Workshops & Research

We've had the pleasure of adapting and delivering many types of drama-based workshops for all ages over the years, viewing each new request as an opportunity to draw on past theatre, corporate and even personal experiences and new research to suit the purpose and audience of the brief. We'd be delighted, therefore, to adapt workshops for any setting or age group, and resource packs on the below are available on request via our contact page 

 

For example, we've devised and delivered "Page to Stage" workshops to A-level students based on their set texts, exploring how to dramatise the text to bring the words to life. A boisterous event for all, the feedback is equally enjoyable to read:

 

"My Year 12 students throughly enjoyed your workshop. The common theme amongst their responses was the fact the varied and stimulating nature of the practical work.  They were very impressed with the number of different practical exercises. They also liked the in depth analysis of the first page of their set text 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'. I think they would have liked this to have been expanded even more." Andrea Loughran, Head of Drama, Buller's Wood School, Kent, January 2020
 
We've devised similar workshops for other student year groups of all ages with little or no drama experience or set texts and therefore purely practical based, for example Year 7 Drama Clubs, making the exercises and games as engaging and fun as possible in a permissive and creative atmosphere. We regularly invite schools to our performances and host Q&A sessions with the cast and crew, to give the students a chance to watch the show and engage informally with us afterwards, asking any kind of question from our artistic choices to our personal motivations as actors, believing theatre (and its makers) should be accessible to everyone.
 
"The girls really enjoyed the show. It exposed them to some styles of performing they have not yet considered and stretched some of their perception (and understanding) of theatre and presenting Drama.They are all creating their own original pieces of drama at the moment and one group has stolen the reversal of action they saw to incorporate into one of their 'boring' scenes! Their words not mine!" Sarah Harries, Head of Drama,The Green School for Girls, Middlesex, December 2019
 
Post-Show Q&A with the cast of Sherlock Holmes; Mrs Hudson describing "how she got into drama" (happily)
 
Actors on the (World) Stage Workshops
These workshops were designed especially for the British Council Pakistan for adults with no drama experience, and are intended to encourage and empower people to create an individual and collective transformation. We use art to create change, and drawing on our drama training, theatre practice and experience in education and the corporate world, these workshops have been designed to guide people on how to open up, relax, work together collectively and creatively. They can be used in schools, in the workplace, in communities and in any group of people who are keen and curious to come together, to propose and receive ideas, to be confident and generous to collaborate and collectively create a brave new world. These exercises are adaptable to the specific dynamic of any group. The key aim is to create a safe environment where everyone is encouraged to be brave, take risks, jump in and have fun, learning and leading through laughter, to embody and enact the positive change they would like to see in themselves and in the world.

Although these workshops are designed to draw in an audience from a performance we might have staged previously, they work equally well as standalone transformational workshop, or as an introduction for those interested in an introduction to Acting with the emphasis on ensemble and devising techniques.
 

Workshop 1: "Actors on the Stage" - Drama exercises and games

  • The focus is on those completely new to drama and/or interested in improvisation, games and creativity in an experimental and playful environment
  • The whole group is facilitated by all the cast members/workshop facilitators, teaching techniques in collective exploration, opening up, communicating and playing in a relaxed and encouraging environment with an emphasis on working together, improvising and having fun, to feel comfortable, encouraged and empowered in front of new people and to quickly start to view these new people as friends and collaborators.
  • We begin by physically and vocally warming up so that everyone is ready to act and to speak up, to feel confident, to propose ideas and to be prepared to jump in and play.
  • We also work on listening, being open to receiving and accepting others’ ideas and transforming them into something new to continue the collective journey.
  • With all these exercises combined, the group becomes confident and generous, and works together creatively and collaboratively as an ensemble.
  • The group works together as a whole group or (depending on size) in smaller groups to devise a short performance to share with the rest of the group, embedding the idea of working together as a team to create something together.
  • The key ideas are to relax, work together and have fun!

 

Workshop 2: "Actors on the (World) Stage - Social Awareness Workshop

  • Transformation happens and opinions are changed by acting on impulses and taking positive action, hence “Actors on the World Stage”.
  • Change is an emotional as well as an intellectual exercise. Resistance to change is therefore equally emotional. Affecting change involves having a systemic view of what it is you wish to change and enabling yourself and others to take positive action. It starts with the individual being confident and ready to take action and then seeking out and working with others, empowering them also to make change. By being empowered and positive yourself, you can facilitate this attitude in others, and together achieve much more. Alone, you go faster but together you go further.
  • We’ll explore the importance each person makes to affect a wider change (“landslides happen when small stones start to move”). We’ll work on assertiveness through physicality and language. Then we conclude with an exercise to bring together all the activities and ideas explored so far to take positive action and create transformation.
  • Building on Workshop 1, we will start on games to build on individual self-awareness and self-assurance, physically and mentally, using some ideas from Neuro Linguistic Programming to create positivity in themselves and as part of the group
  • The participants will then explore some of the key pertinent themes in their immediate community – private and professional – through sharing and discussion, and each group will be invited to concentrate on a specific issue they would like to change in the world, with guidance on key steps on how to start to enact change
  • They will then work together to present to the wider group a short demonstration on how they will tackle this issue to create transformation and positive change
  • We will then discuss thoughts and observations from the day, and positive steps forward. 
  • Remember to breathe, to look up, to take risks, to celebrate failure as much as success, and to laugh.

 

You can find some videos of our participants mid-flight in our workshops in Karachi in April 2019 plus their feedback on our youtube channel

 

 

Saturday Salon
Every Saturday morning, we eagerly gather in a safe, open space, transmitting from a corner of London for those not physically present, where actors, performers and practitioners come together and seek like-minded individuals to explore thoughts and observations on their creativity and ideas. In our midst we have actors performing for feedback or just to read aloud for company; costume designers looking for models; stand-up comedians trying some new material; writers looking for actors to hear their scripts performed; designers, photographers and videographers demonstrating their work; workshop leaders and practitioners and producers floating ideas for networking and anyone who wants to check in with the performing community for ideas, collaboration and support. Recently moving to video calls, we're hoping to revert back to the old-fashioned "in person" very soon! You'd be very welcome to come along, to contribute or just to listen and munch on biscuits.