Theatre Making Approaches Workshop – Neil Haigh

Join award winning theatre maker and actor Neil Haigh for this one-off workshop and explore how to create exciting, dynamic & playful theatre using only ourselves and a few basic scene or story ideas. (Age 16+, over 50’s welcome!)

Over an intensive 4 hrs we will endeavour to cover:
Playful approaches to acting – (openness, complicity, theatre as ‘game’)Physical/non-psychological approaches to scenes – techniques for narrative, generating new material & ‘character’Imagery, atmosphere & ‘heightened’ theatricality for narrative content – (non ‘text-led’ storytelling) Scene Creation – using some or all of these techniques from visual stimuli (group/ensemble devising work) This workshop is ideally suited for those with some prior acting and/or theatre making experience, but you do NOT have to be a professional actor. You might be looking for theatre making techniques for your own work, wishing to compliment existing studies, or just keen to explore a new area in theatre…whatever the case – just bring yourself, a sense of fun and a preparedness to try with no pressure to ‘succeed’ or ‘get it right’.

* The first half (approx) of the workshop will focus on techniques and how to generate content, and the second half on applying them to specific, provided scenarios and visual stimuli
* Whilst approaches to Acting make up a part of this workshop, the emphasis is more on theatre making & how to generate and explore content and meaning
*Some movement will form part of the workshop but there is no requirement to be ‘athletic’ and no upper age limit. I will happily work with whatever access requirements you may need, so please do let us know in advance!

About Neil:
Studied Acting & Devising with John Wright (Trestle, Told By An Idiot) and has since forged a career as an actor on stage and screen. He has also made over 30 professional productions and was Co-Artistic Director of the acclaimed Cartoon de Salvo Theatre Co, making nationally and internationally recognised work over 15 yrs, from Village Halls across the land to co-productions with major venues, and in Hong Kong and the Kennedy Centre Washington DC. He has made and acted in work with Sound&Fury, SHUNT, Inspector Sands, National Theatre Studio, Young Vic, Gonzo Moose & FUEL Theatre.