Spotlight on... Collaborative Theatre Making
“Celebrating the individual within the ensemble and the practice of We over I” – “collaborate”; the fourth and final and arguably most important of Fourth Monkey’s Pillars of Training, with the power of the group dynamic at the heart of our ethos across our accredited training courses, audition days and Participation offers for young people, and our professional touring arm, Fourth Monkey Ensemble.
As we prepare to welcome the next cohort of postgraduate artists and makers in January as they begin training on the MA Collaborative Theatre, we are shining a spotlight on collaborative theatre making and the role this practice plays for all Fourth Monkey actors and artists-in-training across our undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as sharing examples of recent work created collaboratively by students and graduates.
“The importance of an ensemble and what it can bring to your performance is something that I’ll never overlook again” – Milo, BA (Hons) student
From exploring interactive group exercises during workshops and audition days, to creating bold, innovative new work as actors and artists-in-training, working collaboratively and the principles of “ensemble” are at the heart of Fourth Monkey’s drama school training – through this ensemble work, students are encouraged to become “makers” and artists capable of building their own opportunities and working with likeminded creatives to explore new ideas and celebrate diverse stories and voices.
Across all training courses, undergraduate and postgraduate alike, there are numerous opportunities to delve into what it means to work collaboratively and to bring together performers and artists with diverse skillsets under guidance from experienced practitioners and tutors, many of whom are established theatre makers with thriving professional collaborative theatre companies of their own.
It is this emphasis on making original work and drawing on the collective powers of an ensemble throughout training that sees many Fourth Monkey graduates go on to form collaborative theatre companies after graduating, often working with members of their cohort to develop and evolve pieces that first came to life as projects and pitches during their training together or drawing on the creative practices and disciplines they were introduced to during their training, such as Clowning, puppetry, or movement and physical theatre.
Delving into collaborative approaches to theatre making and performance is kickstarted during undergraduate training, with students being encouraging to consider what it means to be a “maker” as well as an actor and to think about how they can draw on the collective talents and strengths of those around you, as well as the various skills, disciplines and practices included within the training curriculum, to reflect the influences that have inspired you and showcase the ability to create new original work.
Key within these opportunities for undergraduate students to flex their creative muscles and experiment with collaborative theatre making is the Experimental Performance Project which BA Acting students take part in during their final year of training. This project is a chance for students to create a short “work-in-progress” piece exploring a theme or idea which they feel has the potential to be developed into a full-length performance, including creating a “pitch” for the piece complete with accompanying artwork and marketing copy to provide an insight into the work they have created for audiences and potential venue programmers alike.
Working collaboratively in small groups with their peers, there is also an opportunity for anyone who wishes to try their hand as a writer, director, stage manager and creative theatre maker as well as an actor to see how these functions suit their skills and interests, and many of these short scratch pieces find life as debut professional productions from Monkey alumni theatre companies. In short, it is a first taste of what to expect from professional collaborative theatre making and working closely with other creatives on a tight deadline to make an idea reality.
Of the Experimental Performance Project and how this challenge helped them start working collaboratively to create their own work, the team behind graduate theatre company, Themis Theatre, said: “the process gave us hands-on experience in how to run a rehearsal room, plan a production schedule and how to work with a constantly changing script.”
Previous pieces of collaborative theatre making which started life as Experimental Performance Projects at Fourth Monkey have since gone on to appear at VAULT Festival, have been performed at Soho Theatre, and received ACE funding to help them evolve and develop further as professional work.
Launched in 2022 and entering its second academic cycle for January 2023 entry, Fourth Monkey’s postgraduate degree the MA Collaborative Theatre is designed to provide early-career artists and recent graduates from a variety of creative arts backgrounds with an opportunity to interrogate, re-frame and challenge their existing artistic practice, expanding and evolving their creative portfolio and bringing them together with likeminded creatives in the process.
From the audition process onwards, postgraduate training with Fourth Monkey places a firm focus on exploring theatre making processes as an ensemble, using the techniques and disciplines introduced by visiting practitioners to inspire their own creativity along the way.
