Training projects

Our training projects aim to transfer a wide range of theatrical skills to others. Among the programmes we offer are training for 'New Directors', training for 'Young Actors', a range of specialist workshops, and an international programme of 'Dialogues in Theatre'.

1. New Directors Programme

   StoneCrabs is a director-led company: its interest in nurturing new directors from all sectors of the community fuels this programme. Each year a small number of new directors go through training programme centred around production, project management and theatre directing. It introduces artistic and practical management tools for the director and encourages an individual approach, utilizing the director's own vision.

   At the end of the programme, the participants direct a play reading with professional actors in a play of their choice.

   • 2007: The Albany, Lewisham
     Directors –
     Sophie Bradey: An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch
     Yarit Dor: GBS by Jason Hall
     Beno Hill: The Room by Paul Brennen
     Tomoko Kawamura: Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
     Zubia Masood: Dutchman by Amiri Baraka
     Darren Raymond: Prison Wings by Indie Louise Arrna
     Gemma Rowan: That Time and Play by Samuel Becket

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   • 2006: The Brockley Jack, Lewisham
     Directors –
     Bola Agbaje: Top dog/ Under dog by Susan-Lori Parks
     Abdul Ali: A Gaggle of Saints by Neil Labute
     Gael Le Cornec: Outlying Islands by David Greig
     Tamsin Curno: The Lover by Harold Pinter
     Richard Cussands: The Decorator by Donald Churchill
     Simon Magnus: White Plague by Karel Capek
     Paula Siu: The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco

     

1. Young Actors Programme

   A training programme for young people interested in developing theatre/acting skills. The course is conducted over a 16-week period through tutorials and mentoring by performing arts professionals. The workshops are geared towards staged performances by the participants at a local theatre.

2. Dialogues in Theatre

   Our international programme Dialogues in Theatre is committed to the practice of cultural exchange and the celebration of shared experience by promoting a participant-centred philosophy through the medium of Theatre. To make this a reality, StoneCrabs undertakes to exchange with other companies as well as to train participants both in the UK and in other countries to become the practitioners/facilitators of the future.

   • Dialogues in Theatre 3 – Japan, 2008: StoneCrabs returns to Tokyo as part of the UK-Japan Celebrations – for more information: www.ukjapan2008.jp supported by Anglo-Daiwa Foundation and British Council in Tokyo.

   • Dialogues in Theatre 2 – Japan, 2006: StoneCrabs had the wonderful opportunity to run workshops in Tokyo for CaramelBox Theatre Company. Franko Figueiredo, Tereza Araujo and Kwong Loke spent two successful weeks in Tokyo working on this programme with Japanese actors. A rich dialogue, mutual learning and enhanced mutual respect were achieved. Ground covered by the workshops included Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, staging Shakespeare and Voice for the stage

   • Dialogues in Theatre 1 – Brazil, 2006: Franko Figueiredo & Tereza Araujo collaborated with Vila Velha Theatre Youth Group in a series of workshops promoting the sharing of their beliefs, values and skills. We also explored the opportunities for empowerment through an ongoing theatre education and cultural exchange programme between arts and education practitioners and young people internationally.

3. Workshops

   • Boal - A practical workshop exploring techniques that enable participants to discover and share the universe of the legendary Brazilian theatre practitioner, Augusto Boal, and his ground-breaking ‘Theatre of Images’ and ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. The workshop includes games, techniques, and improvisation, according to Boal’s theories, followed by group discussion. It is led by the celebrated Brazilian performer and specialist in community theatre, Tereza Araujo who has worked with Boal in her home city of Salvador in Brazil.

   • Body & Soul - The Body and the Soul, the Object and the Language, a workshop for actors and performers looking to explore the work of Tadeusz Kantor and Brazilian Indigenous Rituals. – Led by StoneCrabs joint artistic Director Franko Figueiredo.

   • Mask - The practicalities of working with and in a mask so that it enhances rather than restricts the performance. The workshop will take participants through these practicalities, thereby enhancing their expressive vocabulary, and explore different types and styles of masked performance. – Led by StoneCrabs artistic directors – Franko Figueiredo & Kwong Loke.

   • Playing the Greeks - A practical workshop exploring The Trojan Women and the Oresteia Trilogy. The workshop aims to develop the actor’s instrument to work with heightened text, find the physical and vocal centres, and de-mystify the aura of the invention of Western drama. Games, voice and movement exercises, and textual analysis are employed in looking at Chorus work, main character speeches and the plays’ structures. In a relaxed way, we will build an ensemble from the group to work on voice for the text, movement and physicality for characters, and discover our own relevant, contemporary ways of ‘playing’ this ancient form of drama. We will do floor work on scenes to discover and explore the above – Led by StoneCrabs joint artistic director Kwong Loke.

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