Tell me a story...

Upon leaving Helikos at the end of 2012 the last thing Giovanni said to me was... when you get home... Teach.  I told this to a friend of mine here in SA and her immediate reaction was 'oh dear - weren't you very good?'  And I laughed - firstly that this is the perception of teaching - so wrong - and secondly that I'd never even thought about it like that. So no - that's not why. The reason is because one should pass it on... Share some of what I've been so lucky enough to learn to people who would like to learn it... rock on!

Freya, Justin and Vika... being Pirates from our Pirates of the Caribbean Bandes Mime performance at the end of 2012

...So after a few weeks of being home this voice got a bit louder... But there were a few questions making it not that easy to answer... Where, what and how... I wanted something that was more substantial than a once-off workshop, somewhere not as restrictive and full time as a high school or a university, and most importantly... a place with students who want to be there. So I contacted the Market Theatre Laboratory... The Market Theatre Laboratory was started a number of years ago as a place for underprivileged students to come and study theatre. What a wonderful thing. Happily my application was successful and within a few weeks I had my first class. Storytelling. That's the title of my class... and my favourite thing in the whole world. Why would anybody ever want to do anything other than tell stories?

So we began... a room of 11 totally keen totally engaged totally talented second year students.  And it is such fun... Mainly we are looking at crescendo and theatrical space. Always with the space! How can we leave the theatre? How can we see the soccer field, the desert, the jungle, the bar... but really see it and not intellectually know where we are through dialogue, indication and explanations... but really go to there. Because that's what its all about. To really go there... into the imagined world.  Sometimes when it happens their faces light up like a brand new thought. ...It's what we all want, when we go to the theatre... To dream. To believe.

Tara reading the treasure map... where X marks the spot!

So the students have started bringing in short stories, fairytales and such that we will begin the very exciting process of transposing them for stage... Yay.

Tara, Me, Freya, Justin and Vika... watching the bird fly off with a precious piece of our gold!

This sequence of images (all taken by Stefano Borghi) is from our bande mimeé show... a troupe of mimes... telling our version of The Pirates of the Caribbean at Helikos International School of Theatre Creation... where it was all about play, rhythm, sound, crescendo, and of course, the space... Giovanni often said that it is your right to have fun on stage - and then it is your obligation.  And in Pirates... we had a whole load of fun.

And in the end... the young lovers find each other x
Sweet.