Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
Central Research and Creativity Online - Royal Central School of Speech and DramaNot a member yet
743 research outputs found
Sort by
Laban-Aristotle: Zώον (Zoon) in Theatre Πράξις (Praxis): Towards a Methodology for Movement Training for the Actor and in Acting
No full textThe focus of this research rests on an investigation into the links between Laban and Aristotle with the view to propose a new approach to movement training for the actor. I will argue that in contrast to the standard Platonic reading, Laban’s development is best understood through the conceptual framework of Aristotle. This provides not only a more secure theoretical approach, but also a practical one, which establishes the art of movement as a science. In short this investigation intends to establish Laban’s philosophical foundation upon a reading of Aristotle’s Poetics, and in particular, on the reading of the Poetics by the contemporary Greek philosopher Stelios Ramfos in his book Μίμησης Εναντίον Μορφής (Mimesis versus Form) (1991-1992). What is significant about Stelios Ramfos’s interpretation is that he attempts an analysis and interpretation of the concepts of the Poetics in terms of theatre performance. Ιt is this emphasis on performance that make possible the task I have embarked upon of locating Laban’s theory and practice in the conceptual framework of Aristotelian poetic science. The discussion will serve as a critical framework from which to propose a new way of applying Laban’s movement concepts practically to the movement training for actors. The research methodology is also practical. It will therefore also develop and present a performance that attempts to apply Laban’s terms, as they are discussed, in relation to Aristotle, and (in Chapter 4) in relation to the new methodology as well as a syllabus of practical classes addressing actor movement training both in kinaesthesia and characterization. The ultimate goal of the research is to contribute an approach that can inform the way Laban’s concepts are taught and provide suggestions for the structuring of technical movement classes for actors
Ten Evenings with Pina: Bausch's "Late" Style and the Cultural Politics of Coproduction
No full textThis essay reconsiders the legacy of German dance theatre choreographer Pina Bausch through a series of thoughts collected and tested while sitting in the dark during the World Cities retrospective that was presented as part of the Cultural Olympiad of the London 2012 Olympics. While Bausch's aesthetic is almost entirely articulated on the basis of her vintage period, World Cities called attention to the coproduction process under which Tanztheater Wuppertal primarily operated from the mid-1980s until Bausch's death in 2009. Interweaving structures of patronage, rehearsal processes, and aesthetic strategies, the essay argues that it is by recognizing how they built and were built by more distributed structures of support that we can shift our understanding of Bausch's "late" works themselves
A Theatre for Social Justice Project in the UK
No full textThis essay explores a collaborative Theatre for Social Justice project that took place in London, United Kingdom, in 2008 and involved fifty participants. The key question we ask is, What are the key challenges when bringing student and community participants together to create theatre? We will start by outlining the nature of the international collaboration and then will unpack some of the tensions that emerged during the process of making a play and in relation to the play as product of the process. We will conclude by considering to what extent we were successful in creating quality art and effective theatre, playfully questioning whether this project was a creative success or a site of carnage
Our Town
No full textThis entry collects together media from the Performing Places series of workshops undertaken by Sally Mackey, with this one taking place at Oldham Theatre Workshop.
Rather than simply ‘sharing’, the details here represent extensions, dissemination and impact of the Oldham Theatre Project rather than ‘sharing’ the precise work that took place. Because the project was workshop-based with no formal ‘performance’ output, this website, Performing Places, offers the most comprehensive sharing.
Big Digital Project was a light projection show that collaborated with ten boroughs of Greater Manchester to create short videos and images about their local towns. In a piece entitled This is Oldham, The town saw community groups including the continued Place group having their say about the place they live in and what it means to them. The videos were shared publicly at Gallery Oldham before they were showcased in a Finale event alongside the nine other boroughs of Greater Manchester. These projections were displayed on the side of Manchester Town Hall on Saturday 29th March 2014
It's About Time: Queer Utopias and Theatre Performance
No full textThis discussion wraps together issues of queer agency, temporality and utopia in order to look at how performance can offer moments of queer agency. Seeing theatre as a temporally queer space, the chapter makes the argument that through a recognition of the material body working to present a virtual character on stage, there perhaps lies an answer to the tension of queer agency. The stage, in its queerly fluid temporalities, plays plurally (it is both material and virtual) and yet can have material impacts in the world. This chapter takes the discussion of the plurality of time, character and materiality to read two performances: Blackout (Twilight of the Gods) by performer Dickie Beau, and The Front Room, a production by Outbox Theatre. Through the readings of two performances the chapter sketches out a strategy for resisting straight time in the theatre and through that resistance find glimmers of queer utopia
Trashing Performance
No full textA review of Trashing Performance - originally published in Exeunt Magazine, 4th November 2011.
Performance Matters proposes a different approach to performance research, one that capitalises on the potential of public discourse and collaboration, and sets out to challenge how we approach value in performance, the inherent social and political baggage that comes with that. This year's incarnation, 'Trashing Performance' took place at Tonybee Studios at Arts Admin in east London and paid particular attention to forms of performance and popular culture, which are often categorised as low art, omitted from academic analysis and on the outskirts of mainstream culture
A Practice-Based Enquiry into Therapeutic Presence
No full textThe research inquiry of this PaR project is concerned with the cultivation of therapeutic presence in dramatherapy training.
The work was born out of the question of the nature of therapeutic presence, what it is and how it is conceived. As dramatherapists, the researchers were interested to explore resonances between the languages and understandings of presence in theatre and psychotherapy and how these interrelate. A guiding thesis was the many layers of communication in human relationships, which include the kinaesthetic and the unconscious and that this is relevant to the conception of presence
Oldham Theatre Workshop Intensive
No full textThis entry documents the workshop undertaken at Oldham Theatre Workshop as part of the 'Performing Places: On Site' series