IdeasTap Opens Opportunity to go Behind the Scenes with Complicite

Arts charity IdeasTap is offering a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to go behind the scenes with Britain's leading devised theatremakers, Complicite. Applications to attend free workshops in Birmingham and London are now being accepted; the deadline is 26 May 2014. This opportunity is part of the IdeasTap Inspires series, a free national training programme for young people building careers in the creative industries, supported by an Exceptional Award from Arts Council England.

Complicite will work alongside 300 IdeasTap theatremakers in a series of free workshops, selecting a company of up to 20 members to produce a brand new piece of work and then perform it in front of an invited audience.

The first stage will take place in Birmingham (7 and 8 June) and London (14 and 15 June).

• Two hundred performers will be given an insight into the skills needed to be part of an ensemble like Complicite.
• Forty directors will take part in workshops exploring how to shape and guide the multiple voices of a collaborative ensemble.
• Sixty set and costume designers, lighting designers, sound designers, and video designers will look at how to rapidly generate and mock up design ideas in response to the constantly changing needs of a devising group, and explore strategies for using design as the driver for the devising process.

For more information and to apply visit: www.ideastap.com/inspires.

Poppy Keeling, Creative Learning Manager at Complicite said: "Complicite's all-hands-on-deck approach to making theatre, where everybody in the room, from the stage manager, to the sound designer, to the actors is creatively involved in making the work you see on stage, is not something most young companies are able to emulate. For Complicite, that's what's so exciting about IdeasTap Inspires - getting the chance to work with young people across the theatre-making spectrum and find new ways of weaving the strands of the creative process."

Peter De Haan, philanthropist and IdeasTap Chairman, said: "We're delighted to be working with the wonderful Complicite to reach the next generation of theatre talent. IdeasTap Inspires is about giving talented young people all over England the head-start they need to launch their careers in the arts. This competition if a fantastic opportunity for young talent to see what's involved in a career in theatre, and get the insider advice they need to achieve their full potential."