Past Projects

The 1st phase in the exploration of Orwell’s 1984 is now completed. Our participants have been amazingly open, ready to experiment and question their prejudices. Thank you for having joined our path. A great thank you to the Poetry Place who offered their sunny, quiet space. We are already excited about the continuation and our General Manager Sylvain is working on the organisation of the 2nd phase due to take place in late February, early March 2013.

Meanwhile Rawmatterial is planning other surprise events because Not Acting is Unconsciousness!

The Actor – Creator
Rawmatterial – Maria Gaitanidi & Stéphane Poliakov
29 October – 7 November 2012, London

APPLY BEFORE THE 20TH OF OCTOBER AND GET A FREE ACTOR’S SURGERY.

This intense 9 day workshop is part of a threefold training project culminating in a theatre performance (more details below). The first encounter will explore the scenic presence of the performer: What is our acting organicity? How do we become creators, with ourselves and the author as sources? Through structured improvisations based on literary texts and in the form of monologues, the actors will develop their own means of expression.

Sessions are led by actors and directors Maria Gaitanidi and Stéphane Poliakov from Rawmatterial. Their method of work is new to the UK and combines elements from two of the greatest Russian theatre practitioners Maria Knebel and Anatoli Vassiliev. The pedagogical approach aims at obliterating theatrical clichés, renewing the relationship to the poetic self of the actor in the world we live in today. The material of the sessions will be fuelled by Orwell’s 1984 and related literature such as Beckett’s short novels, amongst others.

The workshop requires commitment, a hunger for experimenting on alternative artistic approaches, and a good sense of humour! Theatre professionals, actors, drama students and anyone interested are welcome to apply. You do not need to be familiar with the work of Rawmatterial or the Russian school to participate, but simply be open to new horizons. Places are limited to 10, to ensure high quality of training both tailored to each participant’s needs and to the group as an ensemble.

When – 29 October to 7 November 2012, 11am-4pm (Sunday 4 November off)

How to apply – Please send a CV with a brief note explaining why you want to participate to Sylvain at info@rawmatterial.org. UK and international candidates are equally welcome to apply. Selected participants will be emailed details about what they have to prepare and other practical requirements. The autumn workshop fee is £250 per participant.

Deadline for application – 25 October 2012

Where – Poetry Café, 22 Betterton Street, London, WC2H 9BX

Beyond the autumn workshop
The autumn workshop is the first part of a threefold training initiative culminating in a performance in 2013. The second workshop series will take place in March 2013, leading to a selection of participants who will take part in our May 2013 performance in London.

About Rawmatterial
Founded by Artistic Director Maria Gaitanidi, Rawmatterial is an international collective of artists, who explore alternative performative approaches, notably the ‘speech as action’ and ‘ludic structures’ as developed by Russian theatre director Anatoli Vassiliev. No matter the text, language, space or mean – an intense, fluid action will rise from the performers, magnetizing audiences/witnesses to an unexpected flow. Building on our UK performances and workshops, we are creating the first theatre studio laboratory within the UK that explores those specific techniques. Find out more by navigating on our blog.

Surface Exhibition Take 2: On Beauty/
The Crypt St Pancras
St Pancras Church Euston Road, London NW1 2BA
13-22 July 2012, 11am-6pm

Private View 12 July @6pm

Rawmatterial are invited, following their successful exhibition in July 2011, to create a new live performance exhibition at the mystic Crypt, St Pancras, as part of Surface 2. This time around Rawmatterial will be exploring the idea of Beauty, creating a unique live experience for the viewers, transforming sensorial perception and questioning prejudice.

On Beauty: A Dialogue
Can Beauty be defined?
Is it a woman?
Is it what we experience with our eyes and ears?
Is it in the meaning of our living day to day? Happiness?

In a small underground room, we are doing the surgery of Beauty. Two doors, a dialogue, a never-ending definition, each viewer/witness can change the composition in the room and offer their Beautiful. The path is unknown and remains untraveled.

