Discover the style and techniques Trestle uses to create its touring shows. Give students practical tools and innovative ideas to create and devise dynamic visual, storytelling theatre.

Fighting Talk
This workshop explores the techniques and themes from Little India. Participants will explore ancient Indian martial arts, ritual and performance traditions, as well as uncovering engaging and enchanting movement techniques to begin devising performance.

Playing with Fire
This workshop explores the techniques and themes from Lola: The Life of Lola Montez. Participants will learn and experiment with dance, rhythm, and storytelling drawn from Flamenco traditions, as well as explore some of the shows primary themes - ideas of public and private personas, and the personal cost of celebrity.

Scaling the Heights
This workshop explores the techniques and themes from The Glass Mountain. Participants will play with rhythm, impulse, mutuality and gymnastics: all techniques that have evolved from Polish theatre companies Gardzienice and Song of the Goat. They will also examine the themes behind the eponymous Polish fable, including the pursuit of dreams, and the physical journeys we endure when striving for our goals.

Moon Fooling
This workshop will explore the techniques and themes from Moon Fool; ill met by moonlight, such as the musicality of Shakespeare's language and the dynamics of movement inherent in the text. The workshop will open up the words through forms of hand, body and facial 'gesture' and acrobatic exercises. The play's themes, including the comic complexities of love and relationships and the balance that exists between humans and nature, will also be explored. 

In Flame
This workshop will explore the techniques and themes from Burn my Heart, such as ensemble movement, multi-role playing, and use of shadows and physicality of character. The workshop will reflect the show’s mix of text, characterisation and storytelling and concentrate on adapting political themes, ideas, and material for performance.  The play's themes of justice, terror, and imperialism will also be explored by using photographs and verbatim accounts as a catalyst for devising and creating powerful, meaningful and relevant work. 

Infantasia
This workshop will explore the techniques and themes from The Birthday of the Infanta, such as solo movement and storytelling, multi-role playing, object manipulation and animation and physicality and rhythm of character. The workshop will reflect the show’s mix of text, characterization and storytelling and concentrate on exploring archetypes to create material for solo performance.  Drawing on the passion and rhythms of Spain, Infantasia will take you on an exciting journey, through performance, imagery, physicality and text. Infantasia will educate and stimulate students to see how movement, words, visuals and sound can fuse together to tell a story. It will inspire them to be playfully creative, physically ambitious, and to broaden their horizons in respect of subject matter.

Breaking Borders
This workshop will explore techniques and themes from The Man with the Luggage, such as ensemble movement, multi-role playing, devising and physicality of character. The workshop will reflect the show’s mix of text, characterisation, and storytelling and concentrate on adapting themes and ideas around home and identity into material for performance. The play's themes of home, identity, memory, journeys across borders and love will also be explored by using photographs and verbatim accounts as a catalyst for devising and creating powerful, meaningful and relevant work.

At the end of each of the above workshops, students will have learnt new physical theatre techniques, explored different ways of working within a group dynamic, and devised short pieces of physical storytelling inspired by their own imaginations.




Each workshop run for a minimum of two hours but can be scheduled to fit in with your timetable. Participants are typically 11 years and older but please contact us to discuss provision for younger groups. If you wish to increase numbers there is a subsidy of £10 per person. All prices are per individual practitioner and exclude VAT. The recommended number of participants per workshop is 24, unless stated otherwise. 

Cost: 2 hours: £200 For more information and bookings contact +44 (0)1727 850950 or email us at takingpart@trestle.org.uk.