“…a fascinating festival, drawn together by the remarkable Scottish-based performance artist Saras Feijoo“
The Scotsman
DAY 1 – Thursday 4th June 2020.
. Playfulness as an Active Meditation
4:30 pm
A talk by Saras Feijóo (Artistic Director and CEO, PlayfulFest)
On this talk, I take you to a lovely place where you get to connect with your playful-self and recharge your joyful and cheerful energies.
The idea is to set you up for the three days ahead of you and to create a Bubble of Playfulness that expand you and open your heart to what is to come.
Saras Feijoo is the Artistic Director and Founder of the PlayfulFest – International Playfulness Festival. She is also a playfulness mindset and business coach and strategist. She coach professionals and entrepreneurs on how to achieve their goals and run their businesses, the playful way.
Her e-course, The Playfulness Quest – 30 days to activate the FUN energy within YOU teaches you easy-to-implement tools to take you from overwhelmed energised at the end of your day even if you think you are too busy to have fun or don’t know where to start!
. Storytelling – The Playful Element of Surprise
6:00 pm
A talk by Richard Medrington (Artistic Director and Founder, Puppet State Theatre Company)
Drawing on his experience as a theatre-maker, puppeteer, writer, storyteller and parent who loved telling stories to his own children, Richard will share ideas for making storytime an even more cherished part of the family ritual – not only a bonding experience but stimulation for the imagination which will have children casting aside their impersonal devices and pleading, “TELL US A STORY!”
Richard Medrigton is the Artistic Director of Puppet State Theatre Company, best known for their show The Man Who Planted Trees.
. Sound Moves
7:30 pm
A practical workshop by Pete Baynes (Tukuo – The Unique Komedy Ukelele Orquestra.
On this practical workshop, Pete shares some musical games and explore ways of being creative without previous musical knowledge.
He teaches you how to create musical structures spontaneously with what’s around you.
These games are educational and above all, fun.
Pete Baynes is the Artistic Director and Founder of Kuten Theatre. He has performed in USA, Europe and Asia as a musician and performer.
. PlayfulFest – Opening Party
9:00 pm
Everyone is welcome.
Come to say hello, share a zoom box with us, bring your drinks and snacks and let’s dance to the tunes of DJ Clyde Rouge.
There are so many people to thank for helping us make PlayfulFest happened!
All our sponsors, supporters, friends of the festival, the workshop leaders and the artists that are letting us streamed their work as part of our program.
It has been such a year: world pandemic, lockdown. Pivoting the festival to the online world and learning new ways to connect with you (and that YOU are here with US) should be celebrated.
Let’s celebrate together that we made it happened!
“… I have learned the importance of being more playful with my family.”
– Audience member
DAY 2 – Friday 5th June 2020.
. Playfulness as an Active Meditation – Follow Up
4:30 pm
A talk by Saras Feijoo with guest speaker Peter Baynes.
On this talk, Saras will talk about some of the common blocks people experience when wanting to be more playful in their daily lives.
Guest speaker Peter Baynes will share his thoughts and experience on how to go about these blocks and move forward from them
Saras Feijoo is the Artistic Director and Founder of the PlayfulFest – International Playfulness Festival. She is also a playfulness mindset coach and strategist. She coach professionals and entrepreneurs on how to achieve their goals and run their businesses, the playful way.
Pete Baynes is the Artistic Director and Founder of Kuten Theatre. He has performed in the USA, Europe and Asia as a musician and performer.
. Movement Medicine – Awakening the Fool
7:30 pm
A workshop by Bernadeta Zyla (Dance Medicine Practitioner).
Movement Medicine it’s a modern uplifting meditation practice for anybody in a body. It simply invites us to be present in a body, unafraid of the heart and to have an open mind.
As we Awaken the Dancer within us, with some funky music, will awaken our curiosity of the Dancing Fool, following the movement and exploring the possibilities of play. Humour and playfulness simply lubricate thinking, creating relaxed conditions.
The Dancing Fool has the power to change the most painful perception while movement frees our stuck selves and brings flow into our bodies and lives. ‘Life doesn’t cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.’ George Bernard Shaw
Bernadeta Zyla is a Movement Medicine teacher and practitioner. She teaches online at the moment. She is mostly interested in combining playfulness with movement.
. PlayfulFest’s Scratch Night
9:00 pm
Live-stream of Clown Cabaret Special Edition at Manipulate Festival 2019.
Various Artists.
This is a Live Streamed of a pre-recorded production, our Clown Cabaret Special Edition (a production between Melanie Jordan, Tim Licata and Saras Feijoo) that took part at the Manipulate Festival 2019.
