Uncategorized – Cosmino Theatre

PERFORMANCES

Cosmino Theatre — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 19:01:02 +0000

	AY KASH / IF ONLY 2023
LITTLE HEROES 2024	HEARTBURN 2022	PAULAS REISEN 2021
DREAMS DIE HARD 2018	DOUBLE 2004	OBFITOSC 2002
STOSUNKI 2001	HANDFUL OF ACORNS 2000	JUMPING JOAN 1998

GUEST DIRECTION

PAULAS REISEN Salzburger Landestheater 2019			KING A Salzburger Landestheater 2017			FAUST’S Northampton University 2013
THE VISIT Greenwich Theatre 2009			UTOPIA In association with East 15 Acting School 2008			EVERYMAN Bretton Hall Campus University of Leeds 2005

TEAM

Cosmino Theatre — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 11:50:35 +0000

Cosmino Theatre was founded in Coventry, UK, in 1998, by Rachel Karafistan. Two years later, amid the ruins of Coventry Cathedral, during Millennium Mysteries, a collaboration between the Belgrade Theatre and Poland’s Teatr Biuro Podróży, Rachel met Polish actor Kuba Pierzchalski. From that meeting, a shared life in art began. Today, Cosmino moves between Poznań, Berlin, and London, carried by collaboration, curiosity, and the rhythms of family life with their two children.

WHY COSMINO?
In Romania, in 1997, I met a young homeless boy. I gave him a bottle of shampoo. The next day he found me again, beaming from ear to ear, and showed me his hair, washed on one side, untouched on the other. When I asked why, he said he wanted to show me the difference.His name was Cosmin. (We added the ‘o.’) He could turn cartwheels like joy itself.In ancient Greek, Cosmin means to stand in solidarity with life. Dirty and clean. Light and dark. Cosmino makes theatre in solidarity with the full complexity of being human.

ABOUT US
Cosmino Theatre has been dreaming theatrical experiences into being since 1998. We believe in art as a meeting place, where borders soften, new futures are imagined, and positive change begins.Cosmino has created over seventeen productions, collaborating with artists and institutions including the State Theatre of Salzburg and Greenwich Theatre, London. Current touring works include Dreams Die Hard, Rachel’s award-winning solo performance inspired by her grandmother’s wartime diary and her Turkish Cypriot roots; Heartburn, a lament for the erosion of women’s rights in Europe; and Ay Kash / If Only, created with Under the Starry Afghan Sky, a collective of eleven young women based in Afghanistan.Alongside performance, Cosmino nurtures learning and exchange, curating theatre training opportunities across the world. In 2026, we will launch our Certificate in Advanced Theatre Practice, continuing our commitment to art as a living, shared practice.

RACHEL KARAFISTAN

Artistic Director, actor, composer (she / her)

Rachel is a British performer, teacher, academic and theatre director
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with 30 years of professional theatre experience. After falling in love with third theatre and Odin Teatret at the age of eleven, Rachel embraced the potential and autonomy of devised performance. Her teachers include Philippe Gaulier, Frankie Armstrong, Marcello Magni, Roberta Carreri & Odin Teatret. Rachel is the co-founder of Cosmino Theatre (founded in 1998) and has created over 16 original performances. Rachel has performed alongside Kathryn Hunter in ‘Yerma’ at the Arcola Theatre, London and was an actor with internationally acclaimed Polish company, Teatr Biuro Podróży. Her PhD research into Shamanic dimensions within contemporary theatre practice saw her collaborate on workshops with ‘Way of Wyrd’ and ‘Way of the Actor’ author, Brian Bates. Rachel is also trained CBT Hypnotherapist which informs both her teaching creating and directing practice.

Rachel has directed for Greenwich Theatre, East 15 Acting School, Northampton & Leeds Universities and Salzburg Landestheater, Austria. She has a long history of making theatre for social change including most recently the hybrid award winning production, AY KASH / IF ONLY which was created in collaboration with 11 young women, living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Rachel has held posts at Manchester Metropolitan, Rose Bruford College and Leeds Universities and has worked as an External Examiner at East 15 Acting school, UK. Since 2018, Rachel has been a member of faculty at Arthaus Berlin International Training and Research Centre for Devised Theatre & performance, taking over as the school’s Pedagogical Co-Director overseeing a range of MA & MFA performance degrees in 2024. In 2025/6 Rachel is happy to be working with Studio Teatralny at Zamek Culture Centre in Poznan on a new production.

