The One Day Workshop

Setagaya-Goldsmiths General One-Day Workshop. 22nd November 2007

Structuring a Theatre Workshop: an example. Building vocabulary - moving towards a short performance.

‘Separate’
• ‘Installation’. Whole Group. Walking round an ‘installation’ that ‘an artist’ has made. What was the funniest thing you saw? The strangest? The most moving?

• ‘Walking and Stopping’. Whole Group. They Control/Changed with a Clap/ ‘Traffic Lights’ – changed with 3 claps.

• ‘Making Shapes’. Whole Group. ‘S’, ‘T’, ‘W’, ‘N’. Then words – ‘Tokyo”, ‘London’

(Participants are mainly being asked to work by themselves, discovering the space, starting to be with the group)

‘Together’
• ‘Name Game’. Whole Group. Skating Like Steve etc Round Circle

• ‘Pass the Clap’. Whole Group. Clapping Round Circle.

• ‘Zip Zap Boing’. Whole Group.

• ‘Who’s Leading’. Whole Group. One goes out of the Room. Leader chosen, person comes back, has to say who is leading the actions the circle makes.

(Participants beginning to work by as part of a group, learning about playfulness and collaboration)


‘Pairs’
• Contact Improvisation. In pairs, A, B, A, B

• ‘Blind Cars’. Pairs. Trust exercise. A closes eyes. B manoeuvres A round the room, not bumping into others or chairs placed on floor.

• ‘Blind Sit’. Pairs. Manoeuvring your partner in front of chair. Then they must sit. Then doing it only verbally – ‘left’, ‘right’, a bit forward’ , ‘a bit back’ etc.

• Work Sculptures. Pairs. You at work. Each sculpts other. Then – Offer a change!

(Participants learning trust, exchanging ideas, working closely with different partners)

LUNCH

‘Making Together – Ensemble’
• ‘Fish Shoal’

• ‘Side by Side Mirroring’ in pairs leading to

• ‘Group Mirroring’. Groups of eight. Native American Rain Dance/African Fertility Dance/English Traditional Folk Dancing

• ‘Making Machines’. Whole Group. One by one adding a part to the machine. First time silently. Second time with sound.

(Participants learning trust how to work as part of an ensemble, giving and taking of ideas, creating together))


‘Making Theatre’
• ‘Making Machines’. Four Groups – Young People/ Media/ Economy/ Transport. Then Rehearse, Discuss - Change.

• ‘Family Portraits’. Four Groups. Four group-photos. Fisherman’s Family/Sumo-Wrestler’s/Businessman’s/Taxi-Driver’s. Make sequence of three photos for each family. Then examine the reality of their feelings. Show each individual member moving into the family photos. The Public and the Private.

• ‘Family - Now/Past/Future’. Same family. Show their story, past, present and future in a slideshow of three images.

(Participants build on the vocabulary they have developed and add storytelling to create short, shared pieces of theatre)