Shifting Focus

Are you a performing artist who is curious about object theatre?

In collaboration with Figurteatret i Nordland, Scenekunstbruket, Oslo Teatersenter, and Norsk skuespillersenter, we invite you to a two-day free workshop with Rene Baker. The workshop is practice-oriented and can accommodate 12 professional performing artists who wish to explore or develop their stage work with objects. The workshop will be conducted in English.

Rene Baker is a sought-after educator and workshop facilitator, having taught in various parts of the world. From 1998 to 2005, she regularly taught at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. From 2005 to 2010, she taught and directed performances at Institut del Teatre in Barcelona. From 2010 to 2012, she was a guest lecturer at the Turku Academy of Arts in Finland.

Rene has 32 years of experience with puppet and object theatre, working as a performer, director, designer, educator, and researcher. In 1998, she began developing her own pedagogy for puppetry and the use of objects and materials. Currently, she continues to explore the further use of objects in performing arts.

Here’s what Rene Baker says about the workshop:
Shifting Focus is a practical course that examines the task of the visible manipulator when humans and objects share the stage. Participants will discover how varying levels of presence and neutrality can be used for dramatic purpose; experience different ways of using their body and mind to shift the focus between performer and object; and practise guiding the spectator’s attention so that it is for dramaturgical reasons and not by accident that the audience looks at the actor or the object or both.

You can read more about Rene Baker here