Devising Theatre with Collaborative Writing

Explore the world of devised theatre and unleash your creativity in our new collaborative writing and devised theatre course.

During this five week evening course we will collaboratively create original pieces from scratch, blending writing, improvisation and acting. Use your subconscious to unlock new worlds, characters, and stories – then explore them further through collaboration.

This workshop is for actors and writers looking to develop new material in a collaborative environment. Bring your creativity and a willingness to explore!

This course is ideal for anyone eager to experiment, learn, and perform. All levels of experience are welcome.

Please note: please come prepared to perform in front of others as part of the workshop!

Across the five weeks we will:

– Develop unique characters and narratives through creative writing and improvisation.

– Explore acting techniques to embody characters, emotions, and themes.

– Collaborate with others to create a cohesive, original performance.

Week 1: Introduction to Devised Theatre and Collaborative Writing

• Introductions
• Writing exercise
• Share written material in small groups to inspire ideas for collective creation.
• Physical warm-up: Movement exercises to get comfortable with using the body as a storytelling tool.
• Collaborative creation: In small groups, combine pieces of writing to create dialogue for a scene.

Week 2: Creating Characters and Settings

• Writing exercise: Time limited, stream of consciousness writing about different people
• Physical character development: Use physical exercises to embody these characters. How does the character move? What is their energy? How do they interact with others?
• Scene-building: Work in groups to take individual characters and create short interactions between them through improvisation and physical storytelling.
• Group writing: As a group, write a collaborative scene that includes the characters developed so far.

Week 3: Themes, Conflict, and Narrative Exploration

• Writing exercise: Brainstorm key themes (e.g., love, power, identity, conflict) and undertake an exercise like previous weeks to develop written material.
• Improvisation: Use improvisation to physically explore these texts in small groups.
• Conflict creation: In groups, create a scene around a conflict that has arisen through improvisation (either physical or emotional), starting with physical improvisation and then layering in written dialogue or monologue.
• Group writing: As a collective, write the script for the scene developed through improvisation.

Week 4: Structuring a Devised Performance

• Review of material: Look over the scenes, characters, and written content generated over the previous weeks.
• Physical rehearsal: Work on the physical transitions between scenes. Use movement to create smooth transitions from one part of the performance to another.
• Scene order and pacing: Write the structure of the performance and decide on the order of the scenes.
• Collaboration: In groups, rehearse the entire piece, integrating both written and physical elements. Emphasize the fluidity between writing, physicality, and spontaneous creation.

Week 5: Final Presentations and Group Reflection

• Final rehearsal: Continue refining the piece, incorporating any changes and feedback. Focus on transitions, character interactions, and timing.
• Performance: Each group presents their devised work to the entire class.
• Feedback session: After the performances, provide constructive feedback on how well the written and physical elements worked together to tell a cohesive story.
• Reflection on the whole process as a group.

Tutor Ted Orme, new to our team of tutors here at Attenborough Arts, is a creative practitioner based in Leicestershire who works primarily with acting practices, text, and electronic beatmaking. Through his practice, he has developed creative strategies to devise new material. He is passionate about uncovering the stories people have to tell, which informs his teaching on performance programmes at De Montfort University and Addict Dance Academy. He also works with Curve Theatre on some of their outreach programmes for young people.

Participants must be aged 18+.

This five week course will run on Thursday evenings, 6pm – 8pm, starting on 12 June and ending on 17 July 2025.

Please note: No session on Thursday 26 June 2025.

Please ensure that you agree to our updated Terms & Conditions before booking as courses/workshops are non-refundable in some circumstances.

We aim to make all our sessions as accessible as possible and carers/PAs are very welcome – just remember to book their free place when you book your session. If you'd like to talk to us in advance of booking or attending your sessions to discuss your access needs, our Box Office team is here to help! Email arts-centre@le.ac.uk, pop in or call 0116 252 2455, open 7 days a week.

We have four blue badge parking spaces outside Attenborough Arts Centre, plus double yellow line roadside parking very close to the building for blue badge holders for up to three hours if our parking spaces are occupied.

Free parking for all customers is available after 5pm on weekdays and all day at weekends in the University of Leicester car park next door to Attenborough Arts Centre on Lancaster Road.

The closest public car park for parking at all other times is Victoria Park, 5-10 minutes walk from us.