Root Experience

About Us

Root Experience is an international research focused theatre company that has been devising performances and workshops in the UK and Asia since 2006.

Our work is provoked by our intrigue into social behaviour and how it reflects the immense spectacle of our internal worlds. 

Our devising process starts with the establishment of an ensemble.  All the performers work closely together to find creative connections with each other, and to build a strong understanding as a theatrical ensemble.  Over long research periods in the rehearsal room, the Root’s ensemble works to explore the many layers of cultural conditioning that affects our psychological and social behaviour, and then to peel away layers to examine what is left. 

Our performances are usually based on a structure that invites debate and direction from the audience.  By breaking down the fourth wall, we aim to enable our audience and performers feel fully present to each moment of the work.

We relish performers who crave to use theatricality to explore intimacy and openness in the rehearsal room, and who bring a willingness to venture straight out of comfort zones and into the mysterious depths of their creative mind.

Please email us if you’d like to be notified of future auditions, workshops, and production opportunities.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Root Experience was founded in 2006 by Artistic Director Simon Magnus. Currently, Simon is working with fellow Roots performer Jules Craig creating a one woman performance inspired by the life and works of avant-guarde poet Edith Sitwell. For more information see their website www.edithwho.co.uk

“Root Experience ensures that theatre is no longer just a spectator sport, but makes it interactive, educational and fun”Fringe Review

“The company deserves recognition for a refreshing theatrical approach.” Fringe Report

To be kept up to date with our furture developments join our mailing list.

Workshops

We run a number of workshops for educational institutes and individuals. These are based on findings from our research periods.
Self-development for performance students - Training programme for anyone aged 16 to 99, focussed on developing awareness of the dynamic self; as performer, communicator, improviser, and theatre maker.   

Perfect as an additional module or workshop for college, university, and theatre school courses.

If required, this programme can provide a more therapeutic emphasis for increasing self-confidence, and unravelling psychological complexities using dramatic expression.
Can be tailor-made to suit individual or group needs.
 
We’re also available for one-to-one coaching.
Please contact us for more information. 

We are currently running a couple of programmes for schools in the UK.

Drama for Literacy - Teaches teachers, specifically in primary education, how to use drama as a tool to improve literacy with their pupils. 

Brainchatter - Focuses on the PSHE curriculum, and uses drama as a tool to help children understand the inner-monologues that occur in themselves and others, and how an awareness of these can aid communication.

The Kabarett Project

The Kabarett Project was an investigation into the rise a extremism in response to a decedent past and economic disaster. From this investigation we created Berlinernacht which completed a sold out run at Brighton Fringe Festival in May 2011.
The golden age of Berlin is fading; immerse yourself in the tales of Berliners who have sought refuge in the Kabarett. With darkness on the horizon, Berlinernacht follows the stories of those who have been used, cast aside and liberated. A decadent ballroom hosted this playful site-specific performance that takes a journey through backstage stories, forgotten music and silenced dreams.

Set in 1930s Berlin, in a time of sexual-experimentation and gender-questioning, this brand new show tells the stories of forgotten Berliners at a Kabarett club clinging onto their identities within growing social friction. Using original music – unearthed for the first time – from 1920s/30s Berlin (including “She’s Got a Big Nazi” and “Kissing Fish”), the
show took place in an historic 1940s ballroom, currently under threat of closure, one of Brighton’s most classic venues.

"At times sexy and naughty, at times funny and raucous, at times mournful and reflective, but never less than entertaining and engaging." 5 Stars - The Argus

"A brilliant match of venue with concept...a really exciting show" - Total Theatre

Performers / Researchers - Adele Bates, Jules Craig, Marta De Julian, Ralf Higgins, Catherine Ireton, Rachael Maya

Band - Percussion Jono Harris, Accordion Kaile Lucas, Tuba Lesley Maby, Harp Alexander Rider, Saxophone Alexander Thomas, Clarinet Vicky Tremain

Director - Simon Magnus
Musical Director - Alexander Thomas
Assistant Musical Director - Cody Bridges
Designer - Phil Wellington - ilovenewwork.co.uk
Costume - Clare Upton
Production Assistants - Leilane Cohen, Ella Wade-Jones
Translation - Alice Belcher
Dramaturge - Laura Gubbins
Promotion Photography - Ken Duffield
Rehearsal Photography - Paul Walsh
Make Up - Jessica Blackman & Emily Johnson



Global Tiedye Project

The Global Tiedye Project is a long-term theatrical research experiment that explores how people live together in our new global society. What do we blend together, and what remains separate? How do we keep our unique qualities alive, while discovering and embracing the ones we have in common?