Artists involved: Natasa Stamatari – Scenographer – Lighting Designer, Alexis Alexandridis – Videographer, Maria Gaitanidi – Performer, Conception

Free event

Dance Me
The Poetry Place, Covent Garden
Saturday 23 June, 7.30pm

If it’s not hot
Young
If it does not count a few centuries on its back
Then it is not what you are coming to witness
Join Rawmatterial’s next ludic step into London City for true action in all forms
Marlowe, Keats, Wilde, Baudelaire
French and Greek songs of the early 20th

Rawmatterial is an international collective of artists who explore alternative performative approaches, notably the ‘speech as action’ and ‘ludic structure’ as developed by Russian theatre director Anatoli Vassiliev. No matter the text, language, space or mean – an intense, fluid action will rise from the performers’ voice, magnetizing audiences/witnesses to an unexpected flow.

‘I found it an incredibly compelling performance and was totally engaged. Rather than wondering “why that phrasing” “what’s the hidden meaning of that word” I could experience it on a purely visceral level, which perhaps ties in to the idea of action which was discussed in the debate.’ Audience member, Tauris->< --> City – Crossbred Dialogues, 1 May 2012

Tickets: £5
To book:please reserve your tickets by emailing Sylvain at info@rawmatterial.org. You are also welcome to simply join us in the evening, but we encourage you to book in advance as the number of seats is limited.

Please note that due to the nature of the performance, late comers might not be admitted.

Tauris->< -->City Crossbred Dialogues

Fragments interwoven
Iphigenia in Tauris by Euripides
Critias by Plato

Be the first to witness acting revolutionised…..

1st May 2012
The Hellenic Centre
16-18 Paddington Street
@19.15
Free Entry

Rawmatterial launches its first studio laboratory, a practice rarely encountered in the U.K., with a theatre approach that has never been explored in the land of Shakespeare ever before.

Addressed to theatre professionals and drama students alike, this 10-day workshop will take place in the beautiful Poetry Café in Covent Garden, London and will explore Oscar Wilde’s lesser known texts (The Decay of Lying, De Profundis, etc..).
The laboratory will be conducted by theatre director and pedagogue Stéphane Poliakov actress and researcher Maria Gaitanidi, using a dramatic analysis of the text for the action and put in practice with the method of the étude, as developed by Russian Master Anatoli Vassiliev.

Dates: 17-28 April (22-23 day off)
Time: 11am-4pm
Participation Fee: £250 for the entire 10-day period*
Applications are also open to international candidates; the leaders speak English, French, Italian and Greek.

Places are limited to 12 so please send a CV and a short paragraph on why you want to participate to the workshop to Sylvain, info@rawmatterial.org
Selected participants will be emailed about what they need to prepare and other practical requirements.

Deadline for application: 10 April
*We are committed to keeping the fee as low as possible to promote a broad access to our 50 hours workshops. Please note that for this reason, we are unable to grant any discount or concession.

The Vault Festival/Relinquish/
The Old Vic Tunnels
Saturday 18 February 2012 @5pm

During one night, under the Waterloo arcades and amongst a variety of happenings along the labyrinth under the railways, there is one fervent questioning on oneself, the living moment, the identity moment, the creative act in suspense. Rawmatterial present, as part of OTB Productions’ Descent, a new play Relinquish written by award winning playwright Ross Howard; the play is part of a 4 short plays promenade.

Tickets:£8
To book click here

Read here the 4 star review after the 4 sell out performances @ The Old Vic Tunnels

Just released…… Photos from ‘Relinquish’ @ the Old Vic Tunnels.

Photography by Laura Oliver

Performers: Louise Faulkner, Thom Mitchell, Natasa Stamatari

From the eaten to the sacrifier……

After a few months of wandering, here is a selection of images of the first fragment of the Orestes Rising Laboratory. Feel free to browse through the three different categories with pictures of the work in progress, the opening night at the Crypt in London in July 2011 and some more artistic visualisations from various artists.

A great thank you to Frederic Hello, Ewelina Kabala and Vincent Ayral who captured our work in its cruddle.

Watch the film on Orestes Rising, part of The Crypt Exhibition, London, 2011

Faidra-Rock is part of Maria’s and Natasa’s work before the birth of Rawmatterial and was developed with Magdalena Tuka from Studium Teatralne between 2009 and 2010 following a research field trip in Crete, Greece. It is based on Euripides’ text Hippolytus and Sarah Kane’s Pheadra’s Love.
It was selected for the Year of Grotowski 2009 Event at the University of Kent and was presented in Area 10, London, in September – October 2009 and February 2010.

Creative Team
Developed and performed by Magdalena Tuka and Maria Gaitanidi
Design and Costumes by Natasa Stamatari
Video by Ilenia Voleri