What does Split do?
The short answer is that we are teaching the craft of theatre-making. Through our programme, participants would learn skills and techniques to create theatre at a high level of craft. At this moment, some prospective participants may say, “OK, but I’m not an actor, and I would never want to become one. Why should I do this?” At Split, we are very clear about why we want to teach this craft to even non-actors in Singapore — we have learnt, through several years of rigorous academic research and practical experience (local and international), that in learning the craft of theatre-making, participants will be able to learn how to responsibly and creatively solve difficult problems, and in that process, create their own unique places in society. The key, however, is to focus on learning the craft. We concur with Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes:
“Happiness, like therapeutic goals for the diminished self, such as getting in touch with your emotional side, building self-esteem and confidence, are the by-products of striving for other things. Once these positive by-products become a central focus for a coercive education, the outcome will be much more uncertain, for although it can only foster more absorption with the self, the cry ‘Why am I not happy?’ will have an external object to blame, namely the coach.” (The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education, Chapter 7, ‘Explaining the Emotional State’)
Hence, we are very clear that we do not teach participants how to solve personal problems of any sort, how to deal with their personal fears or traumas, or how to develop life skills or self-awareness in a general way. We do not analyse why you, as a person with your beliefs, values, and experiences, are creating in specific ways. Rather, we analyse how you can make certain concrete changes in the way you create theatre, so that your creation becomes better. (Continue reading to find out what we mean by “better”.) In essence, everything that we teach through our programmes is for the sole purpose of building one’s craft in theatre-making, and in that process, one learns to find:
“…solutions to the most difficult problems: how to create while one is controlled by others, how to create without the security of creation, how to find a security which is inevitable if we want to express ourselves despite the fact that theatre is a collective creation in which we are controlled by many people and working during hours that are imposed on us.” (Grotowski, ‘Interview with Grotowski’)
We reiterate that the key is to focus on learning the craft. As we are focussing on teaching the craft of theatre-making, sessions will include the teaching of theatre-making and dramaturgical techniques and skills, so that you can create better. Sessions will also include the analysis of your creation to explain, from the perspective of theatre-making, how your creation can be improved. Our basic premise for creating theatre is this:
Creating art is about moving the personal and the subjective into the objective, such that what you present on stage is, as far as possible, important for a larger group of people. It is not enough to say, “My personal story is _____________.” Your audience can simply respond with, “So what? Why should I care or listen to you?” Creation is about connecting the individual to that which connects mankind.
Based on our basic premise, you will therefore be able to see how theatre-making can help one learn how to create one’s unique place in society. From our perspective, when an actor presents something on stage, the actor has a duty/responsibility or even an obligation to:
Communicate in a way that the audience understands and believes you, and
Be not only intellectually interesting, but to also reach a point where the audience cares enough to listen to you for a substantial period of time. Usually, it is when the character on stage realises that he/she/they were wrong about something.
At Split, we believe that when the actor-participant takes up the responsibility to create at a high level of craft, that is when the participant gets the opportunity to learn, at their own time and in their own way, how to live a life on their own terms, and how to form their own unique place and answers in society.
Here’s a brief overview on what we will cover during each Arena:
Beginners and The First Arena: Building self-awareness and connecting with our body-memories for the purpose of theatre-making;
The Second Arena: Learning how to relate to others through our bodies and our body-memories, and learning how to create in pairs for the purpose of making theatre that effectively engages an audience. This Arena will end with a closed-door performance for invited friends;
The Third Arena: Increasing one’s movement and vocal vocabulary, so that one can access a larger range of body-memories, and learning how to use our bodies and voices to communicate with nuance and complexity;
The Fourth Arena: Learning how to write and perform a text that effectively engages an audience, and learning how to create theatre that moves beyond the personal and the subjective towards the objective and the universal. Basically, we will answer the question: why should others care about what you have to say about your life?;
The Fifth Arena: Learning how to collectively create a dramaturgically coherent performance that involves three or more individuals, so that others understand, believe, and care about what the collective has to say, and learning how to create collective meaning with a group of individuals. This Arena will end with a ticketed performance for the public.
If this is what you want, start your journey with us today! Join now.
