Brighton Festival 2007

Jonathan Kay

A theatre practitioner who is a Master of his art. He has developed a style of theatre derived from the Attica tradition in ancient Greece, where the community used to come together for creative happenings that everyone took part in. Through this approach to theatre Jonathan has created street art events and performances, is big on the festival circuit having performed at Glastonury Festival for the last 15 years, and has also developed his unique Fooling Technique, an improvisation structure created around the archetype of the Fool, which allows the performer to free up their imaginations so they can play any part, working on an emotional plane that keeps the performance grounded in the now and derives it’s content out of the performers relationship with the audience.

Attic Theatre

A theatre company Jonathan Kay formed 35 years ago grown out of inspiration taken from the theatre traditions of Attica in Ancient Greece, where the community reguarly took part in creative happenings. Through Attic Theatre, Jonathan created the Winchester Hat Fair, which still runs today. It also led to a series of Theatre of Now projects such as productions of Romeo & Juliet, Twelth Night & The Tempest, all performed by Fools who had trained in Jonathan Kay’s fooling technique. Now Attic Theatre also runs the Nomadic Academy of Fools, a training structure and company of Fools who are currently travelling the UK and Europe working on Richard II.

Hat Fair

The longest running street arts festival in England, Jonathan Kay created the Hat Fair and took it to Winchester from London in 1971, where it now resides. www.hatfair.co.uk

The Nomadic Academy of Fools

An ever increasing society of people who have trained in Jonathan Kay’s  Fooling Technique and who are now using a Foolish perspective to create happenings in the world at large. As a company, the Nomadic Academy  is currently working on a foolish production of Richard II, where all of the players are learning the whole play off by heart so they can play all of the parts and improvise each performance in the moment. Each Fool brings their own world to the work and many spin off projects occur because of this. For more information on these visit the Academy website www.nomadicacademyoffools.com

The application process is now open for the next cycle of the Academy. Download the application pack in the left hand tool bar and return the application form before the deadline date to be in with a chance of auditioning.

Templates

The touring structure created by Jonathan Kay for the Nomadic Academy of Fools. Based on a sustainable relationship between the company and each of the communities it calls upon, working on donations and support in kind, it allows the Academy to work without the strings of funding attached and also to brings it’s work further into the community. In return it supports the places visited by passing on information freely and offering support in kind to projects spinning out of the communities it visits. For more information on these communities go to the links page.

Bloodstone Guild of Showmen

Jonathan Kay and the Nomadic Academy of Fools are part of the Bloodstone Guild of Showmen. The Guild is a traditional way for those of the same trade to organise themselves so that skills can be shared and insures that wages and conditions are kept unexploitative. It is often hard for artists to ask for the level of payment they deserve and so collectively we approach organisers and producers with a view to fairly receiving for that which we bring and to help develop artists within the Guild through apprenticeships and skill sharing. www.bloodstonearts.com