BEYOND THEATRE

Present Attempt - Monday all day

Present Attempt is a performance collective committed to developing progressive and experimental devised work. The company is currently undertaking a year-long artistic residency at the Centre for Excellence for Training in Theatre (CETT) based at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. 

Present Attempt addresses fundamental questions about the nature of performance, creating passionate and anarchic work. Through setting up ‘impossible questions’ and cherishing the failures in attempting to answer them (an often comic, ‘game of getting into trouble’) they aim to develop a performance mode that enables both performers and the audience to inhabit the (same) ‘live world’ of the event. All those involved are simultaneously engaged with the ‘game’ itself (i.e. the performance, personas, stories etc.) and the very playing of it (the act of performing/the act of watching).

In 2007 Present Attempt were nominated for the Total Theatre award for Best Emerging Company with Attempt 3.4, a radical experimental performance, which each time builds a new city n 60 minutes. During July 2007, the company was invited to perform at BAC, London and The Greenroom, Manchester as part of festivals of new work. 

Using collaborative devising methods, the company has made four pieces, both studio-space and site-specific, which were commended for their innovation, passion and willingness to take risks. Present Attempt are currently working on two projects – Life at the Molecular Level, a studio-based performance which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe 2008 and Project Nick, a research enquiry into improvisation strategies for contemporary work. 

Present Attempt will conduct workshops for separate groups all day on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The groups will come together to collaborate on Friday, after which there will be a performance.