MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice Students Present Inaugural Form(at) Festival
Congratulations to Central’s MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice students who, from 7 – 12 September, presented the inaugural Form(at) Festival, a festival of ‘performance for the not-too-distant future’.
Celebrating the exiting and innovative work made by students on Central’s Advanced Theatre Practice course, projects featured in this year’s Form(at) Festival were made during the various stages of Covid-19 lockdown. Challenged by unpredictable circumstances, students worked remotely and often across huge time differences to explore new performance forms and move into unchartered territories of practice. The result was an emergence into virtual, digital and actual spaces; from live stream to living room, in the past or by post, at a gig or in a theatre. The students reimagined their processes from the virtual, through the digital and towards possible theatres in the ‘not-too-distant-future’.
Of this year’s festival, Course Leader Dr Lynne Kendrick said:
““Drama, Theatre and Performance are always about times of crisis. MA and MFA Advanced Theatre Practice students understood this from the outset, as soon as the pandemic hit they embraced the paradigm shift in making and, armed with a new and responsive curriculum, they plunged into virtual rehearsal processes. This wasn’t just a case of ‘going online’, rather they worked in ways that anticipated the live, yearned for being in the same space as others, or rejected it outright and sought alternative ways that the digital and the analogue can conjure presence and recreate the theatrical encounter. With thanks to Camden People’s Theatre, some of ATP’s final projects arrived in a venue, others have embraced the far-flung time-zones they find themselves in and from great distances have reached intimate audiences. The ways in which theatre and performance can still be made in these unusual times will be something that students and staff alike will never forget.”
Central’s MA/ MFA Advanced Theatre Practice is focused on contemporary collaborative practices, challenging and reimagining the roles of performer, director, writer, designer, dramaturg, musician, puppeteer and creative thinker in new and unexpected ways within a supportive environment of discovery and innovation.
Find out more about the MA/MFA Advanced Theatre Practice courseat Central, including information about how to make an application to study with us, or visit the official website of Form(at) Festival to learn more about the work of this year’s student cohort.
Form(at) Festival 2020 featured:
Carla Keen, Seed: A one-to-one encounter about growth. Experienced through Zoom, participants share stories while planting seeds which have been sent to them though the post. Find out more about Carla Keen’s practice
ANTS, We Still Fax: A mysterious package will arrive at your doorstep. Within the package just happens to be the keys to an alternate universe. It won’t be easy, but with your help, the alternate universe can be yours for the taking. This is old-school fun like you’ve never experienced before. ANTS are Diana Vallverdu Cabrera, Lu Curtis, Paul H. Barnes, Mengqiu Xu, Zhaolin Zhou, Eva H. Lee.
CrushRoom, After the Flood: ’The Inheritors of the New Earth’ are putting on a show. The year is 2031 and Ren, Toby, Jimmy and Barry have survived. So have you. It’s time to rebuild, but first we must look back. “There’s always the story. Then there’s the real story. Then there’s the story of how the story came to be told. Then there’s what you leave out of the story. Which is part of the story too.” CrushRoom are Manda Jønsson, Octavia Fox, James Christensen, Danny Romeo and Sarah Shear.
Forest Sounds, The Bump: Welcome to The Bump. Meet our viewer, who will sit in a garden, on a white chair. They will turn on the telly. And The Bump will begin… Forest Sounds are Andy Cook, James Christensen and Mischa Jones.
Gash Theatre, Gash Theatre Makes a ThirstTrap ©: Welcome to GASH. This is a thirst trap. We’re pop princesses. We’re punks. We’ve got that super bass. We’re femme fatales. We’re plastic bags, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again. It’s a trap! We’re bored and we want a boogie. Our thirst trap is hungry. Let us eat you up. Gash Theatre are Nathalie Ellis-Einhorn, Maddie Flint and Clodagh Chapman.
NIGHTCAP, Handle with Care: An intimate theatrical experience delivered to your door, reaching out for connection and intimacy. Inviting you to pause, reimagine and interrogate the familiar, Handle with Care carves out a contemplative space to perform and be performed to, to reflect, respond, and to reach out. NIGHTCAP are Holly Blain-Rodman, Georgina Kirk, Timothy Green, Ines Collado-Diaz and Natasha Wright.
High Contact Theatre, @iContact: MIRROR TALK: An interactive one-to-one performance about human communication, technology and the importance of eye contact. In MIRROR TALK, the brand-new start-up @iContact invites you to take part in a unique experiment and contribute to the development of a cutting-edge technological solution designed to answer our growing need in inter-personal communication. High Contact Theatre are Neta Gracewell and Elysia Qiu, with artistic and technical support from Cheng Keng.
Genome Theatre, GENESIS - 37: An immersive, sci-fi performance over Zoom. The story is placed in 2037, where an autoimmune syndrome has killed ¾ of the earth’s female population. The World’s Advanced Neuroscience Department (W.A.N.D), promises to save humanity from extinction by introducing human clones into the world. Genome Theatre are Avgi Porgoura and Amalia Paschalidi.
Error 404, The Hive: “Welcome to Hive Social Solutions, we’re glad to have you on board! We know working from home can feel a little bit odd, so we’ve created a virtual office space just for you. You’ll soon forget you’re stuck at home, in fact, you might just forget about your world altogether…” Error 404 are Amy Mawer, Qiyue Luo, Danny Romeo and Juliet Mann
