Devising Theatre and Performance

Curious Methods

Devising Theatre and Performance
Leslie Hill, Helen Paris
RRP:
NZ$ 83.99
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NZ$ 75.59
Paperback
h210 x 210mm - 168pg
10 Sep 2021 UK
International import eta 7-19 days
9781789384710
Out Of Stock
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A hands-on guide for artists, students, and teachers of devised theatre, at any stage of their practice. This book is packed with thoughtful exercises distilled from twenty-five years of interdisciplinary artist workshops and teaching devising and performance making at universities in the United States and the United Kingdom. Created and curated by Leslie Hill and Helen Paris, artists who work internationally at the interface of academia and professional practice, this collection provides exercises for devising, composing, and editing original works. The exercises are clear and accessible, enhanced with vivid examples from contemporary performance practice and relevant political contexts. Moreover, the authors offer tools for giving and receiving feedback, fostering critical reflection, and framing artistic work within academic research contexts. Hill and Paris' s compelling approach does more than merely provide performance recipes; it highlights the vital cultural relevance and potential personal impact of the creative explorations that the authors invite us to undertake.
' Curious' s methods are at once tender, lyrical, soul-stirring, and politically charged. To practise their methods with them is joyous and inspiring. ' -- Jen Harvie, Queen Mary University of London ' For the student/teacher/creator of performance practice, this work is a gift from the gods. The original gods - the muses - where creation takes shape from within the body and the body politic (the necessary "I" and "we" of it). If you imagine you don' t need this book, you especially need this book. The very reading of this text brings the reader' s body into being and we are suddenly prompted to get up and create in response. The best advice: "Start with a question. " This, the first step, in the journey of original work that Paris and Hill invite us to return to with every new day as artists and scholars; and, they have created a compelling cartography of design to guide us along the way. I am deeply grateful for their wisdom. ' -- Cherrie Moraga, University of California Santa Barbara ' A deep dive into creative practice, Curious Methods makes available a generative range of excellent ideas, prompts, exercises, and inspirations for bringing forth performance as research, as experience, as finely crafted art form, as surprise. Working with this book, whether alone or with others, will help harness the power of the impulsive and open doors marked non-linear to expand the boundaries of creative possibilities in as yet unimagined directions. This is an invitation to your own artistic journey! Pack light. Hill and Paris help you find what you need all along the way. ' -- Rebecca Schneider, Brown University ' This is an essential resource for both artists and scholars and I can' t think of anyone better placed to make this offering than Helen and Leslie and their incurably curious minds. ' -- Lois Weaver, Artist, Activist, Split Britches ' Curious Methods offers an invaluable resource that brings insights, at once practical and profound, into methods of performance making. The pragmatic wisdom that illumines this book is vital for anyone making creative work, from the beginner amateur to the seasoned professional. The thoughtful and meditative quality of these exercises will enrich not only your creative work, it will also attune you to glimmers of everyday redemption and enable you to cultivate a joyful ethic of practice. ' -- Jisha Menon, Stanford University ' This inspiring, energizing, and curiosity-inducing collection of exercises, lessons, and prompts will activate performance-based artists at all levels. Whether building a daily creative practice or making a performance, readers of Curious Methods will quickly become participants in Hill and Paris' generous and generative project. ' -- Stacy Wolf, Princeton University ' One of the most compelling aspects of the book is Hill and Paris' s offer of "companionship" - encouragement to test out, to dream, to fail spectacularly, to seek out and be receptive to deeply personal discoveries with these generous, vibrant, and compassionate artists. ' -- Laura Levin, York University, Toronto ' This beautifully executed and crafted book is the ideal companion for anyone working in the field of contemporary performance and theatre-making. This is a very generous offering of a resourceful and inventive toolbox from one of the most prominent performance duos working in Live Art. I can very easily imagine delving into it on a regular basis to feed my practical pedagogy as well as my own creative processes. ' -- Chloe Dechery, University of Paris 8, France ' What a gorgeously tasty, seductive, and inventive set of invitations to create new performance fill this remarkable book. The "curious methods" of Leslie Hill and Helen Paris help us follow our noses into the myth and memory that live loud in devised work. An invaluable user' s manual for being human!' -- Tim Miller, solo performer and author of A Body in the O
Leslie Hill is a Professor of Theatre and Performance Making at the University of Roehampton London and Artistic Director of Curious. She is interested in the intersections of theatre and Live Art with politics, activism and social justice movements. She is author of several books, including Sex, Suffrage and the Stage: First Wave Feminism in British Theatre which was published for the UK suffrage centenary in 2018 by Palgrave Macmillan. Helen Paris is an award winning artist and Artistic Director of Curious, a London-based performance company that has shown work in 17 countries. Paris is currently Artist in Residence at Canterbury Christ Church University. Paris has published widely, specializing in somatic and immersive work and interdisciplinary research through her collaborations with the biological and ecological sciences. Her debut novel, Lost Property, is published by Penguin Doubleday. Curious (https://www. curiousperformance. com) has produced over 50 innovative works for theatres and festivals including the London Cultural Olympiad, the Edinburgh Festival, Centre Pompidou and Sydney Opera House. Frequently edgy, often humorous and always authentic, Curious plough a furrow between theatre, live art, installation and research. Curious combine rigorous dramaturgy and community outreach with performance-making to create impactful work that has been called ' as smart as it is seductive' (Irish Times). Curious deliver an international programme of workshops and mentoring alongside award winning publications and research. Curious are produced by Artsadmin.
Status: Active
ISBN-13: 9781789384710
Published: 10 Sep 2021
Published In: United Kingdom
Imprint: Intellect Books
Publisher: Intellect Books
Format: Paperback
Height: 210mm
Width: 210mm
Pages: 168

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