Training

StoneCrabs training programmes are aimed at transferring theatre skills to others. Among these, we are committed to run an ongoing project, Young People’s Theatre Training Programme for young directors and actors. We also run a range of specialist workshops and international exchange activities.

Young Directors Programme

StoneCrabs is a director-led company: its interest in nurturing new directors from all sectors of the community fuels this programme. Each year a small number of new directors go through training programme centred around production, project management and theatre directing. It introduces artistic and practical management tools for the director and encourages an individual approach, utilizing the director's own vision.

At the end of the programme, the participants direct a play reading with professional actors in a play of their choice.

• 2010: The Albany, Lewisham
  Changing Direction - 20, 21 & 22 January 2010 A Festival of Staged Readings

  Directors:
  Joshua Azouz:
  Auto Da Fe by Tennessee Williams

  Hammaad Chaudry:
  Drunk Enough to Say I Love You by Caryl Churchill

  Alex Crampton:
  The Chalky White Substance by Tennessee Williams

  Roisin Feeny:
  Pool (No Water) by Mark Ravenhill

  Rikki Henry:
  Woza Albert by Percy Mtwa, Mbongeni Ngema and Barney Simon

  Christopher O'Donnell:
  Catherine Medbh by Declan Feenan

  Kola Oluwole:
  Michael X by Vanessa Walters

  Tanja Pagnuco:
  Contractions by Mike Bartlett

  

• 2008/09: The Albany, Lewisham
  The Makers of Theatre Festival – 11, 12 & 13 December 2008 11 Artists. 9 Staged Readings. 3 Nights. 1 Theatre Festival

  Directors
  Lucy Dear:
  The Lesson by Ionesco

  Victor Esses:
  Fat Men In Skirts by Nicky Silver

  Zee Faloon:
  Through the Leaves by Franz Xaver Kroetz

  Sandra Maturana:
  Love of Don Perlimplin by F G Lorca

  Erica Miller:
  Echoes by N Richard Nash

  Meziem Ndukwe:
  Danny and The Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley

  Natasha Nixon:
  The Public Eye by Peter Schaffer

  Emma Playford:
  Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre

  Leigh Tredger:
  Faust is Dead by Mark Ravenhill

  Danusia Paluch: Actor
  Ed Savyll: Technical support

  

• 00:13:00 – 10 & 11 March 2009
  Devised and adapted from tales, novels, poetry and personal stories…
  13-minute bite sized, bold, innovative, humorous, hallucinatory performance pieces weaved into one explosive theatre experience.

  Lucy Dear:
  Last thirteen minutes of your life by Rachel Barnett

  Victor Esses:
  Treatment & And Again, Devised by Victor Essess

  Sandra Maturana:
  O; adaptation of Salome, Adapted by Sandra Maturana

  Erica Miller:
  AA Meeting Gone Wrong/Looking in the Wrong Places by Erica Miller

  Meziem Ndukwe:
  Waiting for the number 36 by Meziem Ndukwe

  Natasha Nixon:
  Pre-occupation by Natasha Nixon

  Danusia Paluch:
  Alice in Wonder-less land by Franca Rama and Dario Fo and adapted by Danusia Paluch

  Emma Playford:
  Parklife by Emma Playford

  Leigh Tredger:
  Modern life is rubbish by Wally Jiagoo

  Ed Savyll: Technical support
  Zee Faloon: Actor

  

• 2007: The Albany, Lewisham
  Directors –
  

  Sophie Bradey: An Oak Tree by Tim Crouch
  

  Yarit Dor: GBS by Jason Hall
  

  Beno Hill: The Room by Paul Brennen
  

  Tomoko Kawamura: Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter
  

  Zubia Masood: Dutchman by Amiri Baraka
  

  Darren Raymond: Prison Wings by Indie Louise Arrna
  

  Gemma Rowan: That Time and Play by Samuel Becket

  

• 2006: The Brockley Jack, Lewisham
  Directors –
  

  Bola Agbaje: Top dog/ Under dog by Susan-Lori Parks
  

  Abdul Ali: A Gaggle of Saints by Neil Labute
  

  Gael Le Cornec: Outlying Islands by David Greig
  

  Tamsin Curno: The Lover by Harold Pinter
  

  Richard Cussands: The Decorator by Donald Churchill
  

  Simon Magnus: White Plague by Karel Capek
  

  Paula Siu: The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco

  

Workshops

• Boal - A practical workshop exploring techniques that enable participants to discover and share the universe of the legendary Brazilian theatre practitioner, Augusto Boal, and his ground-breaking ‘Theatre of Images’ and ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. The workshop includes games, techniques, and improvisation, according to Boal’s theories, followed by group discussion. It is led by the celebrated Brazilian performer and specialist in community theatre, Tereza Araujo who has worked with Boal in her home city of Salvador in Brazil.

• Body & Soul - The Body and the Soul, the Object and the Language, a workshop for actors and performers looking to explore the work of Tadeusz Kantor and Brazilian Indigenous Rituals. – Led by StoneCrabs joint artistic Director Franko Figueiredo.

• Mask - The practicalities of working with and in a mask so that it enhances rather than restricts the performance. The workshop will take participants through these practicalities, thereby enhancing their expressive vocabulary, and explore different types and styles of masked performance. – Led by StoneCrabs artistic directors – Franko Figueiredo & Kwong Loke.

• Playing the Greeks - A practical workshop exploring The Trojan Women and the Oresteia Trilogy. The workshop aims to develop the actor’s instrument to work with heightened text, find the physical and vocal centres, and de-mystify the aura of the invention of Western drama. Games, voice and movement exercises, and textual analysis are employed in looking at Chorus work, main character speeches and the plays’ structures. In a relaxed way, we will build an ensemble from the group to work on voice for the text, movement and physicality for characters, and discover our own relevant, contemporary ways of ‘playing’ this ancient form of drama. We will do floor work on scenes to discover and explore the above – Led by StoneCrabs joint artistic director Kwong Loke

• Suzuki Method - with Ichiro Nakayama
  The Suzuki Method of Actor Training was developed by Tadashi Suzuki, Artistic Director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT). This technique has gained a broad following in professional theatre circles including the Royal Shakespeare Company, among many. The Suzuki Method develops the actor's inner physical sensibilities, and builds the will, stamina and concentration.
  
  The workshop activities include a series of exercises focusing on the use of the feet in relation to one's centre. These exercises are designed to throw the body off centre while maintaining a consistent level of energy and not swaying the upper body. The training involves precise physical discipline to bring a heightened awareness and emotional and physical commitment to each moment on stage. The Suzuki Method is designed to gain expressive perspective and abilities, and to explore the power of the human body in the theatrical context.
  
  Ichiro Nakayama has worked with Tadashi Suzuki for ten years and taken major roles in the repertoire of SCOT (the Suzuki Company of Toga). He has also been teaching the Suzuki Method in Japan and abroad.