Shamanic dimensions within theatre practice today

Rachel Karafistan B.A. Ph.D.

Shamanism, the tacit wisdom behind performance, is a much misinterpreted and misunderstood concept. For the past eight years, I have attempted to trace and relocate the shamanic roots of theatre practice as I have encountered them during my training and research.

Rachel has taught extensively on the subject of Shamanism & Theatre in the UK, throughout Europe and Brasil and runs regular workshops in Europe. Rachel regaularly collaborates with Professor Brain Bates, author of 'The Way of Wyrd'.

Publications:May 2003:
New Theatre Quarterly, Cambridge University Press "The spirits wouldn't let me be anything else…" Shamanic dimensions within theatre practice today

August 2004:
New Theatre Quarterly, Cambridge University Press The Shysters Theatre Company: Revisioning the Actor with Learning Difficulties

shamanism and performance WORKSHOPS

COSmino runs regular workshops in shamanism and performance.

FROM THE SHAMAN TO THE ACTOR
- a one day introductary workshop open to all

ACTOR AS CREATOR - MANIFESTING THE LIMINAL
- a two day intensive workshop for actors and students of performance

FROM THE SHAMAN TO THE ACTOR
workshop in London, UK
with Rachel Karafistan PhD & Professor Brian Bates
6 March 2010, London - SOLD OUT

Tribal shamans are the original inspiration for many aspects of artistic creativity. This workshop reconnects the timeless power and insights of the shaman with the demands of contemporary performance. Drawing from exercises from both eastern & western performance trainings, this workshop will relocate the tacit wisdom of the shaman in the work of the actor and, more generally, in our lives. The workshop will feature a shamanic journey and a talk by Brian Bates.
For both professional performers and interested public.

Venue: Jackson’s Lane, 269a Archway Road London N6 5AA
mapTime:Saturday 6 March 2010: 12.30 – 19.30
Bookings: Contact:
Cherie Karafistan
email: workshops@cosmino.org

 

COMING SOON

ACTOR AS CREATOR - MANIFESTING THE LIMINAL
TWO DAY WORKSHOP
LONDON, UK
with Rachel Karafistan PhD & Professor Brian Bates
People often talk about acting as an ‘interpretive art’, with the real creativity flowing from the writer and/or director, yet we all know that what often underpins fine performances is original insight from the actor – insight which is usually fed into the process of rehearsal, giving edge and depth to the final stage performance. This workshop focuses specifically on the Actor as Creator, and takes us back to the deepest levels of imagination which feed the actor’s performance. We invite you to draw on both the personal and collective imagination and transform this liminal, magical realm into something tangible, visceral and performative. Using techniques and story development templates from the world of the shaman – the original creator/actor, and using skills from the rich tradition of experimental theatre, we will develop ideas, impulses, themes and stories from the deep unconscious of the participants to create an exciting theatre of the imagination, culminating in performance work in groups. Actor as Creator is aimed at sending us back into the theatre with our strongest imagination resources re-charged!

Open to actors, dancers and other performers from all traditions of theatre.


Contact: Cherie Karafistan
email: workshops@cosmino.org

BRIAN BATES www.wayofwyrd.com

Professor Brian Bates is a psychologist, novelist, playwright, theatre director and honorary shaman of the Worldwide Indigenous Network of tribal Elders. At the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art he pioneered shamanic acting training, and directed acclaimed productions including ‘The Body Project’ exploring the actor’s intimate life experiences of their body; Marlowe’s ‘Doctor Faustus’ using magical spells, symbols and movement to induce a spiritually-charged state of consciousness for actors and audience, and his own adaptation of Hermann Hesse’s classic novel Steppenwolf in which expressionistic theatre (and the most lighting changes ever at RADA!) took the audience into the nightmare and inspiration of the collective unconscious. Brian runs workshops exploring the ‘ancient wisdom for today’ of early medieval Europe, using ancient healing spells, fairy tales and myths as catalysts for personal inspiration and creating theatre. He has trained many notable actors for theatre and film including winners of BAFTA and Laurence Olivier awards, and Academy Award ‘Oscars’ winners Kenneth Branagh and Ralph Fiennes. He is also author of six international books, including ‘The Way of the Actor’, about the inner psychological life of the creative performer; ‘The Human Face’ (with John Cleese) about the power to transform us inherent in each of the 6 billion unique faces on the planet; and his bestselling novel ‘The Way of Wyrd’, now published in many languages around the world, which is based on a one-thousand years-old manuscript in the British Museum documenting the initiation into magic of a shaman from ancient England. Brian is currently Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sussex, England, where he has supervised numerous PhD’s on the psychology of shamanism. Currently he is engaged on a worldwide project – ‘The Council of Elders’ – working closely with tribal elders and medicine people to protect and document their knowledge.

Contact:
Cherie Karafistan
email: workshops@cosmino.org

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any comments, ideas or require further details concerning my work.