PUT IT ON YOUR HEAD (three days)
I use masks to inspire play because masks give us the most powerful form of release that we have in theatre making. Put it on your head is an introduction to using masks and demonstrates what masks do, both for us, on the outside, and you, on the inside. Well explore naive masks, archetypes, Balinese Bondress, Commedia and Modern Half- masks. And look at how they might be used in devising.
AWARENESS THROUGH TENNIS BALLS (one day)
This workshop explores the ways and means of using tennis balls to develop an awareness of how you move, how you hold yourself and how to become aware of habits and start to make changes. This is a relaxing workout. It won’t make you fitter, stronger or make you lose weight but it will enhance your flexibility and develop your complicity with yourself.
PROVOKING HALF-MASKS (three days)
This workshop examines half-mask theatre and offers a modern take on Commedia dell’ Arte, which is the prototype of farce. We examine commedia masks, explore the master-servant relationship and investigate the bouffant qualities of Pulcinallo.
WRITING FROM COMMEDIA (two days)
This workshop utilizes the commedia structure of masked and unmasked characters, only using modern half-masks and explores a process of developing a scenario.
GOING BEYOND YOURSELF (three days)
This workshop is essentially an acting workshop that uses masks designed to develop your imaginative range as an actor. We’ll be using ‘archetypal masks’ such as: The Trickster, The Huntress, The Child, The Crone, The Virgin or The Victim, to enable you to assume a persona of your choosing that might be way beyond your personal experience and to play that persona in order to give you an entirely different approach to a text.
WRITING WITH A STUPID FACE (two days)
This workshop is a development of the previous one. Here the archetypal masks are used to inspire devising. Through a range of specially developed games the masks will be used to develop images and to generate narrative.
BEING WORSE THAN LIFE (three days)
This workshop is devoted to grotesque masks, and like The Ogre, The Woman Who Thinks She’s Attractive, The Crone The Hermit. Bondress masks: grotesque Balinese half masks. What do we gain in playing the grotesque? And is it possible to play in that same way without the mask to conceal you?
BEING BETTER THAN LIFE (Two days)
This workshop focuses on ideal types of mask: Neutral Mask, The Hero, The Huntress. The Child, The Mother and The Virgin. Here the game is to let the mask define the persona for you, and then for you to realize that persona for yourself without the mask. This raises questions like: what does playing a persona that’s clearly better than life give you, on stage, in an interaction?
BEING NOTHING LIKE LIFE AT ALL (two days)
This is a workshop on physical play that explores masks that are abstractions or simulacra rather than recognizable faces. Our ability to find a recognizable face in almost anything is astonishing to see, and the anonymity of the person we’re dealing with is empowering. We’ll focus on Bag Masks and Naive Masks and explore the quality of play they inspire.
