TaPRA 2019

Frantic Masculinity:  Hidden Hegemonies in Performance Training.In this paper I propose to use the work of Frantic Assembly to investigate how the successful dissemination and widespread adoption of particular performer training exercises might inadvertently perpetuate and re-enforce... Read More →

Beyond Exercise: The Pedagogy of Actor TrainingThe Japanese theatre practitioner and director Tadashi Suzuki uses the word discipline instead of exercise when referring to the training he developed; this is because he associates exercise with the physical aspect of the work, whereas... Read More →

The ‘Neutre’ exercise: A ProvocationFrom Jacques Lecoq, through Philippe Gaulier, and Annie Griffin… to me… to you. In the summer of 1992, I spent three weeks studying with performance artist Annie Griffin who had studied with Philippe Gaulier in the 1980s. The performance... Read More →

Spontaneous Creation through Mindless RepetitionThe Dynamic and Ethics of Keith Johnstone’s Improv Training ExercisesThis provocation will examine key improv exercises of Keith Johnstone’s improvisation system to see how repetition of simple activities is used to activate the... Read More →

Active ObservationOver the last 18 months we have been working together as a new collaborative relationship between a writer/performer and sound designer. The aim of our research originally was to see how an early collaboration between two distinct disciplines would grow in the hope... Read More →