General, Workshop

Workshop – 19/11/2019

Leave a comment

This Tuesday (19th November) we are proud to present a storytelling workshop with Aron Hegarty of Candlelit Tales.

“The world is a story, we just need to know how to tell it best. Beginning with warm ups to loosen the artist within, we will set off on a journey through narration and find your own unique style of telling your tale. We are all storytellers after all, we are brought up on stories, we create stories and we frame the world through stories, so join us to find the storyteller within you and who knows what stories you might tell.”

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 12/11/2019

Leave a comment

Many thanks to Renee van de Schoor for running last week’s workshop at short notice so we take a rewind this week and present to you:

A (re)Introduction to Introductions with Johnny Shortall.

Like all great opening gambits this week’s workshop is a little late in getting to the point but has finally arrived!

“From establishing the setting, the characters and plot we will look at how to craft a compelling beginning, both through scripted work and improvisation, that keeps the audience on the very edge of their seat from the start.”

Postponed from last week we’re know that this one will be worth the wait.

Johnny Shortall is a No Drama theatre veteran, having directed, written and acted in numerous productions. He is currently operating as the production manager for Gaslight, our winter production.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 05/11/2019

Leave a comment

The theme for the No Drama November Workshops storytelling and engaging your audience.

Our first facilitator of the month is none other than No Drama’s Johnny Shortall.

“An Introductions to Introductions. This week’s workshop will focus on where all good stories start, the beginning! From establishing the setting, the characters and plot we will look at how to craft a compelling beginning, both through scripted work and improvisation, that keeps the audience on the very edge of their seat from the start.”

Johnny Shortall is a No Drama theatre veteran, having directed, written and acted in numerous productions. He is currently operating as the production manager for ‘Gaslight’, our winter production.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 29/10/2019

Leave a comment

Our final workshop of October takes place tomorrow at 7pm and, holy heck, do we have a doozie for you!

Renée van de Schoor will be leading us through devising and creating theatre through physicality.

“In this workshop we will explore elements of devising theatre: a method of theatre making in which the performance/piece originates from a collaborative working process.

Using physicality as the main tool, we will explore expression through physicality, creating collaborative work and mixing it together to create a devised piece.”

Renée van de Schoor graduated from the University of the Arts Utrecht, with a degree in Theatre and Education.

Throughout her studies, she directed several productions with a heavily physical component, and graduated with a completely devised production.

Renée has been extensively involved with No Drama Theatre, she gained experience both on stage and behind the scenes as director, actor and producer and in her current role as secretary in the group’s committee.

After directing a sell-out production of ‘And Then There Were None’, she produced ‘Closer’. Furthermore, she appeared as Woman in ‘The Virtuous Burglar’, Lilly and Lilith in ‘She Kills Monsters’ and in performance piece ‘Heed, to the Mound’ as part of Fringe Festival Dublin (photo). Renée was production manager of ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ and directed ‘Haven’ as part of Scene + Heard Festival 2019.

Most recently, she directed ‘Mistaken’ as part of Short + Sweet Festival Dublin, which was on in the Sean O’Casey Theatre last week.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 22/10/2019

Leave a comment

We are so excited to announce that tomorrow’s workshop will be facilitated by the legend that is Ciaran Treanor.

“This workshop looks to explore physical theatre as a form of storytelling. Conveying a story using our bodies and expressions can lead to a compelling viewing experience for an audience. One which is not restricted by any language barriers. We will be looking at creating physical theatre together and some of the tools that can help us in doing so.”

Ciaran Treanor has been involved in theatre and No Drama for the last four and half years. He has performed in two main productions; ‘The Trial’ and ‘And There Were None’. He has also acted in shows by At Large Theatre and performed with the company in the Edinburgh Fringe festival. In 2017, he co-founded Gorgeous Theatre who produced three full length productions, of which he directed ‘June’ and ‘Somewhere Else’. Most recently he took on the role of Assistant Director for No Drama’s Summer production of ‘Kate Crackernuts’. 

