John Wright (theatre director)
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John Wright is an English theatre director.
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[edit] Told By an Idiot
John Wright is an international director of theatre and is a co-founder and an artistic director of Told by an Idiot http://www.toldbyanidiot.org/ where he has directed most of their repertoire including: Aladdin at the Lyric Theatre, I Can’t wake up, On the verge of exploding, (nominated for the independent award) and Don’t laugh it’s my life, I’m so big, and Happy Birthday Mr Deka D. He was also, in 1980, co-founder of Trestle Theatre Company http://www.trestle.uk.com/, where he co-directed most of their repertoire until 1992 including Top Storey, Ties that bind and The edge.
[edit] Third Party productions
For Third Party productions Ltd John has directed Hamlet, The Changeling, Richard the Third and The Tragicall Tale of Dr FAUSTUS - A Damned Fine Play http://www.thirdparty.org.uk/faustus.html. He has also directed The Wife of Bath and The man who woke up in the dark for Trading Faces and Don Juan for Commotion Theatre.
His opera work includes. Master Peters Puppet Show and Aesop for the NYMT and The Royal Opera House. He has just completed an European Union project called Common Nonsense. John is currently working on a new Opera for Opera Circus called Arcane.
New writing projects include ‘'Meeting myself Coming Back'’ by Kerri Hood for Soho Theatre, ‘'Old New Borrowed Blue'’ by Six of One, ‘'She’ll be coming round the mountain'’ for Back Stairs influence. ‘'Achilles Heel'’ for Rejects Revenge and ‘'Mohamed Malloy'’ (in development).
[edit] Circus
His circus credits include, ‘'Only Fools no Horses'’ by Sarah Wood (with Angela DeCastro), ‘'A Little Job for an Old Clown'’ for Royal National Theatre Studio, ‘'Soul in a Suitcase'’ with Jayne Sutcliff (aerial artist) and ‘'Circus Moon, a large scale circus spectacular with Half Moon Theatre.
John has worked on several large scale events including ‘'Shooting sons'’, A play in Cantonese, commissioned by The Hong Kong Theatre Ensemble to open the Hong Kong Arts Festival, ‘'Beauty and the Beast'’ set in the ruins of Coventry Cathedral in collaboration with the Belgrade Theatre (in development) and ‘'Evocation of Papa Mas'’ (with Told By an Idiot) Co Production with Generating Company and the Mahogany, A large-scale carnival community event. (In development)
John has received the Greater London Award for his contribution to Physical theatre The Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh festival for ‘Aesop,’ The Time Out Theatre Award for ‘The edge’ and The Guardian Award and the Sunday Times Award for ‘'She’ll be coming round the mountain'’.
[edit] Publications
Why Is That So Funny?: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy
[edit] Synopsis
Comedy is recognised as one of the most problematic areas of performance. For that reason, it is rarely written about in any systematic way. John Wright was original founder of Trestle Theatre before establishing his current company, the acclaimed Told By An Idiot (recent success: Playing the Victim). He therefore brings a wide range of experience of physical comedy to this, his first book, a unique exploration of comedy and of comedic techniques. The first part of the book is about the various kinds of laughter that can be provoked by performance. The meat of the book consists of games and exercises devised to demonstrate and investigate the whole range of comic possibilities open to a performer. The result is a deeply but satisfyingly provocative book, in which every assertion in this most subjective of fields is put to the practical test. Everyone interested in how comedy works will be thoroughly stimulated by this book, but teachers and performers will find it invaluable.
[edit] Availability
[edit] The Wright School
John Wright has never been of the opinion that you always do your best work in an atmosphere of seriousness and intensity, so his sessions tend to be fast moving and entertaining, people tend to be up and doing most of the time and there is a lot of laughter.
“When were having a good time we forget that we are working hard, flops become more bearable and can be seen in the context of the workshop rather than signalling the end of your career, as a result we can take more risk”.
The Wright school is composed of small self-contained units designed to support and provoke the activities of the working theatre practitioner. The Wright school can go anywhere in the world, courses can be designed for the needs of a particular company or to those of a small group of artists.
You can duck in and out of The Wright School whenever you like and you don't have to mortgage your mother to go there! John has a unique system of assessment, where those who mess up get the best marks and those who are too good get lousy marks because they are only showing off! The idea is not to achieve perfection but to be in the moment as yourself second by second.
John Wright’s work is about making theatre and inspiring other people to do the same. The aim of The Wright School is to facilitate and inspire theatre making in all its forms. If you have your own company you are much more in control of your personal development as an artist. If you are toying with the idea of writing a play then the Wright School is an excellent place to find a group to help you develop these ideas.
The Wright School [1]
[edit] Reviews
"Theatre about as inventive, imaginative and fantastical as it gets" - Time Out London
"This is such a fabulous piece of theatre you think you are going to burst." - The Times
"Director John Wright has a wonderfully unashamed sense of theatre." - The Independent
"Britain's barmiest physical theatre ensemble" - The Guardian (on Told by an Idiot)
