MA Theatre Lab with Izumi Ashizawa

For the last few weeks we in the Lab have had the honour of working with the brilliant Izumi Ashizawa, devising using the methods, techniques and principles of Asian theatre, such as Nôh, Kabuki, Butôh and those of Tadashi Suzuki.

I wish I could put into words how many windows and doors in my mind these weeks with her have opened. Each day was an incredible journey where we used our bodies to create stories devising short pieces and then using these as pieces of a puzzle to fit into other devised pieces.

The intensity, focus, discipline and physical precision of this work is incredible (even now, my thighs are burning just from thinking about the Suzuki classes...) and brought the MA company forward into a new place.

Now, we have started our improvisation classes with Dan Sherer. Quite a U-turn from what we've been doing recently and really something that brings us back to the Stanislavski technique. The days are long and extremely busy and when walking around RADA you’ll MA Lab students running around carrying suitcases filled with props.

We are also currently doing research and exploring the theme of our final performance The Ecstasy and the Ecstasy, which we will be performing in September (clear your calendars for the first week of that month!) so we are constantly excited and busy.

Photography by Henry Kenyon