Doing the Impossible – Intro to Viewpoints
Tristan Bacon
"Actors will do, in public, what is widely considered to be impossible" - Jerzy Grotowski How does a group of actors communicate without speaking? How do you solve complex theatrical problems without taking a break to think about it? Can a group of actors create engaging, watchable work quickly and from nothing? How does a company develop a shared language?
Developed from Marie Overlie's dance experiments with the Group Theatre, Anne Bogart's Nine Physical Viewpoints provide a group of actors with a shared lens with which to interpret the biggest problems faced when creating theatre: time, space and the body. By breaking these wide categories down into nine 'viewpoints', performers develop a greater awareness of their place in the fabric of a scene or a play, and through training and shared improvisations new work can be developed quickly and repeatedly. Viewpoints also provides a training vocabulary for a company - in much the same way as a dancer has barre exercises or a pianist has scales. Viewpoints is a sounding board for an actors habits and weaknesses, and a whetstone for his/her strengths. This workshop will introduce the core concepts, take the participants through training exercises and culminate in a group improvisation.
Tristan is a Victoria based Director, performer, playwright and teaching artist. He is the founding Artistic Director at workingclasstheatre, a theatre company established in 2009 dedicated to developing the skills of emerging artists by reimagining classic stories through the contemporary lens. Directing credits include Burn This, Hedda Gabler, Savage in Limbo (workingclasstheatre) Reefer Madness (Passion and Performance), Louis and Dave (TheatreSKAM). Tristan has been directing for ten years, and acting for nearly twenty. Past favorite roles include Jacob Marley (A Christmas Carol, workingclasstheatre), Caliban (The Tempest, Sandbox Productions) and The Narrator (Sorkaboni & Musorika, Random Acts of Circus). Tristan has written many productions for workingclasstheatre including Rope of Sand (Ignite! Youth Playwriting Festival Finalist) Café Soap Operas! (Victoria Fringe Festival 2016), and 2BR02B (UFV Director's Festival). Areas of interest include acting theory, physical theatre, site-specific performance and new performance modes. Tristan runs the Theatre Program at Passion and Performance Studio in Victoria, and is a passionate advocate for small scale performing arts infrastructure, working with government agencies and NGO's to create shared artistic spaces at affordable costs to local artists.
