Admiration Theatre Company has just announced a sparky new education project. Tower Hamlet is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and no prizes for guessing which London Borough it’s set in.
The ambitious project uses five methods — Traditional British, Stanislavski, Lecoq, Mime, Grotowski — with lots of connected workshops for local community, youth and schools in the Borough. It will culminate in a performance at The Brady Arts Centre in Victoria Park in June next year, following the company’s production of Romeo and Juliet (pictured) at Docklands on the Isle of Dogs this year.
Five small groups of experienced actors - one group for each tradition - will each be given four scenes from Shakespeare’s play to create in their tradition, but also with a brief to be mindful of local history and geography.
The purpose is public education. Admiration Theatre, clearly not short of missionary zeal, wants to bring to the British public a greater awareness of theatre as an art form with different traditions. Just as visual art has expressionism and conceptual art and music has Baroque and folk, so theatre, of course, also comes in different styles. What, for instance, is traditional British theatre and how can it be defined? “It is important that our own traditions are not forgotten when considering global influences,” says Admiration Theatre’s Artistic Director, John Seaforth.
Stanislavksi is “the greatest single influence on theatre training of all time,” according to Seaforth, and Lecoq — that popular alternative to naturalistic theatre — has to be there because the tradition is widely known in London and for adaptations of Shakespeare.
And why mime? “It is underrated in Britain,” argues Seaforth. “In France mime is seen by some as the ultimate theatre form, with all potential expression and creativity originating from the human form.” And the project includes the radical innovator Grotowski because, from the 1960s onwards, for many in theatre he signalled a change in theatre, from acting as ‘representation’ to acting as ‘being’.
“We believe that putting these five Methods together in one production is the best way to create for the audience a public debate on theatre as an art form,” says Seaforth, telling me that the first workshops will start next month.
And what was that about local history and geography? “The production team and actors will research the cultural history of the borough and all the different kinds of locations in Tower Hamlets,” Seaforth explains. “This will then affect the choices made, regarding where scenes are set, how the characters behave, how they talk, what the piece is about, etc. For example, a scene might be set in the docks in the 1930s.”
Meanwhile the company is in the process of searching for more cultural partners to work with it on Tower Hamlet. Equity (North and East London branch) and The Mercers Charitable Foundation are already on board. And the Borough of Tower Hamlets will almost certainly be involved.
Meanwhile some rehearsals will be open to the public. There will be classes at the Brady Arts Centre for the community and for actors. A schools programme will bring this imaginative project to the Borough’s schools before, during and after the production and open days, when the public can meet the creators of this work, are planned.
Want to take part? Email towerhamlet@admirationtheatre.co.uk,
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