An interactive collaboration of human beings to communicate and create with nothing but themselves and an empty space.
The Happiness Machine Mission Statement
Human Beings are creative animals, as a species they have a desire to explore understand and create. They are capable of amazing feats of wonder and terrible destruction. Now perhaps in this age of amazing technical possibilities where we search even beyond our solar system we are as far from understanding ourselves and our needs as we have ever been.
The Pandemic has affected society in many ways, not least in forcing us even more than before to communicate on screens.
I have perceived that we as social beings might need to examine this relationship and how it is affecting our social interaction.
Much of my work to date has dealt with creating non-verbal group communication a Sort of intuition or group energy. It seems to me there is now more than ever a need for exploring how we interact with each other within the same physical space.
It might be that what Humans need to feel Happy is quite simple and near at hand. The workshop aims to explore the idea of happiness and if it is possible to truly communicate those feelings.
‘The participant enters a Superverse.Through a process of putting aside their day-to-day concerns and bodily habits. This is achieved by a series of physical and mental meditations, which, help them reset to a neutral starting point; from which they are able to collaborate and create.’
Philip Knight
The Workshop
Using techniques developed over 40 years of creating improvised physical theatre, Artistic Director Philip Knight leads the group in exploring their potential for communication without words, to develop a vocabulary of feeling and will power. At the heart of the work is the potential for awareness and connection to be honed to enable people to be able to create as a group.
Using the group experiences and memories the workshop explores the idea of happiness, what shaped moments of happiness in our lives, and if it is possible to communicate the truth of our happiness to others.
The two-day workshop culminates in a performance created by the group. This might be for the group only, or to a small invited audience.
The decision to be made by the group.
The performance is improvised within the parameters set in the workshop. The group creates the performance in the moment using the disciplines and material devised in the workshops. There is no script only the group’s intuition and a shared understanding of the process to bring what is needed to the moment.
Participants
The workshop is for anyone interested in exploring their potential for creative expression.
All are welcome, (age18+) there is no need for previous performance experience, only a willingness to engage with the process as fully as possible.
Music
If any of the participants have the skill to improvise on a musical instrument this might be integrated into the process, but it is not a requirement.