Meaning-making in Contemporary Performance: Dramaturgy Lab with Harriet Gillies.

Making a new performance work that responds to our contemporary world? Are you writing or devising performance and theatre in a non-traditional or multi-artform way? What are the new approaches required by a dramaturge to make sense of and truly reflect our present day?

Join Performance Artist Harriet Gillies in this super practical lab that unpacks and provides tools to develop dramaturgy across live art, devised and physical theatre, experimental and digital performance and large-scale, durational projects.

In this workshop, Harriet provides performance makers, directors and playwrights with ideas, methods and techniques that explores cutting-edge sensibility, boundary-pushing aesthetics and non-linear logic. 

About the Artist:

Harriet Gillies is an award-winning performance artist whose work spans digital, durational, participatory, visual, immersive, new writing and hybrid text forms of contemporary performance. She has presented across Australia, New Zealand and North America.

Recent sold-out projects include, 8 / 8 / 8: WORK created with Marcus McKenzie for RISING Festival 2022. An eight-hour theatre piece lampooning work life in a post-capitalist world and won a Green Room award (Outstanding Work: Contemporary & Experimental Performance). This is the first in a triptych of large-scale performances commissioned by RISING that will include REST & PLAY.

Her solo performances include, The Power of the Holy Spirit, won the Best Experimental Show Award at the Melbourne Fringe Festival and had a sell out season at the Flying Nun in Sydney. 

Her digital performance with collaborator Xanthe Dobbie, Pleasuredome premiered as part of 2020 Griffin Lock-In, and was presented by Griffin Theatre Company at the 2021 Sydney Festival. 

She currently tours Queer Powerpoint with Xanthe Dobbie and Unfunded Empathy as an ongoing series of niche deep-dives, presenting at the Sydney Opera House, Western Australian Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art; Sydney Biennale, Pleasures Playhouse and 107 Projects.

Participant Requirements:

As this is an in-person session where you work with the presenting artist and other participating artists to workshop ideas, methodologies, practices and techniques. We recommend you bring along a book or ipad/laptop to take notes (Wifi provided), an idea or project your working on (if you have one) and clothes to move in.

Topics that will be covered include:

• How to structure performance
• How to build symbolic language 
• Inspiration for experimental forms

 
Image credit: Laura Brichter of Harriet Gillies

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ACCESS REQUIREMENTS

If you have access requirements for attending the show, please tick the access requirements box during the booking process. This includes booking companion card tickets. A Brand X team member will then be in touch to ensure we understand your requirements. If you require an interpreter, please email [email protected] 

HOW TO GET THERE

Train: Town Hall Station 2-minute walk. 
L2 Light Rail: 2-5 minute walk from light rail platforms
Bus: 5 minute walk from Elizabeth Street, Stand C and D
Car: Wilson Parking, 14 Wilmot St, Sydney or Meriton Suite Parking, 100 Bathurst St, Sydney.

REGISTER FOR A BUILDING TOUR

We would love to show you around the City of Sydney Creative Studios. Come 30 minutes before the session starts and we'll show you our Performance, Music, Digital and Visual arts spaces. Email [email protected] to register your interest.

EXCHANGES AND REFUNDS

Want to cancel your ticket? Please email us at [email protected]. If you purchased a ticket, we can refund your tickets minus transaction fees of 1.75% + 30c. Please cancel/refund your ticket no less than 24 hours prior to workshop commencement.