On this video we are featuring the work of Annabel Cooper and Kirsty Nicholson, Calum MacAskill, Pina Polar, Lisette Boxman, Ruxy Cantir and
Tenterhooks (Suzie Ferguson, Lucy McGreal and Diane Thornton).
BSL by Iain Hodgetts.
Manipulate Festival is a production by Puppet Animation Scotland.
“… I am now, remembering to look at things anew every day”
Audience member
DAY 3 – Saturday 6th June 2020.
. Playful Body, Playful Mind: Experiencing the Feldenkrais Method
4:30 pm
A workshop by Tim Licata (Artistic Director and Co-Founder, Plutôt la Vie)
Moshe Feldenkrais felt that all serious activities, especially artistic activity, is best explored when your body is “…in a state where smiling can turn to laughter without interference, naturally, spontaneously.” Using Playfulness as a theme, this session will explore this thought both practically and in discussion. For part of this session, you will be invited to lie on the floor and experience a gentle Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lesson. Wear comfy clothes, clear a space on the floor and relax.
The ideas of the Feldenkrais Method have transformed the way I approach working with people in many areas: exploration, rehearsal, creation and teaching. If you’ve never heard of the method, come along to find out: Who was Moshe Feldenkrais? What is the Feldenkrais Method? How can it be applicable to my life and work?
Tim Licata is an actor, director and teacher. He is Artistic Director of Plutôt la Vie theatre company. With Melanie Jordan and Saras Feijoo, he is a producer of the Clown Cabaret Scratch Nights in Edinburgh and Glasgow. He is a practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method of Awareness Through Movement and a Part-Time Lecturer in Movement in Performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
. Moving In and (OU)t of the Box
7:00 pm
An active workshop by Christine Devaney (Artistic Director and Founder, Curious Seed)
How can we play with movement and be playful in our small spaces?
Christine Devaney, Artistic Director of Edinburgh-based dance theatre company Curious Seed, will lead this playful creative movement session. She will focus on the connection and shifts between instinctive movement, guided improvisation and play.
Christine will share her creative processes that involve bringing our imaginations to our movement.
Born in Glasgow, Christine Devaney trained at London Contemporary Dance School and has been performing, choreographing and teaching throughout her extensive career. Her work spans across dance and theatre; she performed and was Associate Director with V-tol Dance Company for 9 years, and since 2005 has been Artistic Director of Edinburgh-based dance theatre company, Curious Seed. Other companies she has worked with include: Plan B, Quarantine, Frantic Assembly, Yolander Snaith Theatre Dance, TAG, The Unicorn, Catherine Wheels Theatre Company and Lung Ha Theatre Company. Her work for The National Theatre of Scotland includes movement direction on their production of Macbeth (2012, Broadway run 2013), The Wheel (2011), and co-directing the award-winning Venus as a Boy (2007). Christine was an Associate Artist with Imaginate 2011-2013.
. By the Seat of Your Pants
9:00 pm
Live Streamed of a pre-recorded performance by Plutôt la Vie.
Nothing to be done and nothing to do. Fritz, Franz and Rudy sit and wait. Expectation! Hope! Boredom! Delight! Not to take things sitting down, they put their best feet forward to make the grade and avoid a kick in the pants. A hilarious exploration of relationships, slapstick and chairs as three men await their fate By the Seat of Their Pants.
By the Seat of Your Pants is Plutôt la Vie’s second theatre clown performance. A fast, visual, funny show for family audiences, created in 2011 as a co-production with Howden Park Centre with funding
from Creative Scotland. Performed by Ian Cameron, Tim Licata and David Walshe. Directed by Magdalena Schamberger with original music by Andrew Cruickshank and production design by Iain Halket.
Edinburgh based Plutôt la Vie was founded in 2003 by Tim Licata and Ian Cameron with a desire to create imaginative, visually-driven performances.
. Closing Ceremony
10:15 pm
Various live performances + dance tunes.
Enjoy performances from Bec Phipps, Martina Vondrova and Peter Baynes PLUS, some tropical tunes mixed for us by Dj Scott Young.
Bring your snacks, your funky cybernetic zoom background (or just the living room one!) and let’s clap to the work of some Edinburgh-based performers and dance to celebrate.
“… I found PlayfulFest a great experience because I met new and interesting people, all of whom were very kind, creative and easy to be with. It was a most welcomed event particularly in lockdown to enjoy creative workshops and have access to an online theatre show. Well done to all involved as I know how much work goes into creating such events particularly with the added challenges of online production.”
Audience member feedback