My teachers

My Teachers

The first teacher I am going to base my admiration on is a man called Sebastian Gonzalez or commonly known as Bassi. He has been a tutor of mine since I started at the Chicken shed and has guided and inspired me through my creative work. Bassi works at Chicken Shed theatre and has been a member there 26 years. He is a tutor to BTEC and foundation degree students and even now finds the time to help me with different obstacles that I face even though he is no longer a tutor of mine. I have been both a BTEC and foundation degree student and Bassi has been there with support and guidance. To teach our young minds and influence us in only what can be described as a positive creative manner. He truly is what you might call an “all rounder” a fantastic performer as I will go on to write about and a very patient understanding person as a tutor.

Bassi specializes in movement based theatre but his acting and singing skills are just as admirable. He as Trained at The Chicken Shed Theatre Company, University of Brighton and at The Laban Centre for Movement and Dance mainly in Contemporary, Physical Theatre and Contact Improvisation. He has trained and performed in parts of Western Europe and Central Brazil with companies such as Divas. Bassi’s work experience is outstanding. He has been in 14 dance shows, 10 theatre productions and 6 television appearances including adverts and films. He has toured many of these pieces around the world. I find his most interesting experience to be when he performed in “Stomp” he traveled to Paris and lived there for the duration of his part in the show. He has been directed by people such as Terry Johnson in a play called the Royal court which went on to have fantastic reviews.

Whilst this was all happening Bassi still found the time to go back to Chicken Shed and help with outreach projects and workshops, which is completely admirable to me as we both use the method of inclusivity. The cause is so strong that you do follow your heart and it leads you back to the home of where it all happens. Bassi has worked with hundreds of different people through his career all of different ages, abilities and backgrounds and still finds the time to challenge himself and find new projects and work towards new goals. Bassi has taken his work to other countries with him to share his knowledge and talents; such as Brazil where he worked with a dance company and toured around towns.

Bassi was influenced by his granddad Thomas Heathcote who also was a performer, he spent his early childhood learning from him and studying him, from then on Bassi knew that he wanted the same fate. And so he did go on to be a performer just like his granddad. He takes influence and admires Dv8, Lloyd Newson and Wim Vandekeybus. The most interesting name I found however is John Thierry who Bassi describes as someone who is “total theatre”. Which I think is rather like himself.

All aspects of theatre appeal to Bassi and as he has taken influence from these people he has passed his knowledge down onto me. So to me, no performer’s memory ever really dies. He has taught me that every performer is influenced by someone or someone’s work whether you like or dislike it. You make decisions yourself and deal with those consequences whether that be concerning theatre of just in general life. You can make theatre according to who you are and life experience will help with this process so get as much of it as you can! Bassi has influenced me when working with young adults, his energy is completely captivated by his students and it makes everyone in the lesson want to listen. He gives first hand experiences of routines he has learned from Theatre shows and will go on to teach them so that students have a glimpse of what lays ahead of them if they choose that path. I hope to gain as much experience as Bassi and he gives me the encouragement to do so. He is an inspiration to anyone who wants to be a performer and is a great role model to younger people. His life experience has come from hard work and dedication and they are the two main aspects I will take from Bassi.

My next teacher is Paul Morrall who has been a tutor of mine for past two years whilst I was on the foundation degree. He works at Chicken Shed Theatre Company as Director of Education and Outreach. That is his official title but his talents and responsibilities delve much deeper. He writes shows and lyrics at Chicken shed. He tells me that he sees his genre to be “really wide” as he follows the inclusive process and pioneers inclusive theatre. His previous work experience includes being a primary, secondary and special needs teacher, Deputy Head teacher and an acting head teacher. He found that the special needs school to be the most uninclusive job he has had as people were put into boxes and he found that it wasn’t the pupils but the staff who made this environment unbearable and unfair.

He believes as well as I do that within society we need to question ourselves that do we need stereotypes to keep us all segregated? To keep the flow of things “smooth” rather than actually noticing that the word disability is merely just a word. Everyone is different and each individual has strong points, both in main stream and “special” schools. If we learn from each other surely that would be much more productive than splitting everyone up? He started working at Chicken Shed as a volunteer at the same time whilst working in schools. He says he used his performing and theatre ideas and mixed them up with education to teach and reach the minds of his pupils. He feels it is the best way to teach young and older minds as the two subjects go hand in hand together.

Paul’s influences range from the following William Shakespeare to John Cleese and from The Beatles to Kanye West. These four people are all known for their excellent skills in creative writing. I can see aspects of all these writers in Paul’s work, John Cleese’s classic Fawlty Towers slapstick Comedy, Kanye West’s deep and meaningful lyrics about life in general. He also takes influence from the founders of Chicken Shed Mary Ward and Jo Collins who are both extremely creative people. They have influenced him because he explains how he was on a totally different pathway to the one he is on now, Mary and Jo Realized his amazing gifts and made him a rock within Chicken Shed. His influences go on to world icons like Nelson Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. These people have influenced him because they gave great sacrifices to correct what was wrong in society. They have all made great sacrifices to rectify society. “Suffered pain and hardship – but could put that pain and hardship into words.” – Paul Morrall.

Finally on Paul’s influences there is Paula Reece, she is not only an influence but a friend of Paul’s and she is the writer and resident of Chicken Shed. Paula has cerebral palsy which means she cannot physically write ideas down for herself. Her and Paul work together to create lyrics. Paula needs to be around chicken shed to be inspired, she finds her surroundings within Chicken Shed trigger off her ideas and when Paul there with her she can tell him through communicating with her alphabet board the idea she has in her mind. These two together influence me as a double act of magic. The bond there is so special and so strong that they go from strength to strength with every song they write. Here is a song they have written together, this is about experiences Paula has had in her life and with the help of Paul and Jo Collins they turned it into a song.

Paul has inspired me because he is without a doubt the most patient, understanding man I havemet on earth to date. He has the experience of the theatre and gives performers like me the skeleton to a successful show. I learned from Paul the art of patience and how to go that extra mile for others. He like myself didn’t enjoy secondary education much and found teachers all to “boring” I felt that the majority of my teachers had no passion for teaching. That what I was being taught always straight out a text book and not worth the while, nothing stimulated me to want to push myself further. From meeting Paul he was the missing link, the way he listens to everyone and adapts activities so that everyone can do them and in doing so everyone enjoys every moment.

Here is an example of their work together which this year will be performed at the Royal Albert Hall. “We Need Each other”

We need each other

Every person has to be dead who does not believe in someone

Every person has to be dead who does not believe in someone
I believe in you I want everyone to be beautiful, like your beautiful to me.
Every person has to be dead who does not believe in someone
I believe in you I want everyone to be themselves like you are to me.
I play around and you still stay with me, I stay out late and you keep wanting me.
I keep doing bad things and you go on loving me, loving me, loving me.
Chorus
We need each other
We need each other
We need each other
We need each other

We need each other, each other, each other, each other, each other.
Like songs need words
(4 bars of 8)
I believe in you I want everyone to be happy, like your happy with me

Chorus
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other

(Different beat)

We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other
We need each other, We need each other

We need each other, each other, each other, each other, each other
Like songs need words