Workshops Courses & Lectures
Physical theatre – the actor as a creative artist. The goal of the workshop is to give a taste of the fundamentals of physical theatre and open new perspectives for the participants’ theatrical play. Workshop participants will use their imagination and their bodies and experience the totality of physical theatre, the work of an actor who creates the theatrical text and story from his own rich inner world, expressed through bodywork. We focus on basic elements, forces, and materials that provide the ability to build or enhance a theatrical character
It is possible to focus on different themes:
Physical theatre in the animal kingdom
Physical theatre and the world of color and emotion
Physical theatre and the four elements
Physical theatre and the world of materials – natural and artificial
Can be taught as an introductory workshop of 1.5 hours or 3 hours or in- depth workshop of 5 days, 6 hours each day, or a complete course
The visual lecture- we propose a lecture of up to 90 minutes, combined with unique video-clips of various styles of physical theatre, street theatre, traveling theatre, modern circus, site-specific theatre, visual theater and more.
The theatrical mask – a workshop in which participants will be acquainted with and experience playing with various theatre masks: Neutral masks, larval masks, character masks and Commedia dell’arte masks. The workshop includes a physical warm-up, playing and improvisation exercises.
An introduction to the world of theatre masks suited for all public. 1.5 hours or 3 hours
The neutral mask – the process of exposing the body and mind in a clean and minimalist journey without Mannerism. We search for the initial discovery. We work being open and available, being on stage without having to play a character. Using purified movement qualities, total identification with the environment, space, volume, Impulse and rhythm, we experiment and empower the dramatic presence of the body in space.
An introductory workshop of 3 hours or in-depth workshop of 5 days, 6 hours every day.
Larval masks and Character masks – A study of playing with theatre masks, getting familiar with a variety of techniques and tools for creating a character inspired by a mask, based on a multi – faceted physical expression and finding concrete roles and status of the character. Deepening the theatrical play based on listening and complicity between the characters and finding hierarchy between them. Creating theatrical narratives, structures and scenes. Workshop 5 days 6 hours every day, and a full course
The Poetic Clown (from circus to theatre). An introduction to the poetic world of the theatre clown. Unlike the traditional circus clown, (or “birthday clown”) with his gaudy style, the theatre clown has a more complex and sensitive. In this workshop participants will experience a search for a tragic-comic style, which allows the actor to find his inner clown: the ability to be stupid, naive, poetic, and especially a virtuoso who can laugh at himself and at his own failure. This clown works finds great pleasure and desire to stay on the stage. Each participant will experience finding the “flop” – which is the failure of the clown, and the motive for his action. Participants will experience individual and group exercises, and at longer workshops they will work on small numbers individually and in a group. It’s possible to teach a fun workshop of 3 hours
The grotesque Bouffon. The workshop encourages the participants to find their grotesque sides and allow them to radicalize them as versatile theatrical figures. The Bouffon is based on characters such as the Fool, the court- jester, dwarfs and hunchbacks, whose role was to give social and political criticism to their master, but also to entertain. The Playing style of the Bouffon is comic-tragic; he is motivated by lusts and passions which nourish him. On stage he is characterized by his deformed structure and extremities, when the actor actually wears his “other body”, created from his internal physical world, but appears on stage through unique costumes and accessories ( like a body mask). In the workshop we use various exercises to find new physical architecture and with the Treasure of the poetic imagination, to shape the personal Bouffon, and experience playing tragic-comic situations and scenes.
Street theatre- an actor, a dancer or a circus artist, who chooses to perform in the street, must be able to respond in real time to any sort of stimuli around him, he has to raise his level of improvisational skills, his timing and he also must able to develop an active dialogue, silent or verbal with the audience. The public space belongs to the public and the performer has to prove himself to them! The workshop includes studio work, warm-ups and physical theatre practice, developing individual and group listening, experiences of situations and interventions in public spaces and the street, with reference to re-evaluating the physical, cultural and human environment.
SITE SPECIFIC theatre is theatre created in a given space – breaking the orderliness of a stage for actors and seats in rows for the audience. The theatrical site-specific space can vary: a historic building, a building of special architecture, open nature, industrial hangar, art gallery, theatre building, any urban public space, street, apartment etc. etc. … the selected space has an important significance in the creative process, where we re-examine the relations of actor – space – audience: the theatrical piece is inspired by the architectural character of the space, its history, unique story etc. Participants will experience various exercises which examine the changes taking place in the personal and collective play, learn how to turn the space into an inspiring place and how to integrate theatrical characters and stories into the process.
Laboratory of Movement-Body-Space. Exploration of the architecture of instinct and emotion. A Laboratory where abstract concepts are explored to enable the artist’s ability to interpret them, using body language, light-weight constructions and discovery of spaces. We make the space dynamic, poetic. Examine laws and forces acting on the body, materials, shapes and structures. We will expand our artistic means of theatrical expression, in which architecture and the human body become multi-dimensional, innovative and groundbreaking. The workshop combines two-dimensional and three–dimensional plastic-art creation and diverse movement work. The workshop is open to artists from the fields of theatre, dance, circus and architecture. Possible as a 1.5 hr. lecture, a 1 day workshop of 6- 8 hours.