Biodiversity in Leipzig inspires an uplifting weekend workshop.
Following the first AnthropoScene Science-Theatre lab back in May 2023, ETL brought it back to life this October with 15 new participants, taking on the task of creating and performing theatre inspired and informed by scientific research and concepts.
Led by Josiane Segar, Letizia Rivera and Sam Kioni Roberts, the workshop participants came from a mix of backgrounds: some being well-versed in scientific thinking, some having prior knowledge of theatre-making (including ETL’s visiting friends from Brighton People’s Theatre as part of our Cultural Bridge exchange), and some who simply found the concept of the workshop to be an exciting one. The workshop facilitators were delighted to welcome a group with such diversity of knowledge and passions to the 48-hour theatre-lab. The first day began with some theatre-games to let people get to know one another and to get used to the idea of being relaxed and creative in the theatre space. These included passing energy around the circle and pretending to be squirrels in trees, if you can believe it. After everyone had a chance to introduce themselves properly, Josiane began a section where the participants would gather information about biodiversity in the Leipzig area, threats to the environment and ecology, and methods of protecting against these threats. There was a lot of information to digest, and it was lovely to see the amount of optimism in the room, despite some of the daunting, hard-hitting facts that had to be faced.
After lunch, the participants began to look at how to use the facts and ideas they had learned about to begin to formulate narratives to work on for the rest of the theatre lab. Sam and Letizia gave some guidance on story structure and creating a compelling narrative. In four smaller groups, the participants began brainstorming science-informed storylines for the performative pitches that they would be developing and performing the next day, namely the main ‘product’ of the weekend.
Day 2 began with some more warm-up games and some exercises which formed a crash-course in performative strategies that could be employed during the pitches. These included a focus on diaphragmatic breathing, vocal exercises and projection, exaggerated movement, creating tableaux based on simple storylines, using subtitles and music to enhance action and a puppetry activity based around speaking in gibberish and using silly voices, which everyone found hilarious. These exercises were all pertinent to the specific theatre / performance genres the facilitators had chosen to offer to the groups to help inform their performative pitches. These included: Tanztheater, Puppet Theatre, Greek Tragedy, Silent Movies, Theatre Tableau and Melodrama. The specific styles had been kept a secret from the participants until this point so as not to affect their creative processes too much.
The four smaller groups chose the style they wanted to use to inform their pitches, and the rest of the day was spent planning for the sharing of the pitch presentations which would happen in front of an audience consisting of the participants themselves, the facilitators, and guests from among the ETL membership. After an afternoon of planning and rehearsal, four marvellous pitches were presented, ranging from a Greek tragedy depicting how misunderstandings between wolves and humans led to violence, a melodramatic sitcom that focused on a Beaver and a Peregrine Falcon being evicted from their shared flat by a greedy human landlord, a silent film accompanied by music that showed how creatures, from the very small to the very familiar exist in symbiosis with one another, and finally a dance theatre spectacular showing how a bickering Beaver and Turtle must learn to co-exist in a world where humans can come and kidnap one of them to make a pet of them.
The facilitators were all extremely proud of what the groups had managed to achieve in such a short time, proving that there is no subject matter that cannot be explored through the lens of a theatre performance. AnthropoScene once again showed how effective it can be to bring together two
Some feedback we received from participants:
Thanks ETL for such a lovely wholesome weekend!
I really loved doing theatre stuff again and it was SO much fun. And also super interesting about all the science stuff!
Met some lovely people, which is so important to me right now as I’m new to Leipzig.
What an inventive and fun way to explore science issues! I’ve been feeling pretty depressed about these issues in my work and this weekend made me feel hopeful again. Thanks ETL!