Course Outline

This is a workshop for experienced actors and directors. The week is entirely practical and participants will be sharing their work throughout the week where feedback will be discussed openly within the group
In a supportive and challenging environment the course seeks to nourish the imagination, encourage spontaneity, unlock inhibitions and unleash the creative voice.
Sessions will investigate the craft of theatre making and story telling using various stimuli, including text, music and props. We will explore our imaginative, intellectual and visceral responses by creating stories and “ moments of theatre”
We will also experiment with the artist/audience relationship through various stage configurations and locations.
Music, sound, props and garments play an important role in the creative process so please bring simple “jumble sale” garments ( hats, gloves, scarves, shoes etc.) the more the better.
A significant object eg a ring, letter ,anything that carries significance for the individual and consider and bring a piece of music that inspires and excites you- this can be from any epoch but must be on a grand scale orchestral/big band.
Most crucially, please recollect a personal story NOT INVENTED that falls within the headings “My Most Humiliating Experience” or “ A Rite of Passage”
Everyone should be prepared to sweat a little, laugh a lot and be courageous!

About the Tutor

Sue has been a Theatre Practitioner for over 30 years. Trained as an actress under Jean Norman Benedetti, she has worked extensively in Theatre, TV and Radio. As a director, her work has encompassed A wide range of material from Shakespeare to Contemporary Opera. She spent/misspent her youth in various variety theatres of the UK and, as a result, has a passion for Popular Forms. Other passions include Ensemble Theatre, New Writing, Complicite, Caryl Churchill, Stephen Sondheim, and encouraging, facilitating and inspiring artists of all ages to find their voices and express themselves through Drama and Theatre.

For the last 12 years, she has premiered and revived shows for the Edinburgh Fringe including Piaf, The Overcoat, The Shoot Horses Don’t They ? and The Laramie Project. Other professional directing work includes the English Speaking Theatre of Vienna, Oxford Stage Company, Cheltenham Everyman, and Old Red Lion. Current projects are “Groomed to Perfection”, a 15-part podcast exploring coercive control, and “Alladin” for The Kenneth More Theatre.

Sue was part of the pioneering teaching team on the Community Theatre Arts Course at Rose Bruford College working with the likes of Paulette Randall and Bernadine Evaristo. She went on to lead, as Head of The School of Theatre the college’s degrees in Acting, Directing, and Writing, and to create the innovative Actor Musician Course with long-time collaborator Colin Sell. Notable Alumni include Roy Williams, Kerry Godliman and Stephen Graham. She continues to work at many of the UK’s leading Drama Schools as both Acting Coach and Director.

International work includes dissemination for The Project in European Theatre Arts, working with young professional actors from Romania, Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany and the UK culminating in a multi-lingual project written by Mathew Dunster. Six seasons directing graduating actors for the Conference of Drama Schools in New York. Drama Teacher Development for Lamda in India.