From scratch to performance: looking for the bond between writers and performers
Total hours: 30h
Contact: obrador@salabeckett.cat
Anthony Nielson, one of the most experimental and innovative playwrights in today’s theatre scene in the UK, will share his creative process based on working with actors.
In the UK, the standard practice is for playwrights to write, over several months, in isolation and then for that finished play to be cast and produced. But for over 25 years, writer/director Anthony Neilson has been creating plays from scratch in the rehearsal room and tailoring them to the skills and personalities of the actors involved. In this workshop, over five days, Neilson will take writers through this process, from blank page to finished pieces for performance. The workshop will seek to illuminate the special bond between writers and performers and show how a short and intense process can free the imagination rather than limit it. As a sidebar, there will also be an emphasis on formal innovation and how narrative structures might evolve in the internet age.
Writers attending these workshops should be prepared to spend their evenings working.
The workshop will be particularly useful to those who also have ambitions to (or already do) direct their own work.
Within the GREC 2017 Festival of Barcelona.
Anthony Neilson is a Scottish playwright and director known for his collaborative way of writing. His work is characterized by the exploration of sex and violence. Though often considered a pioneer of In-yer-face theatre, he has stated that he has “never liked the term because it implies an attempt to repel the audience, which was never my aim”. Instead, he prefers his work to be categorised as “experimental theatre”.
As his writing involves collaborations, he has a massive directorial role in the creation of his plays, but in 2007 he was credited as director of his play God in Ruins at the Soho Theatre. At the RSC he directed the world premiere of The Drunks by the Durnenkov Brothers in 2009. In 2010 he directed Caledonia by Alistair Beaton at the Edinburgh Festival.
His other plays include Welfare My Lovely (1990), Normal (1991), Penetrator (1993), The Year of the Family (1994), The Censor (1997), Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness (2002), The Lying Kind (2002), The Wonderful World of Dissocia (2004), Realism (2006), Relocated (2008), The Seance (2009), Stitching (2009), Get Santa! (2010), Sixty Six (2011), Narrative (2013) and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (2016), among others.
He was also writer of the popular BBC series Spooks.
Admission to the course will be based on order of arrival and CV assessment, which should be sent (with photograph included), filling in the form on the right.
Places on courses are limited. Places will be reserved once the course amount has been paid. Payment must be made within one week of receiving the corresponding acceptance email.
The dates indicated for each course or seminar may be subject to variations in exceptional circumstances. These will be notified when applicable.
For the course to take place, a minimum number of students must be registered. If this number is not reached, the course will be cancelled and the student will have the option of registering for a different course (providing that there are places available) or alternatively will receive a refund of the amount paid (100%). If a student withdraws, a refund of 75% of the registration fee will be applicable, providing that written notice is given at least 10 days before the start of the course.