Education
Bringing Words to Life
With the heart in the mind, and mind as body…
The Live Literature Company works in education across the UK and internationally.
THE LIVE LITERATURE PERFORMANCE COMPANY & GUERNICA
GUERNICA: PABLO PICASSO HAS WORDS FOR COLIN POWELL FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF DEATH: BY ARIEL DORFMAN. PERFORMED BY THE LIVE LITERATURE COMPANY AT THE WALES MILLENNIUM CENTRE.
LIVE LIT – GUERNICA.mp4 – Google Drive
Actors: Seiriol Tomos, Fiona Evans, Gregory Cox, Director Valerie Doulton
This magnificent poem by Ariel Dorfman written in response to the war in Iraq, was included in The Live Literature Company’s commemorative First World War programme to show the contemporary relevance of our performances about war. This recording is an important expression of the tragedy of Guernica as well as the tragic results of war that civilians endure.
L.L.C. Director Valerie Doulton researched this programme in both Ypres & Passchendaele. In Ypres, where they refer to their land as ‘poisoned’, a farmer had died only months before, killed by an unexploded First World War bomb. The first performance of this programme was at The Cheltenham Literature Festival just after the onset of the Iraq war.
Guernica: Pablo Picasso has Words for Colin Powell from the other side of Death – relates to Picasso’s painting of the 1937 bombing of the village of Guernica in the Basque region of Spain.
A full-size tapestry copy hangs in the United Nations.
https://www.un.org/ungifts/guernica-tapestry-after-guernica-pablo-picasso
Picasso’s Guernica, free of ‘art speak’ credit James Payne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJLH7JAsBHA
An exhibition dedicated to the story of Guernica, following the 80th anniversary of the work’s creation in 1937. https://www.museepicassoparis.fr/en/guernica
The Musée National Picasso-Paris in partnership with the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
The Washington Post writes: Writers of the past turned suffering into literary masterpieces. They might help us understand how to meet the challenges of our day.
It is a sad paradox, but perhaps not surprising, that some of humanity’s greatest writing has been born in times of turmoil. In an effort to make sense of painful encounters with death and loss, authors have always tried to turn their sorrow and confusion into enduring monuments of beauty among the ruins, masterpieces that stubbornly surface in the wake of natural and man-made catastrophes, wars, civil strife, revolutions and political and economic upheaval. Will it be so in our own times of pandemic, suffering and grief?
GUERNICA: PABLO PICASSO.
SHORT FILM: Guernica: Alain Resnais e Robert Hessens 1950 www.youtube.com
Guernica Magazine https://www.guernicamag.com/about
Above: Val directing students in Uncle Vanya at the (former) Manchester Polytechnic Drama School.
Photo by Peter Evans who designed this production.
MASTERCLASSES
The Live Literature Company teaches masterclasses in Acting as well as on the work of both contemporary and classical playwrights. Our masterclasses, led by Val, have recently been held at the Actors Centre and the V&A museum. For the Actors Centre, Val has recently led a masterclass on the portrayal of women in David Hare’s plays Plenty and Skylight as well as a masterclass on women in Henrik Ibsen’s plays Hedda Gabler and The Lady From the Sea. For the V&A, Val led an experiential masterclass focusing on the balcony scene from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; this masterclass included workshops on acting the scene with Val, dancing the scene with professional dancer Lucy Casson and commedia dell’arte specialist Barry Grantham, in addition to a special screening of our short film Shakespeare and Sign Language. Our masterclasses always incorporate both textual analysis and scene study as well as physical play and acting through the mind and the body.
If you would like to talk to us about teaching a masterclass for your organisation, we’d love to here from you. Get in touch with us here.
NIAGARA UNIVERSITY
For two decades The Live Literature Company has welcomed Drama students to the UK from Niagara University in the USA as part of our study abroad programme. Each year, the students study both classical and contemporary British drama; they then undertake a rigorous rehearsal process that culminates in a professionally staged production which tours local communities in London, Salcombe, and Stratford-upon-Avon.
THE FINAL DANCE IN THE NIAGARA SHAKESPEARE RECITAL 2024
THE FINAL CURTAIN CALL FOR THE SHAKESPEARE SCENE RECITAL PERFORMED BY THE NIAGARA STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS 2024.
SUMMER 2020:
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the students were not able to participate in the study abroad programme this year. However, check out our FORTHCOMING page for further information on an exciting new virtual production that Val will be directing for Niagara via zoom this Autumn.
SUMMER 2019:
In Summer 2019, Val directed this year’s cohort of Niagara drama students in her Shakespeare adaptation A Midsummer Night’s Dream in One Hour. The production toured to Lauderdale House in London and to Salcombe in Devon. Check out our performance at Lauderdale House here.
SUMMER 2018:
In Summer 2018, Val directed this year’s cohort of Niagara students in her new Shakespeare adaptation Love Scenes from As You Like It With Songs. The production toured to Lauderdale House in London, Hall’s Croft in Stratford-upon-Avon, as well as to Salcombe in Devon for a special seaside performance. Check out our performance at Lauderdale House here.
Above: two students from the Niagara 2018 cohort performing as Rosalind and Orlando in Val’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, in Salcombe, Devon.
SHAKESPEARE FOR CHILDREN
In 2008, Val launched a unique experiential learning programme for primary schools, which focuses on Shakespeare’s sonnets. The purpose of this workshop is to support children in their understanding of Shakespeare’s complex yet nutritious language. The workshop culminates with the children writing and performing their own sonnets.
In 2014, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust launched Shakespeare Week with the aim of helping children at primary school engage with Shakespeare’s work. The LLC has been invited annually to participate in this initiative with our Shakespeare for Children programme.
In 2024 Introduction to Shakespeare for Children took place at Salcombe Primary School, Devon, England.