releasing, stimulating and encouraging…

A series of drop-in workshops exploring ways of creation for writers, actors, directors, live artists, dancers, choreographers, photographers, singers and anyone with an unrealised creative urge.

These workshops are suitable for all levels of experience and ability making them perfect for the experienced creator looking for inspiration or the beginner looking for confidence.

Each workshop will introduce different exercises to help the creative juices flow.

Workshops led by Sean Bruno and Luke Dixon. (bios at bottom of page)

CREATING MONOLOGUES

This practical workshop will guide participants through several fun approaches to generating story ideas and transforming them into original and engaging monologues. Perfect for anyone interested in developing their devising and storytelling skills.

A MILLION WAYS TO TELL A STORY

This monologue / short story workshop will challenge participants to think about stories in new ways, as they learn simple techniques to reshape familiar stories into something new and original. A playful way to experiment with story structure, explore style, and discover new ways of sharing a story.

CHARACTERS

In this workshop, participants will learn techniques for quickly creating three-dimensional characters and getting them to tell their own unique and engaging stories. Great for anyone looking for ways to generate new – or develop existing – performance or story ideas.

FAMILY

This workshop explores ways of mining one own personal and family history for story material. It may be that you want to recount things that have happened to you, whether mundane or magnificent, or you may want to explore family history, where recent or in the long-forgotten past. For those writing epic plays, planting family trees, devising solo performances, drafting memoirs or just interesting in exploring new ways of talking about their relatives.

SITE-SPECIFIC

Discover and invent ways of taking an audience, literally, on a journey. We’ll look at creating and structuring an event in which the audience is led from one location to another, using scripts, maps and event voices on mobile phones. An introduction to new ways of making site-specific work, including digital ones.

VOICES FROM HISTORY

An opportunity to find ways of using historical characters and events to make interesting stories and engaging performance. These can be from the distant past to the recent past, famous or little known. We’ll look at ways of researching and imagining, and the transformation of found material in living theatre.

60-SECONDS

A fast-paced workshop where participants will revisit story and performance fundamentals and learn how to make a little go a long way. Creating short works is a great way to explore new ideas and exorcize old ones. In this workshop, you will play with practical techniques for creating short performance works and ways to share them with an audience. Great for creators looking for new ways to make, explore and challenge their ideas.

For more information or bookings:
info@centreforsoloperformance.com

BIOS

Luke and Sean have collectively over 50 years of running performance, writing and other creative workshops.

Sean and Luke’s acclaimed ‘Creating Solo Performance’ is published by Routledge and was called by The Stage, “A welcome addition to an actor’s bookshelves” (18 Sept 2014).

Luke Dixon is a performance maker, writer, teacher and academic, internationally known for his innovative productions of Shakespeare, his site-specific performances, his teaching of actors and his research into performance. His productions for theatre nomad, of which he was Artistic Director for 20 years, have been seen in China, North America, South Africa, Germany, France, Poland, Russia, Czech and Slovak Republics, Spain and the UK. Luke has a doctorate in ‘The Performance of Gender’. Recent work includes A Summer of Ecosex with Annie Sprinkle & Elizabeth Stephens. His book hugely influential, ‘Play-Acting’, a guide to theatre workshops, is published by Methuen in the UK and by Routledge in the US.

Sean Bruno has been called an “Arresting Spoken Word Artist” by the BBC. His solo and collaborative practices draw upon various performance disciplines and styles, including; theatre, spoken word, dance, multimedia, site-specific and even folk music. He has worked in various writing, performance and dramaturgical capacities with performance companies as The National Theatre of Ireland, Theatre Nomad, The International Workshop Festival, Lo Commotion Dance, Teatro Vivo and Sweden’s The Harbour Project.