Workshop with Graeme Miller

‘Graeme Miller is an artist, theatre maker and composer. Emerging from the bold and influential stage work of Impact Theatre Co-operative in the 1980s, a group he co-founded, his own work now embraces a wide range of media. With the idea of being ‘a composer of many things that may include music’, he has made theatre, dance, installations and interventions. Often reflecting a sense of landscape and place, he regularly makes site-specific works to commission.’ (Artsadmin)

This summer I have been invited to participate in this intensive research into composition directed by Graeme Miller as part of Choreodrome at The Place. Having worked with musicians and composers in my previous pieces, this was a great opportunity for me to look at my own ways of working. Graeme uses a lot of props in his minimalist explorations, such as rubber balls, toy soldiers, magnetic alphabet, playing cards, wall paper, apples and oranges, t-shirt and track suit bottoms, chairs, color pens, a bell and scissors. As workshop participants we were performers most of the time, improvising in response to simple and clear concepts.

His instructions could be pared down to a gentle philosophy of making:
- Keep things simple
- Find a material and commit to it
- Consider the opposite
- Don’t make it interesting
- Try to create a loop
- Use repetition
- Back each other up (when working in a group)
- Don’t act but believe you are doing it
- Give your audience time to take things in