Ciaran is a keen student of physicality and movement in performance, and the value it has in adding to the medium of theatre. 

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 14/10/2019

Leave a comment

A whole new week and we have a surprise for you!

Tomorrow’s workshop will be facilitated by the phenomenal Bryan Burroughs!

“For this evening we will build on the work from the previous workshop by examining two pieces of text from different playwrights with different physical challenges in each and explore how we might tackle them in professional rehearsal.

No previous experience required and I will bring the scenes with me. We will only work on short sections but the aim will be that everyone gets a go and can immediately put practical techniques we work on to use in their other scene work.”

Bryan trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre at Trinity College Dublin.

Noteworthy performances include My Foot/My Tutor with Articulate Anatomy (Best Male Performance at Dublin Fringe Festival 2004),Barabbas Theatre Company’s Johnny Patterson : The Singing Irish Clown ( Irish Times Theatre Award Best Supporting Actor 2009) and regularly performs his one man show Beowulf : The Blockbuster which originated as a Show In A Bag and has toured Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Australia, New York and was the number one success of the Edinburgh Fringe 2014 winning the STAGE Award for Acting Excellence.

Other notable productions include Act Without Words 2 by Samuel Beckett for Company SJ which most recently performed at the Barbican in London and the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris. He also regularly performs in a two hander adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol with Aaron Monaghan which returned to The Ark for Christmas 2016 and tours annually. He played Quasimodo in Angela’s Ashes : The Musical in 2017 & 2019 and Lenehan in the returning production of James Joyce’s ULYSSES at The Abbey Theatre in an adaptation by Dermot Bolger and directed by Graham McLaren in Oct 2017 & July 2018

As director Bryan has directed Fight Night and The Games People Play and for RISE productions written by Gavin Kostick which won Best Actor and the Bewleys Little Gem Award at Dublin Fringe 2010 and Best New Play at the Irish Times Theatre Awards 2013 respectively.

As Movement Director recent productions include Druid’s Beauty Queen of Leenane, Umbrella’s Glowworm, Fishamble’s Inside The GPO, Yew Tree’s Alone It Stands, Pat Moylan’s Stones In His Pockets, Tarry Flynn, The Skriker at the Lir Academy, BrokenCrow’s Levin & Levin, at the Abbey Fool For Love, The Wake and for Second Age Hamlet and Macbeth

For RTE Bryan has appeared on RTE Jr’s The Beo Show teaching drama to young children, written four short stories for the Tell Me A Story series, written and performed a Christmas short story for the Cór Na Nóg Christmas Concert and directed Fight Night for RTE’s Radio Drama season

Bryan also teaches physical theatre at The Lir Academy of Dramatic Art in association with RADA.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 08/10/2019

Leave a comment

We are super delighted to announce that tonight’s workshop will be facilitated by Gráinne Curistan.

Gráinne Curistan is the founder and artistic director of At Large Theatre Company, and has written, performed and directed for theatre for the past 15 years. In the last few years Gráinne has become increasingly interested in movement and its importance in theatre and was delighted to get the opportunity to focus on it as part of her M.Phil in Theatre and performance which she graduated from this year.

In this week’s workshop Gráinne will be looking at precision and image creation in movement and development of short movement based performances.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

General, Workshop

Workshop – 01/10/2019

Leave a comment

Another month, another theme for you to sink your theatrical teeth into.

In October, we will be working on “understanding physicality in theatre and putting it into practice”.

Our first fantabulous facilitator is none other than the director of of Summer production ‘Kate Crackernuts’, Kate Cosgrave.

“This workshop aims to make your movements POP!

We’ll be looking at deliberateness in movement, the balance between motion and stillness, and using precision in “simple” actions, building towards a goal of clean, crisp and confident presentation.

Please dress comfortably!”

