Two – Day Devising Workshop OXFORD

Two – Day Devising Workshop

12-13^th April, 2010, 10am-4pm

The University Church of St. Mary the Virgin

High St, Oxford.

£25 per person

Participants will come and explore the theatrical possibilities of storytelling through devised theatre, dance and song, in a beautiful site rich in history.

Working with ideas we will be exploring in the first outing of our new site-specific show Tightrope, which will be performed in early-May, workshop attendees will spend the two days exploring the theme of personal belief; belief in the spiritual, religion, science, magic and fairytales, to create short devised performances that will be performed throughout the site at the end of the second day.

St Mary the Virgin is an ancient church, rich in history and atmosphere, and provided Oxford University with the location of its first library, as well as being one of the law courts in which the Anglican Bishops, Latimer, Ridley and Cranmer, were tried and later burned at the stake by the Catholic Queen, ‘Bloody Mary’. Visit http://www.university-church.ox.ac.uk/ for further information.

Participants will have workshops in Early-English music with experts in the field, historical dance sessions with experienced choreographer and Renaissance dance expert, Diana Scrivener Blair, and sessions on creating site-specific performance with our performers and artists.

No prior knowledge of these fields, or previous experience in singing, reading music or dance is necessary, just come with a mind open to new and exciting projects!

UnderConstruction is a site-specific theatre company that was formed in 2007. We have a commitment to creating unique, participatory theatrical experiences in unusual sites, and have performed in both Britain and Brazil.

Our 2010 performance of Tightrope, is an experiment in combining contemporary devised performance, with the Early-English music of William Byrd and his contemporaries, as we want to bring this beautiful, but lesser-known period of music to new audiences in an innovative way.

Many of the ideas for Tightrope have been drawn directly out of the lyrics of some of this music, and from the personal struggles that the composers encountered through their work. Placing these stories in the site of St Mary the Virgin, we will create a new piece in collaboration with professional and volunteer performers and singers, which will be performed on 7^th and 8^th May, 2010.

If you would like to attend the two-day Easter devising workshop, please contact Artistic Director Lizzy McBain (lizzy@underconstructiontheatre.com)