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KUBA PIERZCHALSKI

Technical director, actor, composer (he / him)

Kuba Pierzchalski is a theatre and music artist whose work moves
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fluently between acting, directing, and composition. With many years of international experience, he has collaborated with a wide range of theatres, ensembles, and festivals across Europe, creating performances that connect physical presence, sound, and strong visual imagery.

At the heart of his artistic practice lies a deep interest in ensemble work and long-term collaboration. Kuba’s projects often grow out of collective processes, where music and movement play an essential role in shaping dramaturgy and atmosphere. His work spans classical theatre, contemporary and interdisciplinary productions, as well as physical and musical theatre.

He received together with Rachel Karafistan an award for directing of Ay Kash at the 37th International Festival Valise in Poland and has worked as a director and composer at the Salzburger Landestheater. Kuba has composed the music for all productions of Cosmino Theatre, shaping the sonic identity of the company over many years. Between 1997 and 2003, he also performed as an actor with the renowned Polish company Teatr Biuro Podróży, touring internationally and contributing to multiple original productions.

He has been closely associated with Cosmino Theatre and has performed internationally with renowned companies, including Blue Man Group. His productions have been presented at major festivals and have received audience and jury awards, reflecting his commitment to theatre that is both artistically bold and deeply engaging for audiences.

Kuba’s work is driven by curiosity, openness, and a belief in theatre as a shared space of encounter—between performers, sound, movement, and the people watching.

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PATRICK CAMPBELL

Associate Artist & Creative Consultant (he / him)

Dr Patrick Campbell is a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader
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of the BA (Hons) Drama and Contemporary Performance Programme at the Manchester School of Theatre, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK). His teaching focuses on psychophysical training, with an emphasis on the holistic links between corporeal expressivity and vocal freedom. His academic research looks at the ways in which contemporary theatre artists in Europe and Latin America are challenging monolithic, phallogocentric framings of subjectivity, representability and heritage through performance and training.

From 2014-2021, Campbell worked alongside Dr Jane Turner, carrying out an analysis into the contemporary value of Third Theatre – a transnational theatrical community first identified by Eugenio Barba in the 1970s, characterised by a laboratory ethos and practice. Together, Campbell and Turner carried out research into the training, dramaturgy and participatory strategies employed by the Third Theatre community, particularly in Latin America and Europe, mapping and critically examining the myriad configurations of Third Theatre, particularly in relation to interstitial, intercultural and postcolonial debates. Their monograph, A Poetics of Third Theatre: Performer Training, Dramaturgy, Cultural Action was published in 2021 as part of the Perspectives on Performer Training series, edited by Maria Kapsali and Rebecca Loukes.

For the past twelve years, Campbell has studied with Roy Hart Theatre founder member Margaret Pikes, who has developed a unique approach to extended vocal practice entitled Wolfsohn-Hart Voice. Campbell has trained to be both a practitioner and a pedagogue within this vocal tradition and co-authored with Pikes the monograph Owning Our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart Tradition, which was published by Routledge in 2021 as a part of the Voice Studies series.

Links:
www.theatre.mmu.ac.uk
www.crosspollination.space

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EVA RUFO

Associate Actor (she / her)

Eva has been dancing since she was 4 years old and the rigour
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of this discipline has never left her body or her work. She is excited by the potential of creating performances outside of ‘traditional’ performance spaces and since 2006 Eva has been producing her own performances inspired by the Cuentacuentos (storytelling) tradition. Eva has created ten performances to date: Zapominać=Zabić (2006) Nosotro$ollE (2007) Mujeres-Kobiety (2008), Me too (…I want to be an Almodovar girl) (2009) Art. 182 ust.1-3 kc (2009), ¡¡¡Oooooleee!!! (2012), Rayuela (2014), Todo Cambia (2014), Christmas Tales (2016), With Wine, About Wine / Z winem o winie (2017).

Eva regularly runs workshops in dance, storytelling, and TIE throughout Poland: i.e. the Puppet Theatre (Poznan), Off Opera (Poznan), STOP-KLATKA Association of Drama Practitioners (Warsaw), Imaginarium, One World Association (Poznan) and in many primary and secondary schools.

