As part of its fifth anniversary season, creative youth organisation Studio 18 is organising a workshop called ‘Exploring Anxiety through the Medium of Drama’ led by Kostas Papamatthaiakis and Johnathan Tweedie whose combined repertoire features drama, movement and musical theatre. These theatre professionals will be working together with mental health professional Sunaina Attard, who studied neuroscience and educational psychology.
Johnathan Tweedie was born in South Africa. He says that it was watching Winnie the Pooh live onstage at a young age that made him realise that performing was what he was destined to do.
“I spent my childhood training and working in professional theatre before moving overseas at the age of 18 to take on bigger challenges,” he says. “I have worked as a performer, choreographer and director years in dance, musical theatre and film for the last 26 years, and have been lucky enough to work in over 60 countries globally within the performing arts.”
Having attended the National School of the Arts in South Africa, Johnathan spent 10 years touring the world with many of the world’s best-known Irish dance shows including Gaelforce, Riverdance, Ragus, Rhythm of the Dance and Spirit of Ireland. He then went on to study at the Guildford School of Acting and gained his MA with honours in musical theatre.
Since then he has worked with some of the industry’s most gifted performers. Some of his most memorable projects have been Charlie and The Chocolate Factory (West End), Spamalot, Annie, Noises Off! and Guys & Dolls.
“I can’t however forget getting to work with The Muppets on their latest feature film Muppets Most Wanted – the kid in me was an excited mess!” he admits.
In the last five years Johnathan has put a lot of focus on education within theatre and was co-managing director of Musical Theatre Ireland (MTI) which was Ireland’s first full-time musical theatre training course. He also created the curriculum for the college which has seen many of its students working around the world and in the West End. He has also been a guest lecturer for Musical Theatre Poland and Studio 18 in Malta, as well as many courses across the UK.
“This is the first time I have been involved in a project like this in a formal capacity,” Johnathan explains. “I’ve dealt with many private students and colleagues on a personal level who have experienced performance anxiety but this project allows us to focus on a group of students who wish to explore the causes, effects and coping mechanisms relating to anxiety and other associated mental health issues. I will be focusing on anxiety through drama – how we can better express experiences and personal feelings through drama in order to help ourselves and others who engage as an audience.”
Johnathan will be facilitating the project along with Kostas Papamatthaiakis and Sunaina Attard to create an open and honest dialogue between theatre practitioners and psychologists and the participants. He will also explore the issues with participants through musical theatre and drama with examples from theatrical writing. He believes everyone can benefit from this workshop.
“We live in an incredibly fast-paced society and are surrounded by images on social media of how we are ‘meant’ to live our lives. We are busy trying to keep up with everyone else that we forget what effect this has on our personal well-being and mental health. Although this workshop is exploring anxiety through theatre, I believe the discussion and exploration we intend to have will have a meaningful impact on all who attend,” he concluded.
The three days of workshops, running from 20th to 22nd July, will be working to empower actors, educators, practitioners and young creatives to explore anxiety disorders, their triggers and their treatment. In this light, Studio 18 is working in collaboration with the #StopStigma campaign that raises awareness on mental health.
While no performance background is needed, it would be ideal if participants (who need to be over 18) have a basic idea of performance technique and/or awareness of their physicality, because the workshops will be centred round performance skills. Anyone with a background or interest in mental health, psychology, drama, movement, or devised theatre is strongly encouraged to apply.
For more information or to book a place, please send an email to [email protected]. More information is also available on their dedicated Facebook page.