The Royal Court Theatre and LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre) are looking for young people aged between 8 and 14 to perform in a play to be directed by the acclaimed Belgian Theatre Maker, Lies Pauwels.
Lies lives and works in Ghent in Belgium and has created theatre that has been performed all over the world. In Britain she has worked with the National Theatre of Scotland, Manchester International Festival and LIFT. Her last production for LIFT was The Hamilton Complex which was performed last year, during the Festival.
This time, Lies is making a play with young people who were assigned male at birth and in a process of questioning, exploring or transitioning their gender identity, or are questioning their sexual identity. We’re looking for young people who live in London and identify with this description and want to be in a play.
The play will be made using improvisation. Participants don’t have to have any experience of performing on stage at all. All we want is for them to be up for it, open to working with other people, curious about theatre and not scared of putting themselves on stage and trying new things. We’ll be making it with the participants – they can dance, or act or just be!
This is a professional theatre production, so we’ll have to ask the young people and their parents to commit fully to the whole project. That means workshops and rehearsals during school holidays, maybe some weekends and, of course, the production itself. Anyone who can’t commit in this way won’t be offered a part. There’s also the possibility of touring the play abroad, so do please keep that in mind.
This is how it will work. There will be workshop auditions, to be held on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 July at the Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square. Lies will then select the participants she wants to work with. The final group will then be asked to come to work with us at the following times (subject to change):
• Workshop 1: Monday 24 July to Saturday 5 August 2017 (Summer Holidays)
• Workshop 2: Monday 23 to Saturday 28 October 2017 (Autumn Half Term)
• Workshop 3: Monday 12 to Saturday 17 February 2018 (February Half Term)
• Workshop 4: Tuesday 3 to Saturday 14 April 2018 (Easter Holidays)
• Provisional dates for Rehearsals: Tuesday 29 May to Saturday 2 June 2018 (May Half Term)
• Provisional dates for Performances: between Monday 4 and Saturday 30 June 2018
There may be other weekends or evenings outside this time when performers will be asked to come to a workshop.
How to get involved
Anybody interested in taking part, or who just wants to know more, can email us.
