Directing with Chekhov Technique — 5-Day Workshop with Cass Fleming

Location: Goldsmiths, University of London

Cass Fleming, Founder and Co-Director of The Chekhov Collective will lead this five-day workshop on the use of Chekhov Technique in directing. 

This five-day workshop will explore using Chekhov’s technique and principles for the creation of dynamic ensemble practice and direction of devised theatre, text-based theatre, improvisation and film. It is open to newcomers to the technique and those who have experience of Chekhov’s methods.

Cass has used Chekhov Technique in her directorial work, and her training of directors, since 1998.  She has trained actors, directors, choreographers, devised theatre makers and scenographers in the use of Chekhov Technique at Goldsmiths, University of London, Rose Bruford Drama School and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.  She has also trained directors in the use of Chekhov Technique in professional contexts such as the Royal National Theatre Studio, the Young Vic Theatre Genesis Programme and with the Chekhov Collective.  Cass also draws on the techniques developed by Suzanne Bing and her collaborators in France, and number of other directing and making methods.  She has a specialism in the use of play in training, making and directing performance.  Her PhD explores Chekhov Technique and its use in directing and she has presented various papers on many aspects of Chekhov’s practice over the past 15 years.  Cass was co-lead researcher on the long-term and cross-institutional practice research project that led to the publication of Michael Chekhov in the Twenty First Century: New Pathways, which she co-edited with Tom Cornford (Bloomsbury 2020).  She contributed three chapters for this book, including one that addressed the use of the technique for directing and devising theatre.  She has also presented papers and published articles and chapters on the work of Suzanne Bing (2008, 2013, 2014, 2020) and collaborated with Mark Evans on the work of Jacques Copeau and Bing’s contribution to his practice (2018).

A number of guest directors will also contribute to this workshop, details TBC.  There will also be a film screening of interviews with directors using Chekhov’s techniques in different ways and contexts around the world.