Theatre and Behaviour: Hawkwood Papers 1979-1986 by David holt
Introduction by Pat Watts
When I think back to our weekends at Hawkwood, immediately I have an image in my mind of springtime. Fresh green hills and whole fields filled with cowslips. We were always there in April.
With the help of students from “Sesame Institute for Drama and Movement Therapy” we would encourage participants in acting and make-believe: interpreting text nonverbally but using sound. The selected texts – from Shakespeare, The Bible and H. Ibsen – acting as container for David’s ideas and experiences as they related to our own lifestories. The plays selected had strong family themes, often leaving us with surprising questions. Exploration of the “Dramatic Model” was part of the work.
The large group divided into smaller ones, each given time and space to explore a different part of the text. At the end of the weekend we came together and enacted, group by group, the chosen text as a whole. Afterwards there was time to reflect on what had emerged for us.
I think of the experience as being new and creative. One of the many gifts passed on from David to us all.
Pat Watts, July 2011