The beauty of theatre to work with people at risk of social exclusion
CRA’P Workshops 2019
2nd and 3rd March. Saturday from 10h to 17h – Sunday from 10h to 15h
‘Raw Theatre’ or ‘Theatre of Yes’ is a methodology that uses the power of beauty as a language to break stereotypes of situations that society views with apathy. By creating a provocative and emotional performance, we are able to transform the lives of people who suffer social exclusion. Yet how can we create a high-quality performance with people who are not professional actors but have stories that should be shared? How can we use powerful performances as an axis of change? How can emotions be the motor for the struggle against the social oppression that many groups suffer?
Through years of creating plays with groups around the world, Marina Pallares-Elias has realized the importance of scenic quality as the axis of change to break stereotypes that people in situations of vulnerability are often confronted with. Instead of developing a leafleting campaign to raise awareness of people suffering oppressive circumstances, Marina proposes the creation of an emotional performance from often hidden personal stories where the important result is collective catharsis between spectators and actors. In this work, hidden questions are answered and emotions and desires hitherto deprived of space to be shared are revealed.
In this workshop, students will explore how theatre, especially physical theatre, can offer a space where participants feel free to articulate their ideas and be creative. They will also focus on how to devise a performance that emerges from participants’ personal stories, creating theatre that is unique to them. This method is intended for those interested in developing theatre that reveals the complexities of communities at risk or those looking to integrate creative approaches to their social practice.
Raw means raw: raw meat, pure, frank, wounded, natural, fresh, not cooked, wild, clear and true. Raw is hard to see. Raw is not easy to find. It connects us with internal spaces that 2.1. Raw Theatre Working with groups at risk are asleep yet alive. Raw also means collective, looking at the wound for collective healing. Raw means connecting with emotions, with ourselves, by taking off our daily masks and discovering our inner selves.
Characteristics of the methodology:
– Humility, generosity and honesty being presented as drivers of change
– Theatrical inspiration from outside: the world and its nuances being used as theatrical inspiration
– The Greek chorus being explored as a collective force
– Personal stories being used as weapons to raise the profile of those who are not given a voice
– The ‘Yes’ being used as political-ethical re-positioning in a world where the “You are not enough” reigns in cultural discourse
– Emotion being used as a driver to provide alternatives to imperialistic logic
– Progress being made from victimhood to collective responsibility
– Work being carried out with human beings rather than collectives.
Objectives:
– Give participants theatrical tools for social change
– Build a provocative and empowerment stories with emotional quality
– Promote group work for social transformation
This experience is for anyone! Actors and non-actors that are interested in using theatre as a tool for communication, debate and social change within their communities and a MUST for theatre practitioners, social activists, teachers, community workers, charity representatives and youth workers.
Led by Marina Pallares-Elias
Fee:
85€ (70€ CRA’P collaborators and associated members, members of the APDC, AADPC, and graduates from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona).
Discount registration before 10 February:
75€ (60€ CRA’P collaborators and associated members, members of the APDC, AADPC, and graduates from the Theatre Institute of Barcelona).
Registration:
info@cra-p.org / 666 763 504
At CRA’P space
Marina Pallares-Elias is a theatre director and applied theatre practitioner, with over 15 years of experience working across Europe and South America using theatre as a tool for social change. She has developed exciting theatre projects with traveller communities, ex-offenders, adults with learning disabilities, people with mental health challenges, women, youth groups and refugees all over the world.
In 2014, Marina founded Acting Now in Cambridge (UK) and has since led the company as Artistic Director. Theatre and movement are her passion and she loves to use them to help participants believe in and express themselves. Her specialism lies within physical theatre (Lecoq studies) and applied theatre, and she is also a professional facilitator of Theatre of the Oppressed. She regularly teaches at Anglia Ruskin University (UK), University of Lille (France), La Casa Encendida and Matadero (Spain).
Over the course of her theatre career, she has directed numerous provocative and empowering performances using personal stories, with people who have never had the opportunity to be heard. Her work has been presented in the UK and internationally, in festivals such as Hotbed Festival (Cambridge, UK); (añadir fetivales).
Recent director credits include: “Polyphonic” 2018; “What You Don´t See” 2018; “I Deserve a Better Chance” 2018; “Keep holding my hand” 2017; “Up to the sky is where we want to dream” 2017; “Love is underground”, 2017; “Complicité” 2017; “The princess castaway and another time machines stories” 2016; “The rise and fall of Mario Sanchez” 2015 or “You, me and the Spanish Civil War” 2015.
In 2018 Marina graduated from the School of Social Entrepreneurs (London) and was awarded a grant by Arts Council England to develop an international theatre project in Mexico with both deaf and indigenous communities in collaboration with CARPA (The Collective of Arts of Participation, Mexico).
“Antigone: Now” is her most personal project to date. She has teamed up with professional actors to bring to live a powerful physical theatre adaptation of a Greek tragedy she has long been fascinated about.
