Simply complicated – variations on a theme

A workshop for performing artists 11 - 14 March 2011 in Berlin, with Grete Sneltvedt and Heidrun Kaletsch

Listening on stage – listen to the text, to each other and to our own response. To be open to the music, the rhetoric in the text, and its physicality. Words are the antithesis of silence, by their very nature they are dramatic – they break the silence and silence makes us ready to listen. Silence creates suspense – it sharpens the appetite of the hearer and releases energy.

The physical experience of breathing is strongly expressed in the texts of Thomas Bernard. Using fragments of text from his play „Einfach kompliziert“, (Simply complicated; Helt enkelt komplicerad; Semplicemente complicato), we will explore the technique of Physical and Vocal Viewpoints, addressing body and voice as a tool on stage. We will investigate how listening and awareness of breathing rhythms, sound, movement and silence create and alter meaning. How do we convey imagery and impact through sound and rhythm in spoken language?

The programme includes daily training, exercises, text analysis, improvisations and presentations. As we are inspired by the Viewpoint-work introduced by A. Bogart and T. Landau, we will use it and incorporate it in the training. Our background in actors’ training and text analysis comes from the Russian tradition based on the methods of A. Vasiliev and J. Alschitz. PRACTICAL INFORMATION

PARTICIPANTS The workshop is limited to a maximum of 12 professional performing artists and students of dramatic, dance and musical theatre.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE Please send us your artistic CV and a short letter of motivation, citing your special interest in this workshop and what will be your main focus or goal in your working process.

APPLICATION DEADLINE 2nd February 2011

WORKING LANGUAGE The working language will be English. On stage every artist may speak in his mother tongue.

VENUE Studio für Schauspiel u. Kommunikation Crellestr 19/20, 10827 Berlin U Kleistpark

SCHEDULE From 11 till 13 March will will work from 10 h to 17 h. Monday 14th we will work from 11.30 till 18.30 h. A one hour break is included every day.

FEE The price of 250 Euro will cover the seminar.

For further information about the seminar and application, costs and assistance for lodging please contact:

Heidrun Kaletsch: heidrun.kaletsch(a)web.de

LEADING TEAM Grete Sneltvedt, MA, pedagogue, and Heidrun Kaletsch, theatre director, are both certified as stage art pedagogues by Dr. Jurij Alschitz (European Association for Theatre Culture/GITIS ). Since 2003 they have taught as a team in , and Åland, continuously developing their training methods. More information on Grete‘s and Heidrun‘s work can be found here: www.lumparlab.ax

in cooperation with LumparLab Teaterförening rf and Brand - Verein für theatrale Feldforschung e.V.