From 1st to 12th of september

Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm

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International workshop on voice and Mishima Text "Tropical Tree"

Led by Susan Worsfold and Laurent Courtin in English

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Location : Normandy, Flers

Fee : €1500 for the workshop

Note : This fee does include accommodation and meals.

Contact : Laurent Courtin 00 33 6 61 14 40 26

Who is this workshop for?

This workshop is open to all performing artists, directors, and those seeking to explore voice work using Nadine George's method.

Prerequisites

Acting experience in English​

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Pedagogical Progression

This is a unique opportunity to develop your voice within a group of 10 individuals in an international setting.The method allows for a supportive environment where you can find the space and time to explore your voice individually and collectively.

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Breathing, Voice, and Sound.

Group and pair work, individual voice work, and exploring different sound qualities.The goal is to connect physical energy to the deep source of breathing. Nadine will then work individually with participants to explore and create sounds from the body. The vibration of sound in relation to masculine and feminine qualities will enhance the voice's resonance with the text.

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Text Exploration

Each morning will begin with a vocal warm-up, followed by detailed text work.

This exploration allows for a personal, vocal, and physical journey through the language of the stage.Evaluation competencies acquired will be evaluated through a questionnaire.

A Collaborative Approach

Welcome to this 10 day intensive voice workshop led by collaborating artists Laurent Courtin (FR) and Susan Worsfold (UK). Collectively, Laurent and Susan have over 55 years of teaching, learning and creating with the Nadine George Voice Work, the foundation practice of this week’s research. This workshop will lead participants through an embodied connection to their breath, body, voice and text, where a fuller sense of self is explored that comes from a deeper connection to their voice. This enables practising artists to take vital creative space to re-connect, nourish and listen anew to where the creative instinct now lies within them, as it connects to an embodied breath and a released and expressive voice. The combined knowledge and warm approach of Laurent and Susan ensure participants receive detailed support and guidance to work with a fuller vibration, in their voice and in themselves, whilst absorbing the creative human research of other participants within the group.

Both Laurent and Susan are accredited NGVW voice teachers, of which there are only 20 globally. They met over 20 years ago through Nadine’s work and are both theatre directors who work and teach internationally in the arts and in business. They work closely with Nadine George to develop Voice Studio International’s work and presence, as well as develop the accreditation process for the teaching of NGVW. Since 2016, they have chosen to work collaboratively on many occasions - co-delivering voice workshops in Château du Tertre, Belleme, Paris, Normandy and have worked with artists from Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, UK, USA, Canada, Japan, Lebanon, Brazil and Hong Kong, collaborating both in English and French.

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Why offer a international workshop on voice and mishima?

As theatre directors, both Laurent and Susan have worked with classic greek text in production linking with the Nadine George Voice Work. Plays include “Phaedra” by Seneca, “Alcestis” by Euripides, “Lysistrata” by Aristophanes and tragedies including “Queens” by Normand Chaurette.

The resonance between Japanese theatre forms and ancient theatre takes us into the depths of the sounds of the voice, and relates with the sounds used by Noh theatre characters.

From an intercultural point of view, this workshop is an opportunity to take part in an international practice, immersing oneself in different cultures and traditions, enriching one's artistic and personal vision.

It's also the opportunity to work with artists of different nationalities, helping us to better understand diverse theatrical approaches and develop intercultural sensitivity. An intercultural environment also forces us to confront different acting methods and styles. This stimulates our creativity and encourages artistic innovation.

The training courses offered with the Japanese Directors' Association and Voice Studio in 2017 and 2019 will resume in 2025 in Tokyo.

This will also be an opportunity to build bridges between Europe and Japan.

Mishima The Tropical Tree

2025 is the hundred anniversary of the birth of Yukio Mishima and offers an opportunity to explore the Tropical Tree, Mishima's only play to be considered a “tragedy”.

To link it to ancient Greece and the cycle of the Atrides, no doubt, but also to justify the presence here of an outrageousness more violent than in any of his other plays, and a kind of erotic, poetic and cruel terrorism that could be compared to the vein of Elizabethan drama.

From the young patient's murder of her pet birds, to a first attempt at parricide and a matricide attempt that is very close to completion, from the incest of the two children and their joint suicide in the sea, to the thinly veiled announcement of the mother's murder of the father.

At least as much as Madame de Sade, it is the family, myth or social cell, that she targets.

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Update 26/01/2025

voice.studio.international@gmail.com