Where: Croatia. Brijuni National Park – Island Mali Brijun

When: 06.08. – 14.08.2022. (6 – 14 August, 2022)

How to apply: via e-mail at ulysses.summerworkshops@ulysses.com by 30th of June, 2022. The application must contain your CV, a motivational letter and a short introduction video (no longer than 1 minute) and please write the name of the workshop you are applying to.

Who can apply: Theatre amateurs and professionals, nature enthusiasts, sound and motion lovers.

Language: English

Price: 700€ / 600€ for full-time students

Number of participants: 10

Workshop Leaders: Pauline Calmet and Damir Urban

Organization: Kolektiv Igralke and Ulysses Theatre

Workshop plan and program:

Overloaded by jobs, work, information, technology, modern-day multitasking we confront the question; What is Overload? How do we deal with it, do we recognize it and do we acknowledge it within ourselves and others?
In this Workshop, far-off the land and the stimuli which cause the overload, on an inhabited island with plenty of scent, taste and sound we will be searching for the presence and the meaning of the ideas ”here” and ”now”. Overload is a topic which is philosophically and practically supported by the method of improvisation, bringing the performers and the audience together in the common quest towards the solutions for the contradictory reality which we are all part of. By creating music, exploring the wilderness and theatrical improvisational scenes we try to answer the question: What remains when the overload is gone?
The programme consists of workshops with daily duration of 6 hours; 1 hours of morning yoga, 2 hours of music-related work – practical work combined with research on a given topic and 3 hours of interdisciplinary work through music and improvisational theatre, with the starting and focal topic: ”Overload”

Sound and music research with Damir Urban (2 hours)

Sound and music workshop led by the famous Croatian musician and visual artist Damir Urban will be concentrated towards creating musical instruments made out of natural materials, recording and composing sounds using the conventional but also an underwater (hydrophonic) recorder and loops. Sounds designed and recorded by the workshop group will be used as musical background for the theatre improvisations created on the second part of the workshop.

Improvisational theatre with Pauline Calmé (3 hours)

Led by French improvisational actress, pedagogue and director Pauline Calme, also addresses the ‘Overload’ topic, using the improvisational theatre techniques and tools. The duration of this part of the workshop is four hours a day. The goal of the workshop, next to learning new tools of research and creating is also designing and performing individual and group improvisational acts. The knowledge and experience provided by the workshop itself becomes a tool which can later be used in scenic and performing creations. The tools of the improvisational theatre help the performer in the creation process but are also applicable and useful in daily life.
Improvisation itself opens up the space of imagination, and can lead us to new ideas which are full of new, creative energy. It also teaches us to trust our own feelings; it teaches about presence, about perceiving the sensations around us and allowing them to enter our being.
The workshop program, along with the ”Overload” idea, emphasizes the importance of ecology and reconnecting with nature, which in its essence is the complete opposite of overload and represents simplicity, harmony and peace.

About workshop leaders:

Pauline Calmé

Calmé has performed in 150+ professional theatre shows (Improvisation, clown, mask, contemporary and classical). From 2013 to 2018 she performed in the successful long-form improv show Le Fauteuil with the company Smoking Sofa. She performed as a clown and physical actress in Requiem for 3 years (2015 to 2017). In 2016,  she created and directed Le Fauteuil d’orchestre, a musical and improvised show. She taught, directed and performed improv in 15 festivals (NZ Improv Festival 2017, Improvention 2017, Nelson Fringe Festival 2018, Slovenia Kamfest, and festivals in France).

Calmé studied acting for two years at Armel Veilhan’s theatre school in Paris. From 2015, where she was mentored by the clown-acrobat Ira Seidenstein (Slava SnowShow, Cirque du soleil, International School for Acting And Creativity in Brisbane). In 2019 she became an official associate of I.S.A.A.C. In France, she is supported by the company Trance Mask France.

Unleash The Beast isher third solo show, after two written ones. After a season in Paris, July 2019, she performed Unleash the Beast at The Butterfly Club in March 2020 just before the lockdown.

Guillaume Boit

Guillaume loves stories and games. His involvement with impro goes back to 2010 and is sharp, playful and sincere. Committed with Smoking Sofa (Paris) from 2012 to 2016, he has worked as the artistic director of both directed improv shows Le Fauteuil and L’Agence Pour la Défense du Monde for over a hundred performances. Since 2016 he has created several impro shows in Nantes playing with uchrony,live video on stage or mono-scene long forms.

He also managed and directed Maestro Impro (Keith Johnstone) for 3 years in Nantes. His duo Nouvelle Donne (produced and toured by Live Comedy) plays with the infinite possibilities of impro starting with a single suggestion from the audience.

As a teacher, Guillaume is praised as caring and challenging. His favourite topics are directed impro, organic impro and tools for fluid narrative long forms. After being a co-teacher with les Eux in Paris for 4 years, he has coached over 7 different companies or classes in Nantes. His main influences are to be found in his initial training (Nabla Leviste, Ian Parizot) as well as the several international teachers he has worked with over the years (Patti Stiles, Mark Jane, Steve Jarand, Omar Galvan, Matthieu Loos…).

Damir Urban

Damir Urban, born in 1968 in Rijeka, is an independent artist, primarily works as a musician, but occasionally also as a visual artist and theatre performer. His rich career includes more than a dozen original albums released during his years of work in the Laufer group, as well as those released during his solo career.

During his career, he has won a number of professional awards in the form of Porin, Black Cat and MTV Gold Awards, as well as awards such as the City of Rijeka Award, and the Miroslav Korbler Award of the Croatian Society of Composers and many others.

He often collaborates with the Ulysses Theater as an actor, composer and visual artist contributing to the theatre Ulysses identity.

He worked at the University of Rijeka in 2012 on the department of applied arts, and in 2014 he held a workshop at the Sarajevo Film Academy with the world-famous artist Bela Tarra.

He is the author of several solo exhibitions of paintings and art works, and a member of several professional arts association.