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A Blue Room Theatre Auspiced Production
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A group of WA artists have created a local chapter of the international Magdalena Project network: www.themagdalenaproject.org. Their idea for a workshop festival was driven by the need to overcome the tyranny of distance and isolation when developing theatre craft, and a desire to promote greater collegiality and conversation among women nationally and internationally at various stages of their arts practice.
Magdalena Perth is proud to host five remarkable Australian practitioners to headline this inaugural event. As well as extending skills and networks throughout the five-day intensive workshop program, the week also includes evening forums, work-in-progress showings and performances for workshop participants to enjoy.
Each participant can attend one of the five workshops offered.
All workshops are five-day intensives, Tuesday to Saturday.
Book early to ensure your first choice, as places are limited.
Registration includes lunch and entry to all evening forums/performances.
Workshop ONE: Topographies of Performance Practice with Margaret Cameron (VIC)
Internationally renowned poet/philosopher/writer/director/performer Margaret Cameron helps participants develop short original performances based on the ‘perceptual practices’ she has refined over many years, traversing a range of contemporary performance practices. Explore how artist’s questions can act as powerful levers for opening and deepening an exploration of text, image, shape and movement. Cameron reveals how notions of paradox, hypothesis and congruence can energize choreography and the making of instructional texts, and how accepting hunches, feelings and desires can direct a new work.
Workshop TWO: Visceral Philosophy – the Touch of Breath with Helen Sharp (VIC)
Explore breath as the genesis for expression and cross-sensory perceptual encounter with one of Australia’s leading breath and bodyvoice practitioners. Discover the inextricable interweaving of body, breath and voice, and how physical gesture can be used to develop different qualities of breath. Participants will experience meeting the breath through movement, touch, the sensing of presence, and gestural form. This is a unique opportunity for immersion in a process that begins with the perceptual breath and leads to physical and vocal improvisation and experimentation.
Workshop THREE: Embodiment of the Actor with Leisa Shelton (VIC)
This workshop with highly respected movement director and teacher Leisa Shelton is designed for actors, performers, directors, teachers and anyone interested in developing their understanding and use of physical language in performance. In creating heightened theatrical language, participants will focus on the amplification of gestures, personas and situations, the slowing down and accelerating of time, and relationships to objects and space. Leisa’s practice integrates the spirit of French master Etienne Decroux (Mime Corporeal)’s methodology, alongside physical, spatial and generative training.
Workshop FOUR: Moving Words and Memory with Nikki Heywood (NSW)
Join acclaimed performance maker Nikki Heywood in an exploration of the connection between movement and writing, designed for those interested in developing both a body and text-based performance practice. Heywood will lead participants through movement practices and observation and sensation exercises towards structured improvisation. This work draws on personal memory and deep perceptual awareness, exposing internal landscapes as rich material for writing and creating original performance material, as well as introducing participants to a useful model for peer feedback.
Workshop FIVE: Puppetry Poetics with Karen Hethey (WA)
An ordinary object, when animated, becomes a life. Such is the magic, pathos and illusion of puppetry. What makes this so? Journey into puppetry and its principles with established artist Karen Hethey through object manipulation, improvisation, puppet making, ensemble complicite, breath and the physical and emotional dynamic between animator and animated. This workshop is designed to enhance participants’ abilities to explore and devise puppet and animated performance, whether a solo performer or an ensemble collectively animating a single puppet.
Forums and Performances
Tue 9 Feb: Welcome & Performance - by Magdalena Perth and The Duck House
Wed 10 Feb: Short & Sweet – open performance night
Thu 11 Feb: Dramaturgy in Contemporary Theatre – key artist panel
Fri 12 Feb: No Door on Her Mouth - work-in-progress by Dawn Albinger
Sat 13 Feb: Where To From Here? - closing discussion
Bookings:
Cost: $420 / $380 conc.
Send cheque, money order or non-refundable deposit to Magdalena Perth Workshop Festival, PO Box 848 Inglewood WA 6932.
For electronic payment details or further enquiries email magdalenaperth@gmail.com or
phone +61 0417 187 668.
