Shakespeare – Goodman

Book List for Big Kids – Non Fiction

I love books. They are unbelievably comforting and adorn my house in little piles. I find them incredibly hard to part with. The wisdom and escapism that books contain is a beautiful thing. I love reading lists of books too. Which ones have I read? Which ones have I yet to read? What should I read next?

I thought I’d share some books that I found really useful and enjoyable to read.

Presence by Patsy Rodenberg

This book is like three years of actor training whittled down into book form and made accessible for non performers. Its a brilliant insight in how to be in the moment more and is full of practical exercises to ‘perform’ at your best in an incredibly sincere and authentic way.

Finding your Element – Ken Robinson

Robinson is an educational guru ad talks about how we all have something where we are in are element. Using stories of how different people discovered their element, Robinson shows how we can have our eureka moment ourselves

Games for Actors and Non-Actors – Augustus Boal

This is like an arsenal of different warms ups and games to try out that liberate all, performer or not. In three sections, Boal outlines his method of Theatre of the Opressed, provides a wealth of different exercises and discusses problems that can arise in Forum theatre. This book should in every drama practitioners library. Anyone looking for group cohesion and release of expression could benefit from giving this book a read.

Finding your Voice – Barbara Houseman

This practical and easy to use book talks about the mechanics that go into speaking and the how you can galvanise your body to have a strong, rich and healthy voice. This book provides the foundation for a lot of the exercises that I now include in my Voice practice

Show your Work – Austin Kleon

Austin Kleon is an artist that works with words. His book Steal Like an Artist is also an excellent read. Show Your Work, talks about how to network effectively and efficiently in the 21st century. He describes it as networking for people who don’t really like networking. This book really made me think about how to develop a good web presence and how to share my process with an online community.

Wreck this Journal -Keri Smith

Smith should probably be proclaimed at Art wizard for the wonderful journalling books that she has created. They are a brilliant series but I love Wreck This Journal the most as it reminds us not to be to precious about what we create and that failure yields unexpected results.

Shakespeare Words: A glossary and language companion – Ben and David Crystal

This book will be tucked under my arm and is very well thumbed when I’m working on any of the bards works. Its a brilliant dictionary of language from when you can’t tell you greek god reference from your elbow.

The Playful Parent – Julia Deering

This behemoth of of a book is a plethora of ideas in playing with you kids. From Shampooing solutions to ideas for indoor play. Its a very practical tool kit and I think if parenting was to come with a manual, then this is the one I’d pick.

What Non-Fiction books would you put on your list? What should I read next?

Felicity Goodman is a Voice Teacher, Playologist and Story Teller based in Manchester. To find out more about her work, please visit www.felicitygoodman.co.uk

Back into the community, putting the Shake in Shakespeare.

After working on Just Add Water’s production of Bobby at the Lowry, I have spent the last month working with Physical Folk on a community production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Tom Barry and I co founded Physical Folk while backpacking in New Zealand. Whilst volunteering at Napier Prison, a historical tourist destination, we were asked to develop packages and workshops for schools to engage with. We worked on some short historical films about some of the characters that would have spent time in the prison. We had a lot of fun organising fright night parties for teenagers and workshops for children from 4 to 12. Baking prison food, taking down fingerprints and asking them to spot the ghosts. We started to think about theatre and workshops as a tool for engaging communities.

We have spent the last year developing work in Cheshire, working out what an audience that the professional theatre circuit rarely hits wants to see. We dabbled in both creating pieces for the community to watch and workshops and performances for the community to take part in. We’ve found wonderful support from loyal and enthusiastic members of the local community and now we arrive at a 70s inspired ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream has a cast of 15 diverse actors from the community in and around Northwich. The cast age range is 15-69 and they are as different from each other in character and experiences as Mickey Mouse and Germaine Greer. They have worked hard, taken risks and met challenges head on. They have put in hours of rehearsals, met up independently to learn lines, supported each other, created a safe place for everyone to step outside of their comforts zones and created something that they should all be incredibly proud of.

My role in this production has been the producer, and as someone had to step away from the experience, acting in it too. It’s an unusual place to be in and my roles flit from objectivity to total immersion and its been a fun but tough challenge. I have enjoyed seeing the growth in confidence of the cast as well as seeing the flexibility and quick thinking of the crew.

The Production team has worked hard to create a play that really allows the performers to be showcased. Helen Ashbrook Billinge has constantly been sketching and adapting the stage to compromise on what we could beg, borrow and practically steal and kept watch of the actors use of space to create a delightful set. Natalie Fern has turned costumes around quickly, creating a very wide array of costumes some made by her own hand and others from the local Oxfam in Northwich. Ashley Turner has written beautiful music to fit right in with the 70s folks vibe, performed with many other tracks from the 70s by John and Ailsa Booth throughout the play. Tom Barry has worked hard and created a piece that is both understandable and accessible to both the cast and the audience alike.

Whoever said community was dead should come and see it alive and at work in this play. What a community it is! This community will have you laughing till you cry and stamping your feet as they take you on an incredible journey through Love. In this small theatre – Davenham Players’ Theatre, you will be swept away into an incredibly funny reality that a whole community of people have created. Winston Churchill said ‘ Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’ The company of A Midsummer Night’s Dream have proved this in every decision that they have made both independently and collectively.

Physical Folk’s ‘ A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is on at Davenham Players’ Theatre, Davenham, Northwich, Cheshire from 22nd May – 25th May 2013 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £8/7 and are available via http://www.danarts.org or 0161 784442.