The Cockpit Announces Theatre Maker: Classes Workshops And Seminars On Devising And Making Motivated Theatre

The Cockpit Theatre announces the launch of Theatre Maker; a Theatre-Making hub which will centre around classes, workshops, drop-ins, scratch nights and showcases designed to specifically help people make their own work.

The Theatre Maker launch will take place on 18th February 2018 from 10am.

Theatre Maker brings new classes together with affordable space hire, showcase opportunities and meet-ups in a scheme designed to appeal particularly to those wanting to create their own work, in their own way, for the audience they choose; to say what they want to say. All are designed to be affordable and easy to work around commitments with prices for the six week classes from £80.

Dave Wybrow, Artistic Director of the Cockpit, title explains - "What we most excited about doing, is supporting what we've termed "Motivated Theatre" which generally means work that can only be made by the people making it, often characterised by any or all of the following:

• Those involved take total control of all aspects of a collaborative creative work and bear all the risks. There are no absent stake-holders controlling the boundaries of what can happen on stage, no prior decisions taken by rights-holders elsewhere.
• The work is about creating more than interpreting and often features the presence of creators/devisors as performers/participators. Often from fields beyond theatre.
• The work is the product of a shared artistic vision or an effort to evolve one, where the audience is aware of a unique personal or group style.
• The work is driven by the real-life concerns or experiences of the people making it, as well as their energy and abilities as participators.
• Creative roles - often including technical roles - are dispersed throughout the company rather than contained within a strict creative or production hierarchy."

In keeping with this focus, Theatre Maker opportunities are less about learning audition technique or about how to serve someone else's vision; more about developing ideas, on your own or with others, and the production methods, skill sets and confidence to see them through. For the most promising, the Cockpit will then support the work as it evolves - right the way through to a fully fledged production. Theatre Maker will be the umbrella for shows the Cockpit helps on their way.

Theatre Maker will offer short courses and classes aimed at getting work on stage, with tutors to advise, teach, develop, and support throughout the process. Classes will be designed to help arm participants with creative and practical techniques. Classes will run weekly for five to six weeks, and workshops will generally be one off, usually a full day, or a weekend that focuses, on useful, and specific skills. In addition there will be talks & Q&A sessions focusing on knowledge and practical skills needed to take a show into production.

COURSE SUBJECTS:

• Create your own One Person Show - Making a one person show from scratch.
• From Theatre Maker to Film Maker
• Making Theatre Using Visual & Physical Techniques
• Making Theatre With Improvisation
• Making Theatre With Storytelling
• Making Theatre From Scratch - Devising from nothing
• Making Theatre As an Entrepreneurial Artist - understanding business basics and how to market yourself

Workshop subjects:

• Lighting A Show
• Making a Film In A Day

Talks & Q&As:

• Pitching a Show
• Producing On the London Fringe
• Making the Best Use Of A Tech Rehearsal
• Copy, Design, Promotion & Marketing

Theatre Maker aims to go beyond teaching, to provide its members with opportunities to share ideas, scripts, and performance snippets with an audience.

Theatre Maker class participants are automatic eligible to showcase their creations in class via The Cockpit's THEATRE IN THE POUND. This popular monthly scratch night in the main space gives performers a 15 minute slot to show an audience their work. This can be any style of performance, at any stage of development, and is followed by an informal, constructive feedback and Q&A session. No artists policy. Anything legal considered

Theatre Maker participants are also encouraged to take part in NEW STUFF NIGHT, the Cockpit's monthly rehearsed readings. This intimate night give writers of all genres a chance to hear their work in front of a small audience and welcomes any style of writing, at any stage of development, with whoever you choose to read it. This is also followed by an informal, constructive feedback and Q&A session.

And lastly all Theatre Makers are invited to DROP IN - a special Happy Hour for Theatre Makers from 6pm in the theatre bar every Wednesday

In 2014 The Cockpit, having previously primarily operated as a hire space, lead by director Dave Wybrow rebranded as The Cockpit: Theatre Of Ideas & Disruptive Panache - with a core goal of working to reinvent the Radical Fringe. Dysfunctional times need fully-functioning theatre with things to say, embracing the avant-garde, Experimental fusions and Agitprop theatre. Central to this is The Cockpit's development of a programming strand called Theatre of Ideas; a collaborative programme with commissions and events designed to nurture debate and risky new work. The aim is to reinvent the London fringe tradition of home-grown provocative theatre with eclectic style and socio-political edge by encouraging ensemble style working among theatre-makers with things to say. So far the project has commissioned a response to the Blair years by five London writers; Blair's Children; has hosted the premier of the Offies nominated Streets The Musical dealing with the London riots and has worked with Wildspark Theatre to present The Bombing Of The Grand Hotel, a play recalling the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher and dealing with political violence and the relationship between its institutional and personal stakeholders. Most recently the Cockpit co-produced Cosmic Trigger - Daisy Campbell's sequel to her father, Ken Campbell's staging of Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus!

The programme also involves continual hosting of debates and discursive events, such as From Babylon To The Edgware Road , investigating what events in the middle east and elsewhere mean for London through to "Economics Burlesque; The faded beauty of Economics undraped and close-up for those no longer beguiled by the old routines. The Venue is owned and supported by United Colleges Group (formerly The College of North West London and City of Westminster College)

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