Jordan College of Fine Arts
Department of Theatre

Butler International Theatre Exchange 2007

Close-Up

This workshop is intensive, experiential, and is aimed at actors, directors and writers who are interested in learning a technique for building characters from improvisation, based on the methods of the Oscar-winning film director Mike Leigh.

This is a no-script, improvisation based process to create drama for film (or theatre). Robert Marchand works initially one-on-one with each actor, creating a unique and detailed character. The actor researches relevant background information, and a complete history of the character is agreed upon between actor and director. When the characters are sufficiently developed, they are brought together to investigate specific relationships. These relationships effectively form the core from which the drama is fashioned. The story is created through the process - there is no script at any time (until the release script after filming and editing, which is merely a documenting of the scenes). When there have been sufficient improvisations for the director to have explored the thematic and dramatic possibilities to his satisfaction, a distilling and refining process takes place: past improvisations are revisited, scenes are shaped with the actors re-enacting and modifying previously improvised work under the director's supervision, the individual scenes are defined and fixed with precision, and then filmed.

Objectives

By the end of the workshop, participants will have:

  • First hand experience of acting for the camera
  • First hand experience of working with a professional film director & videographer
  • An understanding of how character-based improvisation works
  • Access to a number of valuable creative dramatic tools
  • Insights and opportunities to apply these techniques to character and script development either in improv-derived workshopping or in conventionally scripted drama.
  • An appreciation of the films of Mike Leigh

For Actors, it can help in:

  • Understanding texts
  • Increasing knowledge of the character
  • Assisting with preparation for auditions
  • Adding depth and complexity to performances
  • Improving communication with the Director

For Directors and Writers, it has particular value in:

  • Auditions
  • Casting
  • Performance
  • Providing a new approach to script development
  • Adding detail to scripted material
  • Exploring the unexpected

Presenters

Robert Marchand

Robert Marchand is a director and writer. He has specialized in television mini-series with an emphasis on performance and character. His credits include Fields of Fire, Come in Spinner, Sun on the Stubble, Kangaroo Palace and The Potato Factory. Robert is a graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School - where he investigated the Mike Leigh improvisation method, working with actors over a three-month period. He subsequently attended workshops conducted by Mike Leigh and has frequently used the process in his own work.

Since 2003 Robert has run a series of intensive five or ten day workshops Investigating Performance with CBI throughout Australia and New Zealand and it has been part of the curriculum of the Graduate Diploma course at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School for Directing students. His master classes on character-based improvisations have been featured at Screen Producers Association of Australia Fringe; Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts; the Australian Screen Directors Association Conference and at the Australian Film Commission's IndiVisions initiative. He is the advisor on several films using character-based improvisation techniques in development or in production. He is now engaged in advanced research into the process for a PhD at Flinders University.

Richard Back, Video Artist, Australia

Richard Back

Richard Back began his career in theatre and film in the early eighties, studying cinematography at university and working for theatre companies all over Australia in the technical aspects of performance. His interest in the integration of electronic (or projected image) and live performance started in the early nineties with a student production of Hamlet that included 16mm film sequences. He went on to work with choreographers such as Graham Murray, Jonathon Taylor and Leigh Warren and with theatre companies including Vitalstatistix, Patch and Adelaide & Melbourne Festival commissions. These projects dealt with the challenges of integrating moving images with live performance in many different ways. Richard worked with Mary Moore on her productions The Masterkey, presented at the 1998 Adelaide and Perth Arts Festivals and on the 2000 production Exile, which was presented at the Sydney Spring and Shanghai International Arts Festivals. Richard is a lecturer at Flinders University Drama Centre and is currently developing projection ideas for a co-production with the Shanghai Theatre Academy based on the recently discovered long history of exchange between the two countries. Richard is currently co-vice president of the Australian Cinematographers Society, South Australian Branch.

A Word from the Artistic Director

We use the word 'culture' in the fields of both biology and the arts. Exchange and difference are common to both: a healthy ecology depends on biodiversity; plants reproduce through the exchange of spores and pollen. Butler's annual theatre exchanges exist to provide the means by which students, artists, and teachers from different cultures, performance disciplines, and theatrical experience, can learn from and about each other.

Close-Up is the sixth in our series of international theatre exchanges hosted by Butler University, each of which explores fundamental aspects of world theatre. Each Exchange is process oriented, placing the emphasis on training and skill development, and culminating in a series of shared performances of work-in-progress to the general public. Common to all our Exchanges is the search for the present moment of performance. That's the thrill of it and that's what defines the living element of performance - the unrepeatable moment of now.

This year's Exchange focuses on the techniques used by award-winning Australian film and television director, Robert Marchand, assisted by video artist Richard Back, also from Australia. This workshop is intensive, experiential, and is aimed at actors, directors and writers who are interested in learning a technique for building characters from improvisation, based on the methods of the Oscar-winning film director Mike Leigh

Participation in the Butler International Theatre Exchange is open to students, professional artists, directors, screenwriters, playwrights, and members of the public interested in exploring new ideas in world theatre. Our daily sessions last from 10am to 6pm, and are located in the Theatre Lab in the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University. There is no audition.

Join us in May for this unique opportunity to explore character-base improvisation for film and television with two renowned Australian artists.

John Green
Artistic Director