"Life is a theatre set in which there are but few practicable entrances." - Victor Hugo
On Thursday the 6th of November 2025, we were invited to a workshop at The National Theatre to watch Robert Hastie's modern adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. The play is an amalgamation of the three versions of Hamlet as well as having lines from other Shakespearian plays mixed in here and there. It was cut down from four hours to around two. ...
Thanks Herman
Katie Mitchell is a devising practitioner who at heart is a feminist. Her work focuses on the female experience and normally are adaptations of modern texts by radical female writers (such as Alice Birch and Sarah Cane), old novels or traditional male texts which are re-centred to marginalised female characters.
Kneehigh Theatre was founded by teacher Mike Shepherd (b1953) in Cornwall in 1980. The first phase of Kneehigh's development commenced with theatre workshops run in Shepherd's spare time. These workshops were a collaboration with an eclectic group of individuals – including students, a farmer, a sign writer, a thrash guitarist and an electrician –...
Complicité is an international touring theatre company. Founded in 1983 by Annabel Arden, Fiona Gordon, Marcello Magni and Simon McBurney, the company is now led by Artistic Director Simon McBurney OBE with Executive Director Susie Newbery and Senior Creative Producer Tim Bell. Between 1993 and 2018 all of the company's work was produced by Judith...
Paperbirds are an entirely female British theatre company with a social and political agenda. "We are recognised as UK leaders in devised verbatim theatre".
When using Paperbirds as your devising practitioner there are 5 key non negotiables:
Yerma by Stone, Simon (Author) and Lorca, Federico Garcia (Original Author) 2017.
Frantic Assembly was founded in 1994 by Scott Graham, Steven Hoggett and Vicki Middleton. These three were students at Swansea University. One day they were suddenly inspired to start their own theatre company. They were English and Geography graduates and as such they had no experience in the field but were "willing to learn and devoured any...
Short Summary:
Theatre of absurd (absurd theatre) was a theatrical movement that emerged from around 1940s-1960s after WW2. After the horrifying period of war many people were left feeling empty and meaningless. This feeling of meaninglessness is covered in existentialism/ nihilism.
On the 7th of December 2024, The Skinners' School was chosen to attend an A-level theatre conference, along with many other schools, where we met the director Alexander Zeldin, we learnt about his motives behind the play and why Greek theatre is still relevant to the modern day. The Other Place was a thrilling experience with scenes ranging from...