Theatre

FINGER IN THE PIE offer a 10 week introduction to their approach to creating physical theatre. The workshops will focus on skills including Mask, constructing a physicality, visual story telling and improvisation. We will be covering techniques drawn from Jacque Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski and Keith Johnstone. The process will be collaborative, workshopping the principles behind the various approaches and then exploring their application through improvisation.

Week 1 - 4
Constructing Physicality

Introduction to physical preparation, construction and awareness. Exercises designed to give the actor a sense of their whole body, how it can be used and how different physicalities can open different psychological spaces.

Week 5 - 7
Larval Masks

The larval mask is based on the carnival masks of Besel, Switzerland. Oversized and not yet fully formed they are superb teachers. Illuminating basic lessons about character, scene construction and group awareness.

Week 8 - 10
Character Masks

The character mask opens a much more complex psychological space. We will use the mask to explore the physicality needed to carry these heightened psychological states as well as the rhythms needed to create a dramatic build. This will lead us towards starting to devise a short performance based on the character masks we’ve created.

Participation is by invitation only. The workshop is open to anyone with a background or interest in physical theatre. If you are interested in participating please email workshops@fingerinthepie.com including:

• Your name in the subject line of the email
• A copy of your CV
• A covering letter outlining why you are interested in participating in the workshops
  

If you would like any further information please contact Alexander Parsonage – alex@fingerinthepie.com.

The course will be led by FINGER IN THE PIE’s artistic director Alexander Parsonage and associate artist Baerbel Aschenberg. Alexander trained in the Lecoq pedagogy under Thomas Prattki at LISPA. He is a founding member of FINGER IN THE PIE, with whom he has been working for the last two years. Baerbel studied the Lecoq pedagogy at LISPA and has been working with Finger in the Pie since 2007.

Some of the comments that people have made about our previous workshops:

“I had a fantastic week. Wished it could have gone on longer! You presented a fabulous workshop. Very well structured and perfectly executed. You were all lovely to work with and had the perfect level of calmness and control needed to take a class. A very safe environment was produced to enable us to explore in. “

“The facilitators gave there all in a spirit that was positive, enthusiastic and open. With those attributes on board, you can achieve anything. There was a great chemistry between you that transmitted these attributes to the group in a balanced and articulate fashion. This was reflected in the willingness and honesty with which the group undertook the work.”

“Thank you for the time and energy you all put into September’s workshop week. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to learn and work with new people... [it] has sparked a passion in this area of theatre and given direction to what I hope to explore in the future.”

“Just wanted to email you to say how much I enjoyed the week. I actually didn't want it to end - I felt like I could have done another week and had even more fun and found more new things... It really confirmed for me that I love this way of working (Lecoq/physical/devising) and I want to do more of it.”