Explore how live cinema can transform theatre-making. Join The Cockpit's new resident company for this full-day workshop, introducing practical techniques for combining performance, camera work, and projection in real time. Participants will experiment with cameras, objects, miniatures, and performers to create live images, exploring how framing, scale, perspective, and editing can be used to tell stories on stage and deepen the relationship between live performance and projected imagery.
Led by the creators of Imprints, the workshop focuses on live cinema as a devising tool, offering accessible methods for generating material, creating theatrical worlds, and integrating cinematic language into performance.
Who could benefit from this course?
This workshop is ideal for theatre-makers, performers, directors, designers, and creatives interested in exploring the intersection of live performance and screen-based work.
It is suitable for both beginners and experienced practitioners. No prior technical experience is required, and the workshop is designed to be accessible and adaptable to a range of creative backgrounds.
Participants interested in visual storytelling, interdisciplinary performance, puppetry, or devised theatre will find particular value in the session. The workshop also offers a space to meet and collaborate with other artists working across different disciplines.
How does it work?
Through practical exercises and collaborative experimentation, participants will explore how live cinema can be created using simple, flexible, and resourceful setups. Drawing on approaches developed in The Palimpsest Project’s work on Imprints, the workshop demonstrates how compelling cinematic effects can be achieved without large-scale or expensive equipment.
We will work with real-time camera techniques, projection, framing, and composition, as well as explore how everyday materials and objects can be used to create cinematic worlds on stage. The emphasis is on adaptable, budget-conscious approaches that can be recreated in a wide range of rehearsal or performance settings.
Participants will have the opportunity to experiment with capturing and manipulating live images, and to see how these can be integrated into devised scenes. There will also be an introduction to basic QLab workflows for live video cueing. If participants bring a phone, there may be opportunities to explore simple software tools, though this is entirely optional.
What do you gain?
- Practical introduction to live cinema techniques for theatre.
- Hands-on experience with accessible camera and projection setups.
- Tools for integrating live video into devised performance.
- Creative approaches for cinematic storytelling with everyday materials and miniatures.
- Introduction to QLab for live video cueing.
- Inspiration for developing your own interdisciplinary performance work.
- Opportunities to collaborate and exchange ideas with other artists.
Dates, Times & Cost
Sunday, 18 October, 2026
10:30am to 5:30pm
£99 early bird (book by 5th October)
regular price £110
Save 10% when you book 2 or more Theatre Maker workshops.
Check out our other "Devising With" sessions:
Introduction to Devising (15 September)
Devising with Images (3 October)
Devising with Improvisation (11 October)
THE PALIMPSEST PROJECT
The workshop is led by Beckett Gray and Sam Critchlow of The Palimpsest Project, an international, neurodivergent-led theatre company creating interdisciplinary work that combines physical theatre, puppetry, live cinema, and explorations with sound.
Together, they co-created and performed Imprints, an OFFIE-nominated production exploring memory, identity, and belonging through fragmented storytelling and innovative theatrical forms. Their practice prioritises collaboration, playfulness, and accessibility, creating environments where participants feel supported to experiment and develop their own creative voices. Additionally, both Sam and Beckett work as theatre technicians, and are able to bring their technical knowledge on lighting, sound, and cameras into the creation of their work.
Sam Critchlow is a theatre director, performer, and Lecoq-trained deviser from the North West. They hold an MA in Directing from Rose Bruford College and trained at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and Avignon. Their credits include Project Dictator (Rhum and Clay) and Où Reste Encore un Peu (Avignon Off 2024), alongside Imprints. Sam’s work draws on physical theatre, clown, mask, mime, object theatre, and puppetry, with a particular interest in visual storytelling, devised performance, and collaborative creation. He is passionate about helping participants discover new ways of expressing themselves through theatre.
Beckett Gray is a neurodivergent, genderqueer performer and drag artist with an MA in Acting from Mountview. Their work includes Portrait of A Queer in Panic (Kaleidoscope Theatre Festival, King’s Head Theatre) and Bark Bark (Summerhall Arts). As a performer and theatre maker, Beckett is particularly interested in exploring identity, queerness, and the ways theatre can externalise internal experiences, combining autobiographical material with imaginative and physical forms of storytelling.
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