Working around the structure of a year-long Research & Development project, artists training on the MA Collaborative Theatre are encouraged to come together to form a fledging theatre company to allow them to share ideas, drawing on each other’s different creative strengths and interests to expand their creative boundaries and dive into myriad different ways of making professional theatre as an ensemble.
On exploring and challenging collaborative artistic practices whilst working alongside a diverse variety of practitioners, theatre companies and artists, MA Class of 2022 graduate Steven advises prospective postgraduate students: “get prepared to widen your boundaries and be open to a lot of ideas”. From movement and choreography to Japanese Noh Theatre, and from the Peter Brook Ensemble to the Berliner Ensemble, there are plenty of opportunities for postgraduate students to play and experiment with what makes them tick as artists, what inspires them in their creativity and how they can make their own work with other makers by drawing on these ideas and influences.
Much like the undergraduate experience, throughout the postgraduate training journey there are opportunities for artists and makers to flex their creative muscles through scratch night performances at pub theatre venues and internal sharing sessions with their cohort. These opportunities are integral to exploring collaborative theatre making – allowing students to test their ideas, hone their work and decide what type of theatre they want to create as an ensemble. One such project saw 2022 MA graduates sharing an evening of works-in-progress at the Blue Elephant Theatre in South East London, giving them an opportunity to explore new ideas in front of an audience to see how they responded and reacted to the work they had created.
As Harriet, an MA graduate, explains about these opportunities to explore and experiment with new ideas: “you’re encouraged to make mistakes and to play. As a result, I’ve tapped into parts I didn’t know I had by being able to collaborate in a really intimate space.”
Postgraduate students training as part of Fourth Monkey’s inaugural MA Collaborative Theatre were also given opportunities to assist the professional directors working with our BA (Hons) Acting cohort during their Contemporary and Classical production seasons. This offer reflects the core ethos of postgraduate training at Fourth Monkey of supporting students in building sustainable careers in the creative arts industry, by giving them a chance to learn from experienced directors and stage managers about how to manage the rehearsal process as well as how to support and encourage a team of performer.
Working as a full company ensemble or in smaller groups, postgraduate students devise and develop an original piece of theatre inspired by their training on the MA Collaborative Theatre as well as by their own practice as an artist and maker to be shared at professional performance settings across the UK and in Fourth Monkey’s dedicated theatre space.
An entirely student-led and student-developed process, from creating promotional materials to inviting venue programmers and other creative arts professionals to attend performances and get a feel for the work being created by Fourth Monkey’s theatre makers and artists, collaboration is at the heart of this Final Project.
Students are encouraged to draw on each other’s strengths and specific areas of interest to ensure the smooth running of the Functioning Company, such as nominating someone to manage marketing and promotion (for example, running dedicated social media channels to share ticket sales announcements or liaising with industry members to reserve complimentary tickets), collaboratively creating visuals and artwork that reflect the ensemble and their work as a whole, and supporting with the more practical and logistical aspects of theatre making such as ensuring props and costumes are transported to and from performance venues, supplying host venues with sufficient promotional materials and helping with get in and get out before and after each performance. In short, it reflects what it means to work holistically as an ensemble – collaborating to make the practical aspects of creating and sharing work run as smoothly as the performance itself on stage, as well as empowering artists who are confident in creating sustainable careers and their own opportunities within the creative arts industry.
As Fourth Monkey prepare to welcome the next generation of postgraduate artists into our student community for January 2023, and as our undergraduate Acting cohorts continue to explore and evolve as performers also capable of devising unique work as an ensemble of artists, we are excited to see what the future of collaborative theatre making here at The Monkey House has to offer.
A unique, industry-bridging training course, the MA Collaborative Theatre is designed to create and launch industry- ready, interdisciplinary collaborators who are knowledgeable, trailblazing and entrepreneurial, and capable of building a sustainable career in the creative arts.
To learn more about Fourth Monkey’s postgraduate applications and interview process, and to submit an application for one of the final remaining places to train on the MA Collaborative Theatre for January 2023 entry, click the button below.
