relationship with a new space is always important.  The workshop will examine time economical ways to adapt, investigate and ‘bond’ with a new space. This part of the workshop will briefly look at the significant directorial decisions made in staging a production. By looking at the popular rules of staging, and how and when to break them, the students will gain a greater understanding of working with spaces in the role of both actor and director/choreographer.

Benefits

These workshops will give the students useful warm-up and focus techniques. They will provide a different insight into creating theatre as well as a new approach for devising and performing contemporary theatre.