Eva teaches Spanish at the Institute of Linguistics (UAM), where since 1999 she organizes with her students an annual story telling event and since 2006 the Story Festival ‘Una Semana de Cuento’.

In 2018, she directed the ” Five Worlds Project”, the closing concert of the Days of Cultural Diversity at UAM, Poznan. Heartburn is Eva’s first production with Cosmino.

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JO JOHNSTON

Artist, Graphic Designer (she / her)

Jo Johnston, originally from the UK, is now based in Berlin.
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Jo studied at the Birmingham College of Art and finds inspiration in every walk of life. You can visit Jo’s website here.

Jo curates a joint project with Marcel Kröner called ”The Little Window Galerie”. Allegedly the smallest art gallery in Berlin, each month one artwork from a diverse range of artists is exhibited in a “Schaufenster”. The ‘little window’ is on the busy Berliner Strasse in Pankow, Berlin for everyone to enjoy as they pass by. Jo is passionate about finding ways to release and encourage creativity and works with children and young people on a daily basis.

Jo’s has created artwork for two Cosmino productions, Dreams Die Hard and Heartburn.

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NEWS

Cosmino Theatre — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 06:04:23 +0000

We are constantly updating our calendar with new events and training opportunities.
Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to know of any updates.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES:

NEW for 2026/7 CERTIFICATE IN EMBODIED THEATRE PRACTICE!
Click here to find out more

APRIL / MAY

MAKE THE WORK THAT MATTERS:
Defining your practice as a theatre maker
Online course
with Rachel Karafistan
Dates: Sundays 19, 26 April, 3, 10 May 2026
Time: 11:00 – 12:15 (CEST Europe time)
Location: online via Zoom

JULY

RECLAIMING VOICE:
Voice, Song and Embodied Expression
with Patrick Campbell & Rachel Karafistan
Dates: Monday 20 – Friday 24 July 2026  with two hours for one-to-one work at the end of each day  (to be arranged with the participants on the first day of the course)
Time: 10:00 – 18:00
Location: Teatr Osmego Dnia, Poznan, Poland

FROM FRAGMENTS TO FORM
what theatre do you want to make?
with Rachel Karafistan
Dates: Monday 13 – Friday 17 July 2026
Time: 10:00 – 18:00 including two hours a day from 16:00 – 18:00 for guided devising in the theatre space
Location: Teatr Ósmego Dnia, Poznan, Poland

PERFORMANCES:

26 / 27 June 2026
WORK IN PROGRESS with Studio Teatralne ZAMEK, Poznań

AY KASH / کاشکی / IF ONLY:

5 June 2026
Unithea Theatre Festival, Frankfurt Oder, Germany
INFO / TICKETS

3 October 2026
Albany Theatre, Coventry, UK
INFO / TICKETS

9 October 2026
Nottingham Playhouse, Nottingham, UK
INFO / TICKETS

HEARTBURN

21 November 2026
Teatr Ósmego Dnia, Poznań, Poland

More dates coming…

THEATRE TRAINING

Cosmino Theatre — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 19:51:41 +0000

MAKE THE WORK THAT MATTERS

FROM FRAGMENTS INTO FORM

RECLAIMING VOICE

NEW! CERTIFICATE IN EMBODIED THEATRE PRACTICE

Rachel has had a huge influence on my journey as an actor and movement director. I am lucky to have met her at the beginning of my career, and she unlocked many mental and physical blocks for me through her physical and voice work. If you are looking to develop your craft as a performer, then I highly recommend taking part and in her workshops. Her natural ability to create an inclusive space in which she fosters discovery is second to none. I have been relying on Rachel’s approach for twenty years in order to feel more playful, present and connected as an actor.  Under Rachel’s guidance you feel seen and supported always.  Liam Lane – Actor & Movement Director

During my actor training Rachel was the first tutor who made me feel recognised and worthy. I think she made every student feel like this. She was able to tap into the young talent and cultivate it. She transformed the course and created a cohort of makers, experimenters and artists. You learn just by being with Rachel, but when she teaches, she gives so much. It is absorbed and radiates out of everyone she trains. If you are interested in developing, exploring and growing as a theatre maker, devisor or artist take her course.

