We are delighted to announce the upcoming series of workshops for the JMK South West Directors' Group as part of the National Programme. We are also excited to be supporting a number of regionally based directors through our new Mentoring Programme. Please see below for more information.
To book your FREE place, please email: nik@jmktrust.org
Please let us know if you have any access requirements. We have a small bursary pot available to help with travel expenses and/or any additional access support you may need.
This JMK Directors' Group is open to directors who are from or based in the South West. For details on our groups for other regions, please click here.
Upcoming Workshops:
Saturday 7th March, 3-6pm, Wiltshire Creative (Salisbury Playhouse)
Movement as Play with Dan Canham
Dan Canham is performance-maker and choreographer. Through his company, Still House, he makes performance events that span across dance, theatre, short film and audio recordings.
His works for Still House include SESSION (LIFT festival) and Of Riders and Running Horses (Dance Umbrella) and have toured extensively throughout the UK and internationally.
As a movement director, Dan’s most recent work includes A Monster Calls (Old Vic), The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (Elliot Harper/Bridge Theatre) and Jane Eyre (National Theatre).
As a performer he has worked with Kneehigh, DV8, Punchdrunk and Fabulous Beast among others.
In his performance work and his teaching, he is concerned with the performer as the central figure, in which their humanity and ‘liveness’ are paramount. He works in the spirit of instinct, generosity, openness and bravery to create opportunities for performers to invite themselves to be seen. Sincerity, heart and joy as an act of resistance are at the core of his work.
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Saturday 28th March, 4-6pm, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
Storytelling Poetic Texts (Textual Breakdowns & Direct Address Work) with Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu
Led by Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu, winner of the JMK Award 2019, this workshop will look at various verbose direct address texts and unlock how a director can use the words as a vehicle to stir an audience's imagination.
Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu is a British-Ghanaian writer & director hailing from South London. He has studied at Roehampton University & Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Credits include: The Brothers Size (Young Vic as assistant director), Timbuktu (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Sweet Like Chocolate Boy (Jack Studio & National tour), Black Attack (Bush Theatre) , Beyond The Canon Showcase 2018 (RADA) & Little Baby Jesus (Orange Tree Theatre) . In 2019, Tristan won the JMK Award for emerging directors in its inaugural year at the Orange Tree Theatre.
Wednesday 8th April, 2-4pm, Reading Rep
Opera-Curious? with Adele Thomas and Tim Anderson
Having recently moved into opera, Adele Thomas is a director who wants to break down the barriers and preconceptions that make many directors feel that they can't do the same. Adele has realised that the barriers to making opera - both real and imagined - are often at odds with a medium that celebrates imaginative directorial vision and, as someone raised in a working class household with no youthful access to Classical music, she is very aware that the industry is crying out for more diverse directorial voices.
This is a playful and immersive introduction to working with operatic music, exploring what it means to work with opera singers and the relationship with a conductor. No in depth knowledge of classical music required, just a desire to explore making theatre through singing.
Adele will be joined by conductor Tim Anderson, a brilliant theatrical mind in his own right. This is a unique opportunity to dive into the rehearsal process of an operatic scene.
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Saturday 2nd May, 2-5pm, Wiltshire Creative (Salisbury Playhouse)
Papatango/JMK Trust: Meet SW Writers, Producers and Directors
Marking the culmination of their WriteWest programme to support emerging playwrights and producers of new writing across South-West England, Papatango will be partnering with the JMK Trust to host an event to connect these artists with directors. Over drinks and nibbles, this will be a chance to meet other makers of new writing and discuss potential new projects.
Papatango run free opportunities across the country to launch new playwrights, each year assessing and giving feedback to over 1500+ submissions, commissioning, producing and touring two world premieres, and providing free training, performances and publication to over 4000 people in community centres, state schools and cultural hubs. Papatango productions or discoveries have premiered in over 20 countries worldwide and in the West End, been adapted for BBC Radio, and won BAFTA, OffWestEnd, Royal National Theatre, Critics' Circle and Alfred Fagon awards.
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Saturday 23rd May, 1-4pm, Nuffield Southampton Theatres
Working with Actors with Nik Partridge
Through practical exploration and discussion with 2 professional actors, this workshop will focus on the collaboration between actor and director, reflecting on how a director can set up a safe, creative and explorative atmosphere in the room and considering how the relationship can function in order to support new and fruitful discoveries being made through rehearsal.
Nik is a Bristol based director, who has worked extensively within the South-West. He has collaborated and produced work with organisations like Mayfest The Watermill, Travelling Light, Bristol Old Vic, the egg, Theatre Royal Bath, Strike-A-Light, Theatre Royal Plymouth and Tobacco Factory Theatres. Further afield he has made work for the Royal Court, Traverse and Galway International Arts Festival.
He was Director-in-Residence at Tobacco Factory Theatres for 2014-15 and Staff Director at Theatre Royal Plymouth from 2016-2018. He trained on the National Theatre Studio Directors Course and at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Nik was a BBC Performing Arts Fellow for 2014 and is a recipient of the Equity John Fernald Award.
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Mentoring Programme
We are excited to be supporting a group of SW based directors through our new Mentoring Programme. Over the course of 6 months, these directors will receive support from the JMK and each other, allowing them space to reflect on their practice and any professional goals they may wish to move towards, as well as providing an opportunity to strengthen and develop networks with other regionally based creatives.
The directors we are supporting through the Mentoring Programme are:
Marcus Bazley, Anna Carr, Bryn Holding, Helen Morley, Deborah Seeley, Lizzie Stables, Adrian Tang, Rachel Taylor and Hannah Treadaway.
