Alice has been supported using public funding by the National
Lottery through Arts Council England - www.artscouncil.org.uk
Photographs Copyright © Tina Gooding
I am a Writer / Performance Artist who regularly tours original solo Spoken Word performances to Arts Centres and Theatre Studios across England. I am currently offering a trio of workshops to accompany my various touring shows.
The following three workshops have a core theme of Solo Performance. Some areas will overlap; particularly between the "Spoken Word" and "Performance Poetry" classes, but there are differences enough to make these three distinct sessions.
Any workshop can run to either one hour, as an introductory all-in-one lecture session with brief opportunities for Q&As, or as two hour sessions, with a short break and more time budgeted in for attendees to try out and get feedback on some writing or performance exercises.
Two hour versions of the lecture/style workshops are also available without exercise/participation time built-in, if a much more detailed and in-depth look is also required at a given area; such as an extensive exploration of Meter and Verse forms in the "Writing Verse For Performance Poetry" workshop, or writing Grant applications in "Working as a Self-Producing Performance Artist".
There are no minimum numbers for these sessions; they can work extremely well to just one or two people; particularly when the participants wish to look at ideas in more depth on a one-to-one basis, or have brought written work they wish to try out. The largest number I generally run a workshop for is about 30. Between 10 and 20 is ideal.
THE WORKSHOPS:
CREATING SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCE.
A general introduction to thinking about some of the many ways to approach solo spoken word performance including - Anecdote, Dramatic Monologue, Folk Tales and Classic "Storyteller" unscripted approaches, the One-Person Play, Stand Up Comedy, The Faux Lecture, Performance Poetry, Multi-Media and Performance Art.
We will also look at: Tone - Serious v/s Comic, Declamatory or Intimate.
Narrative Structures: The Classic "Heroes Journey" v/s more Freeform, Dialectical and Modular ways of approaching putting together a show.
Fiction v/s Fact - the peculiar and unique requirements of the Autobiographical Show.
WRITING VERSE FOR PERFORMANCE POETRY.
A more specialist session looking in more detail at Performance Poetry.
Beginning with the basic building blocks of verse: Syllables, Stress, Rhythm and Meter.
Example of different Meters; their uses and benefits -
Again the Reminder - This is ALL for the Stage NOT for the Page...
Format and Audiences: the different approaches for writing for different venues and crowds.
Authorial Voice - Gender, Cadence, Accent and Culture.
Vocal Technique - Project your voice, or use Mics - The Pros and cons of both for learnt and read work.
The Visual Aspect - Costume and Physicality. Even performance which is still primarily language based often has a visual component - what to consider before walking on stage.
WORKING AS A SELF-PRODUCING PERFORMANCE ARTIST.
A general introductory session touching on the many, many different areas that the Self-Producing Performance Artist has to master and juggle in order to succeed.
Taking the Plunge - What you really need to set yourself up as a Self-Producer and are you already doing it without realizing / acknowledging it?
Getting past the "Imposter Syndrome"
Venues and Networking. It's hard work, but there are networks, help and information already available if you know where to look.
Ways to meet industry people and arenas to try out new work.
Venue "Speed-Dating", Pitching Sessions, Scratch Nights, and Open Mics.
Basic Budgeting - All the things that you need to do.
Tour Booking. Funding. Ways to approach filling in Project Grants and DYCP forms - Getting all the ducks in a row.
FOR FULL DETAILS DO PLEASE GET IN TOUCH:
PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK
“Loved the Workshop – More please!”
“Thank you Alice and Colchester Library for sharing some beautiful performance and brilliant technical tips. Fun and interesting!”
“Alice was fantastic, thank you so much for putting on this event.”
“Loved Alice’s performance it was very informative and entertaining. I really appreciate how it was tailored to the audience – focusing on our interests and answering our questions in a way that suited everyone. Very glad that I came today; thank you for the opportunity.”
