Announcing the relaunch of the Total Theatre Magazine website, the successful conclusion of the Total Theatre Artists as Writers 2020 programme, and new projects planned for 2021
For over 30 years, Total Theatre Magazine has been at the forefront of the advocacy, celebration and documentation of contemporary theatre and performance – with a focus on physical and visual theatre, circus, outdoor arts, site-responsive performance, puppetry, and live art. Total Theatre Magazine champions artist-led writing, putting the practitioner at the heart of the discourse about their own work and that of other theatre-makers.
Our focus in the future will be on longform, reflective writing on contemporary theatre and performance, and our website has been restructured to reflect those changes. We are delighted to announce its relaunch at www.totaltheatre.org.uk
We are also announcing the successful conclusion of the Artists as Writers Programme 2020, in which a new cohort of contemporary theatre artists interested in writing about their own and other people’s artistic practices received training and editorial support. The project, free of charge to participants, ran September to December 2020, and was led by editor Dorothy Max Prior and associate editor Beccy Smith. A new body of writings on contemporary theatre and performance generated from this project will be published online over the coming months at http://totaltheatre.org.uk/category/writings/
The diverse (in every sense of the word) group of participating artists included people at very many different stages of their career, from recent graduates to artists with over thirty years’ experience. Their fields of practice span the breadth of Total Theatre Magazine’s interests.
In 2021, Total Theatre Magazine will be developing a programme of workshops, talks and continuing professional development initiatives. There are four strands: the Artists as Writers mentoring programme, The Writing’s on the Streets one-off workshops, the Total Theatre Talks series of informal symposia on topical issues, and the Total Theatre Training programme. We are seeking partners in these ventures, and welcome enquiries from arts organisations interested in potential future collaborations on any of these projects.
The Total Theatre Magazine Print Archive website features every print issue of Total Theatre Magazine (1989–2012), available as a PDF, with the original design preserved; together with all of the magazine’s feature articles and reviews reformatted into a fully searchable archive that can be explored via issue number, writer, artist or company, artform or topic.
Online at www.totaltheatre.org.uk
See our print archive at totaltheatre.org.uk/archive
More About Total Theatre Magazine:
Total Theatre Magazine is published by Aurelius Productions CIC.
The Artists as Writers Programme 2020 and the Total Theatre Magazine website relaunch have been funded through support from Arts Council England Emergency Funding and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, whose support we gratefully acknowledge.
Total Theatre Magazine also relies on the support and goodwill of partner organisations, and is seeking new collaborations for 2021 and beyond.
Please note that the Total Theatre Awards at Edinburgh Fringe are managed independently to Total Theatre Magazine. See www.totaltheatrenetwork.org
Total Theatre Artists as Writers 2020: List of Participants
Paschale Straiton makes playful outdoor performance that blurs the edges between the performance and the audience. She is artistic director of Red Herring and is a regular collaborator with a range of companies.
www.redherringprpductions.co.uk www.paschalestraiton.wordpress.com
Isaac Ouro-Gnao is a dance artist, multidisciplinary creative, writer, poet, and freelance journalist. His impact in the dance world has been multifaceted; working as a performer, scriptwriter, producer, marketer, and reviewer for esteemed Hip Hop theatre artists and companies.
www.isaacourognao.com @isaacourognao
Anne Langford makes theatre as a director, performer and facilitator. Anne makes theatre happen as producer, mentor and coach. She works extensively in different models of co-creation and participation, with artists aged 5–85. She is driven by her values: creativity, generosity, integrity and rigour.
annelangford.me @langg
Yael Karavan is an award-winning performer, dancer and artistic director of the Karavan Ensemble. Yael’s work is often described as visual/physical poetry, drawing on elements of Butoh, dance, mime, clown, physical and visual theatre. Since 1999 she’s been touring her work, teaching and directing worldwide.
http://www.yaelkaravan.com @karavanensemble
Katy Pinke is a New York-based artist whose multi-disciplinary practice spans music, visual art, poetry and embodied performance. Their work inquires into nature of language and the translation of liminal, spiritual and emotional territories as-of-yet uncharted by language.
Maddie Haynes is a writer and performer living in Manchester. Her work combines storytelling and dance with accessible science communication, and she is currently developing her solo work 69, a queer retelling of the first moon landing.
www.maddiehaynes.com Insta: @itsmaddiehaynes | Twitter: @maddie_haynes | Facebook: @maddiehaynespoetry
Marília Ennes is founder/co-director of ParaladosanjoS (Brazil) and a PhD researcher at Unicamp (University of Campinas, São Paulo). Her work embraces visual and physical theatre, and much of her creation flirts with hybrid fields of art. Currently, she is involved with walking as an aesthetic practice.
www.paraladosanjos.com @paraladosanjos
Lila Robirosa is a performance artist, theatre-maker and writer based in Suffolk. Her often autobiographical work uses storytelling, vulnerability and risk-taking to challenge the limits of her comfort zone, creating work that aims to liberate herself and her audience.
www.powertopurple.wordpress.com
Eloina Haines is a London-based performance artist. Her work is bold. It tests society’s boundaries, and her own. It makes audiences laugh and cry together, leaving them empowered and dancing. It focuses on the taboos around the non-cis-male body. @eloinaaart
Tom Brennan is a director, writer and co-founder of The Wardrobe Ensemble. His work includes 1972: The Future of Sex, The Last of The Pelican Daughters, and Drac & Jill. He is a creative associate at The North Wall Theatre.
thewardrobeensemble.com @TBrennanBristol @WardrobEnsemble
Antonino Giuffré has had the luck of working on both sides of a stage: after studying drama in Italy he has developed his practice in the contemporary circus world, writing, producing and performing with the UK-based company Lost in Translation Circus.
https://www.lostintranslationcircus.com/ @ninno87
Martha Brown is a multi-disciplinary artist who enjoys weaving together found objects and text, sculpture, costumes, storytelling, and performance. Passions for Carnival Arts, community empowerment, street busking acts, and magical moments in daily mundanity currently inspire her work.
Insta: @marthasmilesbrown Facebook: 14 Smiles
Sascha Goslin is a freelance producer, focusing on circus, outdoor and accessible shows. She’s about to embark on creating her own work. Passionate about circus, physical theatre and politics, she believes that performance has the power to change people, perspectives and hopefully, the world. @saschagoslin
Total Theatre Editorial Team:
Dorothy Max Prior, editor
John Ellingsworth, web editor
Beccy Smith, associate editor
Thomas Wilson, contributing editor
For further information, press enquiries, interviews or photographs contact:
Dorothy Max Prior, editor, Total Theatre Magazine
max@totaltheatre.org.uk +44 7752 142526
Featured image (top): Total Theatre Artists as Writers 2020: participant Paschale Straiton