Summer School with Wildworks: Landscape Theatre
LANDSCAPE THEATRE WORKSHOP
Wildworks
Sat 14 and Sun 15 Sept 2019
101 Outdoor Arts Creation Space
A two-day residential Landscape Theatre workshop held in September 2019 with Cornwall-based company Wildworks, internationally renowned for their special approach to working with communities.
In this creative lab, Wildworks focused on how they work with people to draw out stories and then weave these into the creative process.
This was a thrilling opportunity to partner with one of the UK’s most established site-specific theatre companies, offering outdoor artists from a range of disciplines a practical, hands-on immersive journey into the working processes and devising techniques of Wildworks.
Wildworks are known for creating conversations with communities, sharing experiences and making new narratives – in settings from clifftops to car parks, from refugee camps to castles.
Wildworks were resident at 101 from 6th to 13th September 2019 undertaking research and development for their next show, and this creative lab followed directly on from this. They also offered four local artists the chance to be part of their r &d process, which proved a fantastic opportunity for the participants.
The Lab was led by Wildworks associate artists Mercedes Kemp and Mydd Pharo (who is now the artistic director of Wildworks).
The participants included practitioners from circus, dance, drama, and visual arts, whose experiences ranged from many years as a practising artist to younger early career artists. Wildworks were impressed with what had been achieved in the time available.
“A robust and brave group of people who threw all trust into their hands and created good experiences in their weekend.”
Wildworks Facilitators
“We love 101! It’s rare to get the opportunity to build a community where people can be accommodated and eat and drink together, sit by a fire, talk through what they’ve learnt. The cost of making work outdoors is so expensive – it’s vital to have a place you can go to, particularly in the early days of exploring ideas before you get the funding.”
Wildworks
The participants appreciated the creative focus and supportive environment that this lab offered, which allowed them to take risks and to learn new approaches to take on in their practice.
Here is some of their feedback:
“A safe place to experiment and explore”
“Brilliant open working environment.”
“(Learning) the importance of familiarising yourself with a landscape … not just the physical landscape but the emotional landscape, the social context.”
