Introduction

After a hugely successful decade as Head of Drama and Artistic Director at renowned drama and arts school, Bedales, I have left to start running my own workshops. I have directed and developed hundreds of plays and exam practicals. Last summer, under my aegis, our 62’s two devised work projects went into the top five in the country.

Staveworks offers your Drama School students, GCSE and AS/A2 Theatre Arts pupils or your Staff the chance to work with the quarterstaff, (a simple pole!) to produce extraordinary performances in tailor-made workshops which they can take onward into their class-work and practical exams.

The options are as follows:

1. A workshop based on Greek theatre to create dynamic and wholly original choral work using staves, physicality, vocal unison, and half masks.

2. A workshop demonstrating devising techniques using a variety of stimuli and, where appropriate, the staves.

3. A workshop using the stave for effective story-telling, useful for all sorts of aspects of curriculum drama.

4. A unique and highly entertaining Inset session for your Staff to build on Teamwork and Leadership Skills.

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Who am I?

My name is Jo Murphy and I am a freelance director and education consultant. After a hugely successful decade as Head of Drama and Artistic Director at renowned drama and arts school, Bedales, I have left to start running my own bespoke workshops for the corporate world, teachers and students, as well as offering consultancy, and pursuing freelance directing, (I offer to consult on “Teaching as a Performance” which I can also bring to your Inset training if you are a client from Education). I have directed and developed hundreds of plays and exam practicals as well as running our top flight academic department and last year took our highly acclaimed production of “Oedipus Rex” to the Edinburgh Festival.

My workshops have been fully trialled and perfected over the years with Bedales students and teachers in Hampshire. Many of my students have gone on to drama schools, film and television.

What do I offer?

Staveworks offers your students and/or colleagues the unique chance to work with the time-honoured quarterstaff, (a simple pole with an illustrious history, please see background notes), to produce highly energised results in tailor-made workshops which combine non-invasive and non-exposing physical work with the imagination that nevertheless challenges and works its own alchemy on each participant. (No-one has to display work on their own, or works in pairs, acting skills are not required and there is NO role-play!)

What does the group achieve?

With my clear and sensitive guidance, using physicality and gradually bringing in vocal unison, the group uses the staves to dramatise poetry and/or excerpts from Greek theatre to create dynamic and wholly original work much of which they can start to create themselves, with my guidance. (The group can move on to work with half masks, if desired). Most sessions culminate in a simple performance.

Why is it useful?

Much of our mental energy goes dormant in our body when we are only asked to focus on fairly mundane, often work-related things.

Staveworks helps to re-tap this force by reuniting the mental and the physical, re-oxygenating – even rejuvenating – we hope, both the body and the brain – similar to sport but requiring a third vital, in every sense, addition: the imagination.

Through aligning the mind and body in this way, much more of your creative potential can be actualised: in and outside the  class-room or rehearsal studio.

You provide:

A large, quiet space/studio

20 people in clothing they can move in. (Max group, 25, depending on the size of your space!)

I provide:

20/25 staves

Half masks, if required

If you are interested, please contact me via e-mail at joannamurphy77@me.com or phone me directly on 01730 823528 or 07850 645257

Some testimonials:

“I found the whole thing liberating: an event which gives you license to behave in a very different way from usual – it was quite out of the ordinary. I thought the end result was quite an achievement.”

Mari Simpson – Parent/governor, Harting School.

“I thought your style with us was spot on and gave us clear guidance about what was expected of us: a dynamic session!”

Abi Jonas, teacher, Harting School

“I found Staveworks very stimulating, you dealt with us well, I felt, and I was aware that we weren’t the most focused or sensible of groups; we were definitely in extremely experienced hands!”

Johnny Culley – Head Teacher Harting School.

“We’d never done anything like it before and the ideas you gave us were perfect for our devising project, thanks” –

Tom Edgeworth, student

“Now I know how to approach the chorus I really want to explore the Greeks in more depth – thanks for a fascinating workshop.”

Jane Inman, student