Exploring the Performer´s Craft
The workshop will focus on actor-training techniques.
A number of exercises will be transmitted with the aim of equipping participants with skills and tools that are essential to the craft of theatre. These exercises are aimed at enhancing physical flexibility, flow of energy, attention, interaction, and sensitivity to tempo and rhythm.
This work will also serve as a basis for improvisatory skills within a disciplined structure as well as a springboard for vocal and song sessions. Vocal and song techniques (such as text articulation, voice projection, rhythm) will be transmitted within the parameters of the work on intentions and physical actions. The workshop will include various demonstrations of work.
Frank Camilleri
is Artistic Director of Icarus Performance Project (Malta) and Coordinator of the Theatre Studies Programme at the University of Malta .
He has worked with John Schranz, first as part of Teatru tal-Bniedem (1989-1993) and then as main research collaborator within Groups for Human Encounter (1994-2003). Camilleri has also worked with Ingemar Lindh (Etienne Decroux student and Eugenio Barba collaborator), Toni Cots (former Odin Teatret), Jolanta Cynkutis (collaborator of Zbigniew Cynkutis of Jerzy Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory). He has performed under the Polish director Lechek Raczak (former Osmegio Dnia - Eighth Day theatre) in La Vita di S. Giovanni (Urbino, 1994) and La Pietra e il Dolore (Urbino, 1996).
In 2001 Camilleri founded Icarus Performance Project (Malta).
In the course of his activity in theatre Camilleri developed a way of relating to the work of the actor based on a study of elaboration of acrobatics, plastic exercises, martial arts, dance, and mime. He has also developed a vocal training regimen which evolved from the work on physical actions. Camilleri has performed, delivered workshops, given papers and demonstrations in various European contexts since 1994.
Icarus Performance Project (Malta) is an ongoing research project that focuses on the craft of the performer's work. Initiated in 2001, the Project follows an evolving construction process of technical and performance structures aimed at localising and engendering the performative condition.
Lamentations of Cain Project (2001-2005)
The first Icarus performance project led to the creation of Lamentations of Cain – A Vocal Structure (2005). The Cain Project evolved over three phases.
The First Phase, entitled ‘The Roots of Performing (2001-2003)', was marked by the presentations of the solo pieces Amargo – The Tragedy of the Man Doomed to Die (2002-2003) and ICARUS 4 (June 2003).
The Second Phase, ‘Performative – Improvisational – Structural (2003-2004)', was characterised by the crystallisation of two branches within the Project. Whilst Tekhne Sessions explored the performative condition within the fluid space between technique and performance structures, the presentations of TWO, TWO.2, and Amargo TWO did so within the parameters of an evolving dramaturgical structure.
The Third Phase, ‘Dramaturgy of Action (2004-2005)', explored the possibilities of a shared dramaturgy by building on the construction of individual dramaturgies in the First Phase and on the dramaturgy of textures and dynamics which informed the montage of individual dramaturgies in the Second Phase. This research led to the presentation of Lamentations of Cain.
La Reina Project (2006 - )
In 2006 Icarus Project launched a new performance project. Taking its cue from the previous project's point of arrival, the Project devised a vocal structure as its point of departure for the new work. La Reina, Spanish for ‘The Queen', is inspired by Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote. Material from Cervantes's work was fused with material from other literary sources (mainly Pablo Neruda) to provide a base for a dramaturgy that seeks to explore the carnivalesque. La Reina taps Maltese and Mediterranean sources in terms of sound patterns and vocal textures by way of traditional songs as well as multi-tiered linguistic configurations. The Project's work builds on the vocal qualities of the Maltese language that were explored in Lamentations of Cain (2005).
He has worked with John Schranz, first as part of Teatru tal-Bniedem (1989-1993) and then as main research collaborator within Groups for Human Encounter (1994-2003). Camilleri has also worked with Ingemar Lindh (Etienne Decroux student and Eugenio Barba collaborator), Toni Cots (former Odin Teatret), Jolanta Cynkutis (collaborator of Zbigniew Cynkutis of Jerzy Grotowski's Theatre Laboratory). He has performed under the Polish director Lechek Raczak (former Osmegio Dnia - Eighth Day theatre) in La Vita di S. Giovanni (Urbino, 1994) and La Pietra e il Dolore (Urbino, 1996).
In 2001 Camilleri founded Icarus Performance Project (Malta).
In the course of his activity in theatre Camilleri developed a way of relating to the work of the actor based on a study of elaboration of acrobatics, plastic exercises, martial arts, dance, and mime. He has also developed a vocal training regimen which evolved from the work on physical actions. Camilleri has performed, delivered workshops, given papers and demonstrations in various European contexts since 1994.
Icarus Performance Project (Malta) is an ongoing research project that focuses on the craft of the performer's work. Initiated in 2001, the Project follows an evolving construction process of technical and performance structures aimed at localising and engendering the performative condition.
Lamentations of Cain Project (2001-2005)
The first Icarus performance project led to the creation of Lamentations of Cain – A Vocal Structure (2005). The Cain Project evolved over three phases.
The First Phase, entitled ‘The Roots of Performing (2001-2003)', was marked by the presentations of the solo pieces Amargo – The Tragedy of the Man Doomed to Die (2002-2003) and ICARUS 4 (June 2003).
The Second Phase, ‘Performative – Improvisational – Structural (2003-2004)', was characterised by the crystallisation of two branches within the Project. Whilst Tekhne Sessions explored the performative condition within the fluid space between technique and performance structures, the presentations of TWO, TWO.2, and Amargo TWO did so within the parameters of an evolving dramaturgical structure.
The Third Phase, ‘Dramaturgy of Action (2004-2005)', explored the possibilities of a shared dramaturgy by building on the construction of individual dramaturgies in the First Phase and on the dramaturgy of textures and dynamics which informed the montage of individual dramaturgies in the Second Phase. This research led to the presentation of Lamentations of Cain.
La Reina Project (2006 - )
In 2006 Icarus Project launched a new performance project. Taking its cue from the previous project's point of arrival, the Project devised a vocal structure as its point of departure for the new work. La Reina, Spanish for ‘The Queen', is inspired by Cervantes' masterpiece Don Quixote. Material from Cervantes's work was fused with material from other literary sources (mainly Pablo Neruda) to provide a base for a dramaturgy that seeks to explore the carnivalesque. La Reina taps Maltese and Mediterranean sources in terms of sound patterns and vocal textures by way of traditional songs as well as multi-tiered linguistic configurations. The Project's work builds on the vocal qualities of the Maltese language that were explored in Lamentations of Cain (2005).