TaPRA 2019

Towards a critical breath pedagogy for speaking ShakespeareThe purpose of my ongoing PhD research is to establish groundwork for a critical breath pedagogy as an inclusive learning strategy for speaking Shakespeare. It will examine the practical implications of applying ideas/practices... Read More →

Discovery through Re-discovery: Using embodied knowledge to rediscover historical exerciseThis presentation will explore ways in which the previous knowledge and embodied experiences of modern performers can be used to rediscover historical exercises that are new and unfamiliar in... Read More →

William Butler Yeats and Physical Theatre: Training Techniques for Character, Movement and Mask This paper demonstrates how the play texts of the Irish poet-playwright William Butler Yeats could be used in actor training to develop skills for physical theatre. The analysis explores... Read More →

Training populism: How to become a populist? - a tool kit of exercises for almost all emerging populists (or How to Exercise a Research?)Having practiced for many years the ‘Corporal Exercises’ and ‘Plastique Exercises’ from Grotowski’s methodology of physical actions, I... Read More →

Training the eyesIn answer to the panel question, I will focus on a specific exercise drawn from eye practice in Kutiyattam theatre, a unique regional theatre style from Kerala, South India, for which I underwent training with traditional master Gopal Venu (artistic director of Natana... Read More →

Performer Training Presentation:Playing to Win Vs. Playing to keep on PlayingThe practice-as-research project investigates what could happen when we adopt ‘trickster tactics’ through performance to ‘change the rules of the game’ in sport so as to potentially create an alternate... Read More →

Commedia training: Introducing masks at playCommedia dell’Arte’s 21st century training takes place mostly over a short period of time and customarily involves repetitive exercises used to train physicality and movement. This approach may lead actors to become fixated on the techniques... Read More →

Exercises in RepetitionI consider training as a form of research that prepares a practitioner to perform a practice: actors train to perform actions whilst directors train to perform directions. In the process, old and new possibilities are discovered revealing ‘tacit knowledge... Read More →