Trailer

HighTide Academy 2011 from HighTide Festival Theatre on Vimeo.

HighTide Academy 2011 is kindly supported by Suffolk County Council.

The Directors

Cressida Brown

Cressida read English at UCL and is the Artistic Director of site-specific theatre company Offstage Theatre whose work has been covered by Channel 4, ITN, BBC London TV and radio.

Her latest production Amphibians has been nominated for 6 Offwestend Awards, as well as receiving Time Out Critic's Choice. Cressida was awarded the Bulldog Prinsep Bursary from the National Theatre Studio 2007, fellowship bursary by CETT at Central School of Speech and Drama 2009, and chosen by the Old Vic for their New Voices company in 2006. Past productions include: an adapation of Phaedre promenade around the ruins of Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh, a version of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead an RSC project promenade around the Novello Theatre, Matt Hartley's Sentenced at the Union Theatre (Time Out Critic's Choice), and a premiere of Dennis Kelly’s Things That Make No Sense at the Southwark Vaults which transferred to Soho and Latitude.

Cressida was Associate Director for Tamara Harvey on the Union's Terror season and has been Assistant Director for Gregory Doran on the RSC's Hamlet, Love's Labour's Lost and Midsummer Night's Dream and for Nick Kent on Doubt at the Tricycle.

Cressida led the Academy week An Introduction to Performing Shakespeare.

Joe Douglas

Joe trained at Rose Bruford College, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Directing.  He was Trainee Director at the National Theatre of Scotland 2007-8 under the ITV Directors Scheme.

Directing credits include: Our Teacher’s a Troll, Allotment (National Theatre of Scotland); Videotape, The Sunday Lesson, 200 (Òran Mór); One for the Road, Fantasy Football (Battersea Arts Centre); Face to the Wall (Rose Bruford College); 5+1 (24:7 Theatre Festival).  Assistant or Staff Director credits include: Black Watch, Peer Gynt, Nobody Will Ever Forgive Us, 365, The Bacchae and Six Characters in Search of an Author (National Theatre of Scotland); Peter Pan (O2 Arena); Woman in Mind (Vaudeville Theatre); Intimate Exchanges, If I Were You (Stephen Joseph Theatre Company) and Scenes from the Back of Beyond (Royal Court).

He has also worked extensively for Youth Music Theatre UK.

Joe led the week An Introduction to Devising.

Chris Meads

Chris has recently completed a pioneering Artistic Director leadership training programme, mentored within the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester.

He is a previous recipient of the Channel Four Directors’ Scheme, based at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester. In 2010 Chris directed Tis Pity She’s A Whore (4 stars, Lyn Gardner, The Guardian) and Wish You Were Here for the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool and Northern Spirit for Northern Stage, Newcastle; in 2009 he co-wrote and directed A Free House for the Royal Exchange studio and in 2008 directed The Cracks In My Skin by Phil Porter, a winning play within the Bruntwood / Royal Exchange Theatre Playwriting Competition. The Cracks In My Skin was subsequently nominated for two Manchester Evening News Awards.

Chris previously trained on the National Theatre Studio Directors’ Programme and was awarded an Arts Council bursary to work alongside Michael Boyd at the RSC in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Chris has worked as Assistant Director to Greg Herzov, Matthew Dunster, Sarah Frankcom, Jonathan Munby, Ian Rickson, Josette Bushell-Mingo and Max Stafford-Clark, and has lectured/tutored/directed at E-15 Acting School, LIPA, the University of Manchester and the University of Sunderland.

Chris led the Academy week Performing a Classic Text.

The Courses

An Introduction to Performing Shakespeare

Investigate different ways of bringing the work of Shakespeare alive on stage. Working with professional theatre director Cressida Brown, you will be encouraged to embrace the challenges of performing Shakespeare and demystify his work in the process. Develop your acting skills and discover new ways of understanding these famous texts. The week will provide participants with a strong foundation for any future work on Shakespeare.

An Introduction to Devising

Discover new ways of making theatre and creating contemporary performance in an introductory look at devising. Working with professional theatre director Joe Douglas, learn practical methods of generating material and workshopping ideas. Explore visual storytelling techniques and using the physical body in performance. The week will give you the chance to work closely as a theatre collective for the week, create your own artistic process and make new work.

Performing a Classic Text

Led by professional theatre director Chris Meads, this week is focused on the craft of acting. Through the exploration of a classic play learn key techniques for developing a character vocally and physically. Discover how an engagement with the world of the play can create rich and detailed characterisations. Try different rehearsal exercises and enhance your performance skills.