Rebekah Caputo – Puppet Maker, Actor & Director of Theatre Animisme

Rachel is an exceptional theatre educator and truly the best at what she does. She has changed my life in ways I never expected. Her passion is inspiring, and she always reminded me that my voice mattered. Her professionalism, kindness, bravery, and creativity mean more to me that words could ever express. Because of her, theatre became a safe place where I could truly express myself. I am forever grateful for this journey. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Afsoon – Theatre Student

Not only are Rachel’s courses engaging and inspirational, but her way of teaching through sound and movement is truly unique and long-lasting. I keep discovering more and more about my artistry long after the course has ended.
Jonne Putkonen – Musician & Performer

The workshop was a deeply inspiring experience and offered a rare sense of openness and safety for artistic exploration. Rachel’s strong personal investment, warmth, and dedication created a working environment where trust, curiosity, and artistic risk-taking could genuinely unfold. Through her engaged and generous approach, Rachel continuously encouraged us to find and trust our own voices and creative power as theatre makers and performers. Her ability to hold space for both individual needs and the collective process was central to the group’s development, and it had a meaningful impact on my own artistic growth. It provided me with valuable tools and perspectives that I will carry forward in my ongoing practice.

Camilla Steine – Director & Theatre Maker

APPLY NOW

MAKE THE WORK THAT MATTERS

Defining your practice as a theatre maker
Online Course – 4 weeks
with Rachel Karafistan
plus two 45 min online sessions during April / May to be arranged with each individual participant

MAKE THE WORK THAT MATTERS is a four-week online workshop for theatre makers who want to deepen, redefine, and energise their creative practice. Led by award winning theatre maker Rachel Karafistan with over 35 years of professional experience, the course offers a focused space to reflect on your work, connect with fellow artists, and explore what truly drives your making. Through carefully designed exercises in writing, meditation, movement, and song, participants are supported to extend their professional practice and create work with purpose and impact. The course also includes two one-to-one online sessions, offering personalised guidance to help you clarify your artistic direction and fulfil your creative potential.

Event Details:
• Dates: Sundays 19, 26 April, 3,10 May 2026
• Time: 11:00 – 12:15 (CEST Europe time)
• Location: Online via Zoom
• Level: theatre makers at any stage in their career looking to shake up their practice

Tickets & Pricing:
• Cost: 120EUR (4 group online sessions plus two individual 45 min sessions)
If you have been taught by Rachel previously, anywhere in the world you will automatically receive a 10% discount. Just write to us detailing where and when.

FROM FRAGMENTS INTO FORM:

As part of ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL OF THEATRE – TEATR ÓSMEGO DNIA
what theatre do you want to make?
with Rachel Karafistan

FROM FRAGMENTS INTO FORM is an intensive for those who wish to unearth the stories that live beneath the surface, through the body, through voice and through the shared pulse of creativity. Guided by exercises that awaken both the physical and the poetic self, we’ll trace imagined journeys, inhabit forgotten spaces, and give form to the fragments that call for expression. Together, we’ll ask: What makes a beginning sing? What truth waits at the end? What lives and breathes in the middle ground between them?
Under the guidance of Rachel Karafistan, an award-winning director, performer and teacher with over 35 years of professional experience in creating original theatre for the stage, this workshop invites you to make, to fail, to find and to celebrate each moment of discovery. From raw impulse to crafted scene, from private vision to shared performance, we’ll explore how ideas become theatre. How does a piece speak to its audience or community? How do we listen, as performer, as director, for what the work itself wants to become?
Through improvisation, play, and reflection, we’ll uncover new ways of shaping material, reimagining stories, and working with others with curiosity and care.

Event Details:
• Dates: Monday 13 – Friday 17 July 2026
• Time: 10:00 – 18:00 including two hours a day from 16:00 – 18:00 for guided devising in the theatre space
• Location: Teatr Ósmego Dnia, Poznan, Poland
• Level: Open to all those with some experience in devising theatre

Tickets & Pricing:
• Cost: 250EUR
• Special bursary for 4 residents of Poznan – 150EUR
• Also – If you have been taught by Rachel previously, anywhere in the world you will automatically receive a 10% discount of any course. Email us with details of where and when.

