Title
Hear Us Out; an approach to Verbatim Theatre

Workshop description
Verbatim Theatre uses the recording or recounting of real life events, experiences and incidents as the starting point for making theatre. It engages theatre makers, performers and audiences with deep listening and demonstrates how theatre can be a powerful tool for activism. This workshop will look at Verbatim Theatre and in particular the Hear Us Out method developed by Dinos Aristidou.

Learning outcomes
Participants will:
• be introduced to the Hear Us Out technique;
• consider how we can make theatre out of real life;
• explore a powerful and relevant contemporary form of theatre and theory;
• consider how to create performances using real life voices;
• develop authenticity in performance.

How this workshop will benefit teachers in their curriculum delivery
Having participated in this workshop, teachers will have experienced and developed an understanding of the following:
• the introduction of a new theatre theory;
• an approach to developing empathy, deep listening and international mindedness;
• an approach to creating a piece of theatre which captures your community.

Target audience
All theatre teachers

Dinos Aristidou
I’m a playwright, director and education consultant working in the United Kingdom and internationally. I was writer-in-residence at Mayflower Theatre, Southampton and am currently working with them on a new musical and with Birmingham Royal Ballet on a youth empowerment programme. I’m the creative learning director of UCAN, working with blind young people and artistic director of the Celebrating Our Stories Verbatim Theatre Festival for December 2020.

My passion is for Verbatim Theatre, working with communities to discover empowering ways of theatrically presenting untold stories. My work with students and teachers focuses on reflection, the role it plays in learning, in making art, in social activism and in building compassion. As an artist I am inquiring into what it means to make art with kindness.

I have an interest in curriculum and was manager of the curriculum review of IB MYP Arts. As a consultant I am involved in the development of the IB Diploma Theatre course as well as Diploma Literature and Performance and Diploma Music. My work involves the design of Diploma Theatre teacher workshops, online courses and teacher support materials (TSM) and the overseeing of whole school change programmes.

I have developed the Hear Us Out technique, a new method for collecting, shaping and performing real life stories. I am currently artistic director of the Hear Us Out Verbatim Theatre festival November 2020 in the south east of England and I am creator/director of Good Company (touring production, 2017, Wales) an original Verbatim piece on disability hate crime.

Event coordinator
Keriann O’Rourke

The workshop will take place using the platform Zoom.
Places are limited to 20 participants per workshop.
You will receive a link to the Zoom call the day before the workshop.

The cost of the session is GBP £30 per person.

Any materials shared with you prior to the workshop, such as the workbook. Plus anything requested by the workshop leader which will be shared with you a few days prior to the workshop.

Space requirements
If possible, please try to have a small amount of space near to you for any practical work.