Kate Cosgrave is a many-year No Drama veteran who’s had the privilege to act in the group’s productions of Five Women, Harvey and And Then There Were None, to assistant direct She Kills Monsters, and most recently to direct its production of Kate Crackernuts.

A love of physical exploration was what grabbed her and held her in theatre from her very first performance, Five Women. Through this co-production she came into contact with At Large Theatre and their series of physical theatre workshops, which opened further opportunities to write, direct and practice interesting theatre, learning from and with incredible people along the way. She’s fascinated with rhythm, patterns, tension and definition.

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

(Headshot by Shane Robinson)

General, Workshop

Workshop – 24/09/2019

Leave a comment

3rd workshop of the month tomorrow and we are delighted to announce that the workshop is to be facilitated by none other than No Drama legend, Dave McGowan.

“We’re going to continue examining ‘creating a character’. First by going through some basics/refreshers of the elements of character. Then we’ll use scripts and look at working on our scripts for character information and clues. Hopefully you’ll come out with some tools for your toolbox.  But at the very least, we’ll have some fun!”

Dave McGowan has been hooked on theatre ever since taking part in a production of Terry Pratchett’s ‘Wyrd Sisters’ nearly 20 years ago.

Having been involved with No Drama since it began back in 2008, he has been involved in most productions in some capacity, including directing the No Drama production of ‘She Kills Monsters’ in 2018.

As an actor in No Drama he’s performed as Tom Skidmeyer in ‘Night At The Invasion’ (2009), Dr. Sanderson in ‘Harvey’ (2015) and as the Headless Sheep in ‘Kate Crackernuts’ (2019).

Doors 6:45 | Workshop 7 pm | CBS Synge Street

€10 per workshop | €25 for the month | Free if it’s your first No Drama workshop

(Headshot by Shane Robinson)

Audition

No Drama Theatre presents “Gaslight” by Patrick Hamilton – Auditions

Leave a comment

First round auditions for “Gaslight” by Patrick Hamilton will take place on:


Sunday 22nd September from 4pm
Tuesday 24th September from 7pm

Please email contact@nodramatheatre with your preferred date for audition and the character/s you would like to audition for. You will then be provided the audition texts for your chosen character/s.

Full script available upon request.

Read on for for full character descriptions as provided by Malcolm Bolton (Director).

Mr Jack Manningham
Age: Mid 40’s.
Tall, Handsome and perhaps a little too well dressed. His manner is suave and authoritative with a touch of mystery and bitterness”
(Directors note : Actor needs to be able to morph from smouldering-ly charming to verbally imposing in a heartbeat)

Mrs. Bella Manningham
Age: Early to Mid 30’s.
A strong woman who has been so worn down by her abuse that all her primary defenses have disappeared. She is a character who makes the best of a bad situation. “She has been good-loooking, almost a beauty – but now she has a haggard frightened air which tell of sleepless nights, and worse.”
(Directors note: Whoever portrays her needs to exhibit a worn down pride)

Detective Rough
Age: Between 40-60
Wiry, active, friendly, overbearing. He has a low warm chuckle and completely dominates the scene from the beginning.
(Directors note: Whoever portrays him should be able to demonstrate years of experience in the field, his jovial nature, professional tenacity and breadth of knowledge. Almost a Poirot style character. Kind and sagely, but able to act when it matters)

Elizabeth (The maid)
Age: Between 35 and 50.
Amiable, subservient
(Directors note: Loyal to a fault, Elizabeth is a shrewd and invaluable help to Bella. She is kind, but takes no nonsense, I see her as a quiet observer of abuse who takes what opportunities she can to ease Bella’s burden)

Nancy (The maid)
Age: Early to mid 20’s
She is a self conscious, pretty, cheeky.
(Directors note: The Manningham’s slightly less loyal servant. I see Nancy as being fed up of life in the Manningham household. She wants to see the world. She wants excitement….anything to pull her out of the unfulfilled humdrum life she is currently experiencing.)