Can I apply?
Unfortunately, we are not accepting applications from outside of the UK and Ireland for this first iteration of Live Lab. We are working towards making this opportunity available to international artists in future years.
Yes you may apply. The majority of the teaching will happen over zoom, however for the week of research and development you will need to be in London. We have some budget to support the travel and relocation costs of one artist in the programme.
If you’re:
- based in the UK or Ireland.
- not currently in formal education.
- have at least two years of professional creative practice, outside of an educational context.
- have a strong interest in strengthening your voice, vision, style and honing directorial skills to lead to the making of a future show.
Then this Lab is for you.
This is any creative work undertaken outside of an Educational context. It could be as a facilitator for a Youth Theatre group, as a Sound Designer for an installation, or as a maker of a cabaret show, as a few examples.
If your experience so far has been in writing, but you’re interested in developing your skills as a director you can apply. This programme focuses on developing an artist’s directorial voice, and equipping them to lead a team in creating a piece of live performance.
Please note that this course will not focus on writing.
Not at all. Live Lab is a programme that will help you create and develop an idea during a lab. That’s what it’s designed for.
No, unfortunately Live Lab is not open to applicants who are still currently in formal education.
No, we are only accepting applications from individual artists. It will be possible to work with your collective or collaborators in the research and development period, as long as they are paid adequately for their work (from the £1000 Research & Development budget).
There will be 6 full days of teaching with Katie Mitchell. We also ask that you are available for a full week in April for the R&D period. Masterclasses are currently scheduled to happen 4-7pm weekly, though we may be able to be flexible with this depending on the needs of the group.
We expect you will need to take a minimum of 11 days of annual leave to take part.
We hope that you will be able to join all of the teaching and masterclass sessions, however if you have a clash with one of the sessions, that won’t preclude you from being a part of the Lab. However, it is essential that you are available for the 3 weeks of Katie Mitchell teaching, for 1 week in April for the R&D, as well as the majority of the masterclass sessions.
If you are no longer in university, it is possible to apply, so long as you have had 2 years of experience of professional creative practice in total (be that before, during or after). We are defining professional experience as any creative work undertaken outside of an educational context.
I have a question about the Application...
Yes! You will be able to submit your application as an audio recording. You will be able to do this by supplying us with links to your audio file via storage sites (e.g. Soundcloud, Drop Box, Google Drive) in the application form.
Don’t worry about the quality of your audio file.
Choose one that already exists, don’t make one up. We recommend you choose something familiar to you and don’t spend loads of time researching a story. We’re interested in your creative interpretation. Finally, don’t use up lots of words explaining the fairytale to us. If it is a story you think we may not know, you can post a link to an online synopsis – such as a Wikipedia page
A director’s concept is your vision for a production. It’s your creative interpretation of the fairytale or folktale’s themes and characters. This concept is reflected through every element of the show. You might think about when, and where your fairytale or folktale is set, and what is particularly different about your concept of this fairytale.
An example of a director’s concept of a Shakespeare play would be Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, with the play retold as a romantic crime movie, set in contemporary America. The Montagues and Capulets are warring mafia empires, swords are replaced with guns, Verona Italy becomes a teeming seaside metropolis called Verona Beach – a modern-day city with cars, high rise buildings, hot dog stands – like Miami.
Again, this is just an exercise for the application. The performers and collaborators you choose can be realistic decisions OR a totally unrealistic dream team, such as Hollywood actors. Again, what we are most interested in is your reasoning. Why are these the people you’d most want to work with.
No. This is just an exercise for the application. Of course you can if you choose to – but it is by no means expected.