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Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP) – Embedding Dyslexic Practices –
About Project Leader: Matthew Jewson
Matthew (BA hons, MA) is a dyslexic actor, producer and director based in Essex.
With over 10 years of industry experience Matthew has dedicated his work on the belief that creativity & artistic expression is a catalyst for change. He has extensive experience on curating youth projects as previous company director to TWAS Theatre ltd and producing the creative engagement programme at The Mercury Theatre Colchester. He’s directed touring productions, fringe and musical theatre. He loves to collaborate, listen and identify needs that can be harnessed within creative settings, from staged productions to community outreach projects locally and nationally.
Project Brief
The aim of the project is to simulate a series of six individual rehearsals with 4 dyslexic actors and 1 musician. The days will be exploring a variety of acting techniques and simulating a rehearsal room environment that’s reflective of a project. We will be exploring but not exclusively – text analysis, movement, musicianship and actor centric approaches.
The premise of each day will be laid out with a daily focus on specific techniques and exercises that were researched by the director. These are targeted techniques and circumstances that neurodiverse actors may have found challenging within a rehearsal room. These will also be suggested activities from dyslexic actors that were interviewed in January of 2024.
The rehearsals will organically be shaped to allow space for reflection and creating strategies to avoid overwhelm.
Three of the six rehearsals will be led by neurodivergent specialist Deborah Groves who will deliver workshops centred around her specialist field and providing intrinsic feedback and guidance during the process of the rehearsals.
During the process of these rehearsals with the company of a scribe Matthew will documents the rehearsals with the purpose of creating a reflective journal and resource pack for dyslexic actors and theatre makers to consider for their future practice.
Eide, B.L. and Eide, F. (2011) The dyslexic advantage: unlocking the hidden potential of the dyslexic brain.
Griggs, K. (2021). This is Dyslexia. Random House.
Davis, R.D. and Braun, E.M. (2011). The Gift of Dyslexia. Souvenir Press.
Whitfield, P. (2019). Teaching Strategies for Neurodiversity and Dyslexia in Actor Training.
Onyinye Udokporo (2022). Dyslexia and Me.
Isaacs, C. (2019). Adult dyslexia: unleashing your limitless power. Cheryl Isaacs.
Also, part of the research phase will consist of interviewing 12 dyslexic creatives that are currently practicing in the theatre industry today. These creatives will be playwrights, actors, directors, producers and published authors. This primary research will allow case studies that will attribute to the simulated rehearsals and creation of the toolkit.
What’s important in the rehearsals is to establish a space of reflection for all participants during the process. Setting up the tasks of the explorations will be the foundational basis of finding neurodiverse techniques that can be useful within creative situations.
The current vision is that once a task is put into place - for example the scenario of a table read - we will play it a ‘conventional’ or ‘traditional’ way that would be expected in a rehearsal room and reflect on the challenges with then exploring a more neurodiverse route to see what might or may not of benefitted.
For more information visit:
www.matthewjewson.co.uk
Matthew (BA hons, MA) is a dyslexic actor, producer and director based in Essex.
With over 10 years of industry experience Matthew has dedicated his work on the belief that creativity & artistic expression is a catalyst for change. He has extensive experience on curating youth projects as previous company director to TWAS Theatre ltd and producing the creative engagement programme at The Mercury Theatre Colchester. He’s directed touring productions, fringe and musical theatre. He loves to collaborate, listen and identify needs that can be harnessed within creative settings, from staged productions to community outreach projects locally and nationally.
Project Brief
The aim of the project is to simulate a series of six individual rehearsals with 4 dyslexic actors and 1 musician. The days will be exploring a variety of acting techniques and simulating a rehearsal room environment that’s reflective of a project. We will be exploring but not exclusively – text analysis, movement, musicianship and actor centric approaches.
The premise of each day will be laid out with a daily focus on specific techniques and exercises that were researched by the director. These are targeted techniques and circumstances that neurodiverse actors may have found challenging within a rehearsal room. These will also be suggested activities from dyslexic actors that were interviewed in January of 2024.
The rehearsals will organically be shaped to allow space for reflection and creating strategies to avoid overwhelm.
Three of the six rehearsals will be led by neurodivergent specialist Deborah Groves who will deliver workshops centred around her specialist field and providing intrinsic feedback and guidance during the process of the rehearsals.
During the process of these rehearsals with the company of a scribe Matthew will documents the rehearsals with the purpose of creating a reflective journal and resource pack for dyslexic actors and theatre makers to consider for their future practice.
- Research Phase
Eide, B.L. and Eide, F. (2011) The dyslexic advantage: unlocking the hidden potential of the dyslexic brain.
Griggs, K. (2021). This is Dyslexia. Random House.
Davis, R.D. and Braun, E.M. (2011). The Gift of Dyslexia. Souvenir Press.
Whitfield, P. (2019). Teaching Strategies for Neurodiversity and Dyslexia in Actor Training.
Onyinye Udokporo (2022). Dyslexia and Me.
Isaacs, C. (2019). Adult dyslexia: unleashing your limitless power. Cheryl Isaacs.
Also, part of the research phase will consist of interviewing 12 dyslexic creatives that are currently practicing in the theatre industry today. These creatives will be playwrights, actors, directors, producers and published authors. This primary research will allow case studies that will attribute to the simulated rehearsals and creation of the toolkit.
- Simulated Rehearsals
What’s important in the rehearsals is to establish a space of reflection for all participants during the process. Setting up the tasks of the explorations will be the foundational basis of finding neurodiverse techniques that can be useful within creative situations.
The current vision is that once a task is put into place - for example the scenario of a table read - we will play it a ‘conventional’ or ‘traditional’ way that would be expected in a rehearsal room and reflect on the challenges with then exploring a more neurodiverse route to see what might or may not of benefitted.
- Reflective Journal & Toolkit
- Legacy
For more information visit:
www.matthewjewson.co.uk