Led by Aitor Basauri & Toby Park
August 23 – August 29
This workshop is currently sold out. We have opened a waitlist. Scroll down to the Registration section to learn more.
This workshop equips you with the tools to take your material from early conception through to production.
Along the way, you will learn how to:
- Create material from the smallest seed of an idea
- Build a number or a scene
- Spot our greatest ideas, which are often right under our noses (if only we know how to look)
- Keep the work fresh in performance.
The workshop investigates the fundamentals—such as the use of costumes, props, lighting, and sound—and explores more advanced concepts, such as writing tools, devising games, group dynamics, dramatic structure, physicality, and music.
This workshop attracts a wide range of artists—actors, directors, clowns, comedians, aerialists, and more. Regardless of your professional practice, you can apply the skills learned in this workshop to any kind of performance space, from purpose-built theaters and cabarets to variety stages, circus tents, and street corners.
Cost
Workshop with standard double-occupancy room with early bird discount: $1,400
Workshop with single-occupancy room: $1,800
Note: A $400 deposit is required when you register for a double occupancy room. A $900 deposit is required for a single occupancy room. The remainder of your balance will be due prior to your arrival at Celebration Barn.
Registration
This workshop is sold out. Click the button below to visit the ticketing page where you can join the waitlist.
We use Humanitix for you to register and submit your deposit.
- Head to Humanitix and select your reservation type.
- Fill out the check-out questions.
- Complete your purchase.
After completing your purchase, a member of our team will be in touch to confirm your registration within five-seven business days.
See our General Info Page and Student Life for more information about the workshops and learn more about
- Housing
- Travel
- Refund and cancellation policy
- What to bring
Aitor Basauri
Aitor Basauri is the founder of Spymonkey, where he has co-created and performed in all their shows to date. Performance credits include The Servant of Two Masters at Sheffield Crucible (1996), Axomate at the Seville Expo (1992), Eulenspiegel (1991) and in Karl’s Kuhne Gassenchau’s Grand Paradis and Stau in Zurich (1997 and 1998). Director of Little Prince for Donkey Productions (1997), Un Vento Impetuoso for La Canoppia (1996) and Meci Y Me Fui for Pez Enraya ( 1997). In 1999 he appeared in Circus Knie, the Swiss State Circus, and in 2000 formed his own company Punto Fijo, based in Bilbao. Appeared in Cirque Images’ 2003 series Solstrom for Bravo Cable Network. Appeared in Bertolt Brecht’s Senor Carrera’s Rifles at the Young Vic, directed by Paul Hunter (2007).
Directing credits include: Lily & Marlene for La Dinamica (Spain 2015); Looking for Duende for Teatro Entre Escombros (Spain 2015); Hondycops for Squadra Sua (Czech Republic 2015); Ferucchio Peru is Extraordinaire for Leebo Luby (UK 2015); Manifest Destiny (New York 2015); Fabulous Bäckström Brothers (Finland 2014); Entre Escobros 600 Teatro (Spain 2014); Gloriator for Skipstick Productions (London 2013); NMIID Simone Riccio, (London 2013); Herr Ist Immer Der Natur for Die Drei Auf Den Baum (Berlin 2012); Discombobulated for Publick Transport (Bristol & UK tour, 2011); Ramshackadelicious (Bristol 2011); Shake for The Last Baguette (Switzerland 2010). Director of physical comedy for Chichester Festival Theatre’s Mack & Mabel (2015) starring Michael Ball. Co-director of Orpheus in the Underworld at Vienna Volksoper operahouse (2023).
Aitor is an acclaimed teacher of clown, regularly leading Spymonkey training in London, New York, Maine, Los Angeles, and around the world, and for the Clown Doctors organization in Germany, Austria, and France.
Spymonkey
Spymonkey are the United Kingdom’s leading physical comedy ensemble, based in Brighton and comprising of a core team: artistic directors Toby Park and Aitor Basauri, executive producer Emily Coleman, founding associate Petra Massey, associate artists Lucy Bradridge and Carl Grose, founding associate Petra Massey, and general manager Nur Khairiyah Ramli.
Spymonkey have been making Theatre of the Funny since 1998. With their dark, edgy physical comedy rooted “somewhere between Monty Python, the Marx Brothers, and Samuel Beckett” (The Houston Chronicle), Spymonkey have proved to be a truly international phenomenon, enjoyed by and accessible to a wide range of international audiences.
Recent years have seen the company growing in new directions as their creative focus has shifted from primarily a performing ensemble to creating, directing, and producing, as well as an extensive international training programme. They recently directed Orpheus in the Underworld, their first full-scale opera, and Spymonkey’s first show for children, Hairy.
Stephan Kreiss was an associate artist until his death in 2021.