So far we have created a number of performances and workshops within this project:

Beyond...

Jan 2010: Sold out performances The Hive nightclub in Seoul, South Korea.

Looking at the idea that we have all had an experience of feeling trapped in a strange place, the adrenaline rush of wanting to experience everything at once and the paralyzing fear that nails us to the ground. The performance invited the entire Seoul community to venture into the land of the lost and explore the different paths that lead us to new possibilities.

The performance was a collaboration of artists Simon Magnus, Oliver Bedford, and Kate Hamm that used H. G. Wells’ short story, The Country of the Blind, as a springboard for a show that combined shadow puppetry, object theatre, mime, clowning and much more.

Wells’ story was inspired by the old proverb, “In the Country of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King." In his story a man is lost in a mountainous region and falls down a snowy cliff to find himself in a strange valley. Due to a mysterious illness centuries earlier, the people there have evolved without eyes. His challenge to communicate with the people and his need to show them what they’ve been missing drives him to derision.


Brief Encounters

Aug/Sep 2009: Bringing together both Asian and Western performers, our workshop series explored the masks that we all wear when coming into contact with 'the other', whoever that 'other' may be. They looked at the monologues that we build up about ourselves and 'the other' and the similarities that exist between cultures.

Brief Encounters was a street theatre performance created from these workshops and was performed around Seoul between August and September 2009. The piece delved into both cultures and drew out situations that both Korean and Western people can relate to, all without a single word. The show used humour and a cross-cultural cast, to explore the differences and similarities of both cultures.

Actors used a combination of facial expression, body language and unrecogniable, yet seemingly familiar, sounds for a home-grown project anyone could enjoy.

The performances played in Seoul at Hye Hwa, Cheonggyecheon Plaza and Hongdae.

Performers: Oliver Bedford, Amber Green, Kate Hamm , Liam Mitchinson, Hyunji Moon, Eunjung Nam, Haruka Onishi

Director - Simon Magnus
Producer Thomas Hwang
Assistant Director - Oliver Bedford
Videographer - Edward Burgos
Production Assistant - Janett Kim


The Shorts Show 

An evening for individuals or groups of theatre practitioners to showcase or try out new work. The only immovable constraint was that events must last no longer than 20 minutes.

From comedy and monologues to dance and drama, the night was an exciting revelation into the minds of Seoul's current and future theatrical talent.

After each show the creator was be interviewed and invited to chat with the audience about their work.

The Shorts Show is a continuing project in Seoul now run by Probationary Theatre.


Onion Project

The Onion Project is an investigation into the human brain and psyche to discover how our memories govern our actions and opinions, and the malleability of these memories.
Jan-Aug 2008: So far this project has created 2 different short performances at The Cockpit and Camden Peoples Theatre, in London, and created the full length production The Bulging Seahorse and Other Grey Matters.

The Bulging Seahorse spent 4 weeks at Barons Court Theatre in London before being transfered to Zoo Southside as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The performance invited audience members to help a group of Professors as they travelled through a world of brains and memory manipulation.

Every performance was different as the audience got to choose which of the actors got to play various characters as the story progressed.

"Root Experience ensures that theatre is no longer just a spectator sport, but makes it interactive, educational and fun...creative, inclusive and well worth seeing at least once!" Fringe Review

"Its innovation cannot be faulted...if you're seeking a play that will intrigue, entice and excite, this may well be for you!"  Broadway Baby

Performers / Resaerchers:  Adele Bates, Chiara D'Anna, Laura Gubbins and Rachael Maya

Director - Simon Magnus
Producer - Kate McGregor

Mirror Project

The Mirror Project is a research investigation looking at the assumptions that we make about other people, in relation to reflections of ourselves, and the concept of living life to fulfill your ideal-self.
The project included a number of street theatre performance in March 2007, and culminated in a London tour of Mirrorgame in April and May 2007.

"The company deserves recognition for a refreshing theatrical approach. Mirrorgame is a bold and experimental concept that makes a serious attempt to unite spectator, performer and artistic form" Fringe Report

Mirrorgame played games with the audience's perceptions of the Grimm Brothers' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and asked whether the actions of the evil Queen are really the horrific and inexcusable.

This energetic interactive performance took the audience on a journey through magical and personal histories, revealing the reflections and inner monologues that we all build up of ourselves.

The performance toured around various London venues, including, Theatre 503, the Albany and RampART.

Performers / Researchers: Adele Bates, Shelley Halstead, Laura Gubbins and Mitzi Thaddeus.

Director - Simon Magnus
Composer - Chris Andrews
Assistant Director - Samantha Wraith
Musician - Andrew Lambert
Production Assistant - Evelyn Downing
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