Last Week of Academy

We have just completed the last week of this cycle of the Academy. It has been an incredible ride! We started at the Actor’s Space in Catalonia, where a combustible week kicked off a year that explored the power of conflict and its necessity in drama. Then trailing through the Pyrenees Mountains we found ourselves in Pezenas, South France, for a week of the macabre atmospheres and almost full performances of Richard II in a foreign country! Then up to Berlin, where a week of full to the brim workshops and friends old and new rounded off an exciting tour through Europe.

Back in the UK we had a freezing couple of months down in Brighton and London, slip sliding our way to workshops and performances around the cities. Life thawed back into splendour for a fabulous week spent in Glastonbury surrounded by snow drops and evolving our souls through Circle Plays. Then Birmingham to Friction Arts where a strong new bond was created with a fresh audience. Up to Liverpool where ambitions thrive or die. We haven’t cracked this city yet, but it’s sure as hell fun trying! Edinburgh was warm and welcoming in time for May and filled with promises for new beginnings and the harvest of past efforts. Performed the finally finished production of Richard II for the a week, ready for the Brighton Festival at the end of May.

Danny's Day

And then Norfolk, a closed week for the Academy participants to complete their journey together. Each person took a day and celebrated their relationship to Fooling in their own unique way. First off Danny began with a Circle Play and then his parents came down all the way from Edinburgh to join him for a taster of fooling and a fun afternoon singing and playing music.

Xaxa's Day

Day two had Xaxa open the day with a Circle Play and then she led us all into performing ten minutes each within which we had to incorporate at least five characters from our scenarios. The effect was incredible and helped us all realise how much we now have at our disposal. In the afternoon she performed an hour long show that tickled and delighted us all.

Jolie & Emlyn's Day

Jolie & Emlyn’s Day included the company of many old friends who will be playing big parts in their wedding next year. During a morning walk through the Norfolk countryside they came upon the church of St Ethelbert’s where the fools organised an impromptu wedding ceremony in which Jonathan Kay married Jolie & Emlyn before the archetypes and pronounced them the most foolish people on the planet! After they returned to camp for a long leisurely BBQ where more friends arrived, one with her new born baby who was only a month old! In the afternoon Emlyn organised a game of football, to illustrate how fooling uses team work and the acceptance of offers. I don’t think he had expected the fools to be too excited about the idea, but they fully capitulated and we found ourselves in a properly focused game of football in which all the fools took to with surprising fervour!

Rachel's Day

After this was Rachel’s day where we enjoyed a morning of musical jamming and an afternoon of voice projection, beautifully rounded off with a magical mystery tour into the local village where we joined a local choir group for the evening and learnt an assortment of snappy tunes!

Jane's Day

Jane’s day heard more music, with the enjoyable company of her Aunt and Uncle, brother and his girlfriend. A day of celebration ensued full of fancy dress, music and dancing. Lots of visits from our old friends Antonio and Vladimir peppered the day and it all ended with a fantastic show from Antonio, Steve and Gina D, of all people, who flew in from the US just to be with us at the Larling International Festival! What a treat it was!

Carolyn's Day

Thursday was filled with cosmic energy as Carolyn led a day on the Mayan Calender and flew us through the Castles on the spiral of conciousness through a morning of Ritual Theatre. In the afternoon she held a Wise Elders Circle where we talked about the last year and what we hoped for next year. Then in the afternoon we worked through some of the issues that had come up over the last year by performing short improvisations using one of the Mayan Archetypes to see what it had to teach us.  Some powerful performances ensued and much of last year’s conflicts were explored and relieved through the Elders circle and performance. We were all really inspired by how well Carolyn held the day and supported us through an archetypal journey. In the evening we sang songs around the fire and made garlands. A truly powerful day.

Koogie's Day

Bruce's Day

Koogie and Bruce shared their day on Friday, with Koogie taking us on a journey into the Underworld with gatekeepers and a musical climax on the ivory keys at Shrub Farm. In the afternoon Bruce performed for us and then took feedback and then performed again, developing what he had heard from the audience.  George got involved in the second show and we were all honoured to have shared in his stage debut! In the evening we performed improvised comedy sketches at the Compass Centre, which is sadly closing down as the Landlord is selling the property. Jonathan Kay and The Nomadic Academy of Fools helped Michelle to create the Compass Centre five years ago and were the first group to ever perform there at its opening. So it seemed fitting that we should also be their last group and over the weekend we closed the Centre down. Full circle, like the zero on the Fool’s Tarot Card.

Joanne's Day

Joanne led a day of movement on Saturday, starting with a Thai Chi warm-up led by Carolyn that introduced us to the Four Seasons breathing exercise that really rocked our world and got us into a focused place to begin working. Gently led into interactions between each other through movement, this naturally led to a couple of performances, most notable Jumper Man, after Jonathan had managed to tangle Danny up hilariously in his pullovers until he’d morphed into a new superhero!  The performances grew into a Jam and we performed a long and powerful piece on the Annunciation, resulting in a crescendo of dance and music, beautifully brought together at the end by Jonathan’s wise words. A really stunning piece of work in moments. In the afternoon the lovely Michelle from the Compass Centre and her friend Claire, who we had met the night before, came to play with us and we led them through the structure without using words and played around with movement, developing into a Roda with music and movement sparing. This built until the yurt could no longer contain us and we burst out into the Norfolk countryside! In the evening we performed our last performance of Richard II as part of this cycle of the Academy. It was the best performance we had done and the perfect end to lots of work.

Dieter's Day

And last but not least we celebrate Dieter’s day, which was also the day before his birthday. It began with another Thai Chi warm-up, as we’re all now hooked, and then Deiter held the circle whilst we all performed for five minutes. It was brilliant to see how the year of development and the week of workshops influenced by other people’s practises influenced our final five minutes together. There was lots more movement, with defined characters and a natural ease with the audience. It was really fun and quiet twisted! In the afternoon Dieter performed a one hour show for us where he worked with the structure and incorporated his music previous performance skills. And then to celebrate his birthday we enjoyed a cake fest after German sausage and kartoffel.

And thus ends this cycle of the Academy. There are big changes afoot for next year as those who have been developing work over the last three years will be cut loose and begin to tour out in the big wide world without such regular contact of Jonathan Kay, who will be beginning to work with a whole new intake of Academy participants. These are exciting times and the next stage of development for this project that is still in it’s infancy stages. So keep your eye on our regular updates to find out how the next year of the Academy will unfold…

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING PART OF NEXT YEAR’S ACADEMY THEN PLEASE CONTACT info@jonathankay.co.uk  OR SIMPLY DOWNLOAD THE ACADEMY APPLICATION PACK IN PDF FROM THE LEFT-HAND TOOLBAR

Jonathan Kay is now off to perform at summer festivals whilst the fools take a much needed break. You can catch him at Glastonbury Festival, Secret Garden Party & Buddha Fields