RECLAIMING VOICE:
Voice, Song and Embodied Expression
With Patrick Campbell & Rachel Karafistan
As part of ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL OF THEATRE – TEATR ÓSMEGO DNIA

Join Patrick Campbell, co-author (with Margaret Pikes) of Owning Our Voices: Vocal Discovery in the Wolfsohn-Hart Tradition, and Rachel Karafistan, theatre-maker and passionate voice facilitator trained by Frankie Armstrong, for a dive into the expressive landscape of your voice.
Rooted in the Wolfsohn-Hart approach to extended voice and the philosophy and principles of the Natural Voice Network, this practical and experiential workshop explores the full spectrum of human sound, from pre-verbal sounding to song, through movement, breath, and embodied imagination.
We will work with the Vocal Sources, psychosomatic centres along the spine, awakening different vocal timbres and resonances through focused exploration. Participants will engage with creative vocal stimuli, designed to spark authentic vocal expression and free the natural voice.
You will:
• Reconnect breath, body, and voice in a grounded and playful way
• Move from pre-verbal sound into rich vocal textures, text, and song
• Develop confidence in your own vocality, its power, nuance, and emotional truth
• Discover where the rhythms of the body meet the rhythms of voice
• Explore collective sounding and the liberating possibilities of vocal improvisation

This workshop is open to all levels of experience, though familiarity with theatre, dance, or singing will be helpful. We are all born with open, expressive voices, but over time, life shapes, stifles, or scatters them. To reclaim the voice is to reclaim power. This workshop invites you to listen inwardly, act authentically, and uncover the sounds and songs that live inside you. Whether you’re a performer, artist, educator, or simply curious, come prepared to move, sound, and sing!

Event Details:
• Dates: Monday 20 – Friday 24 July 2026
• Time: 10:00 – 18:00 (CEST Europe time) with two hours for one-to-one work at the end of each day (to be arranged with the participants on the first day of the course)
• Location: Teatr Ósmego Dnia, Poznan, Poland
• Level: everyone who wants to extend and explore the range and potential of their voice
The intensive includes free entrance to Patrick Campbell’s workshop demonstration THE AFFECTIVE DRAMATURGY OF THE VOICE on Sunday 19 July 2026 at 17:00 also at Teatr Ósmego Dnia (see details below).

Tickets & Pricing:
• Cost: 250EUR
• Special bursary for 4 residents of Poznan – 150EUR
• Also – If you have been taught by Rachel or Patrick previously, anywhere in the world, you will automatically receive a 10% discount. Email us with details of where and when.

WORK DEMONSTRATION WITH PATRICK CAMPBELL
Sunday 19 July 2026
17:00 – 18:00
Teatr Ósmego Dnia
THE AFFECTIVE DRAMATURGY OF THE VOICE is a work demonstration in which Patrick Campbell, core member of the artistic laboratory Cross Pollination (Belgium) and Senior Lecturer in Drama and Contemporary Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK), reflects on his journey through voice. Drawing on his fifteen-year apprenticeship with Margaret Pikes, co-founder of the renowned Roy Hart Theatre (France), Campbell analyses the affective strata that shape his vocal practice and how these layers inform the dramaturgical tactics within his musical work on stage.

NEW! COSMINO THEATRE CERTIFICATE IN EMBODIED THEATRE PRACTICE 2026/7

We are currently working with our partners in Poland to offer the opportunity to gain a certificate in EMBODIED THEATRE PRACTICE when you complete six intensives from the following programme:

PLAY, PLEASURE, PATIENCE: awaken the voice and body of the imaginative actor
RECLAIMING VOICE: voice, song and embodied expression
POETIC BODIES: discover the process of embodiment and the interconnectedness of performer and the world
YOUR ANIMAL IN PERFORMANCE: explore transformation and characterisation through playing in animal
OBJECT AND PERFORMER: explore the potential of objects / puppets in performance
ABSOLUTE CHAOS: dive into your clown and prepare to be seriously funny
FROM THE SHAMAN TO THE ACTOR: reconnect the wisdom of the shaman with the demands of contemporary performance
FROM FRAGMENTS INTO FORM: what theatre do you want to make?
DIRECTING DEVISED PERFORMANCE: bring your creativity directly to the stage after this five day intensive
GOING SOLO: all you need to know about creating a monodram

The intensives FROM FRAGMENTS INTO FORM and RECLAIMING VOICE will both run in July 2026 in Poznań, Poland. The dates and locations of the other intensives for 2026/7 will follow shortly along with the full costs and details of the certificate programme. The intensives can all also be taken separately.

APPLY NOW