Projects for Drama Schools
The Ballad of Sexual Dependancy: A Brecht Cabaret
By Bertolt Brecht
East15 - BA Acting
(October-November 2012)
A cabaret project, performed in-house, exploring Brecht's epic theatre with original arrangements by Colin Sell (BBC Radio 4).
Nan Goldin's photographic essay The Ballad of Sexual Dependancy, whose title refers to a Threepenny Opera song of the same name, inspired this collection of scenes and songs investigating the power structures that generate love and lust in Brecht's plays.
I taught the students acting techniques to engage with abstract production dramaturgy, alienation effects and other non-naturalistic conventions. We devised unique distancing effects for the production using references to popular performance artists, such as David Bowie and Nina Hagen, and the choreography of Pina Bausch and Bob Fosse.
Cymbeline
By William Shakespeare
London School of Dramatic Art - Advanced Diploma Course
(February-March 2016)
My production for seven actors condensed Shakespeare's fairy tale into a fast paced 75 minutes of character doubling drama. The production performed in-house and toured to a local school.
With a focus on clear storytelling, I taught students how to use the play's language to activate character choices. My edit of the script highlighted the play's nature imagery, such as birds, animals and vegetation, which we used throughout rehearsals to examine connections between the poetry's Early-modern world picture and the actors' understanding of the contemporary world.
Measure for Measure
By William Shakespeare
London School of Dramatic Art - Advanced Diploma Course
(February-March 2015)
My streamlined edit of the script examined the play’s anti-Catholic sentiments, focusing on Jacobean stereotypes of nuns and priests. This supported the (often hilarious) resoluteness of Isabella's moral positions in Shakespeare’s anarchic late comedy. The production performed in-house and toured to a local school.
I used Renaissance paintings and sculptures from artists such as Hieronymus Bosch and Bernini to assist students develop a clear relationship towards their character's poetic imagery and vast emotional landscape.