about

Mindfulness and Theatre are the DNA of this company.

A double helix intertwined around the common axis of attention.

mindfultheatre’s aim is to produce excellent theatre and as a double sided coin with mindfulness on one side and theatre on the other. Heads you win, tails you win!

…It has been proven that mindful practice promotes neuroplasticity:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr4Od7kqDT8  it changes the brain’s architecture in a good way, making us more accepting of ourselves and of others, more compassionate and empathic, better able to communicate, better able to regulate our emotions and our behaviour. What’s not to like?

mindfultheatre was founded for the purpose of producing PLURABELLES for Maggie’s  MSc. thesis in Mindful Based Interventions. It goes forward as a small team producing new and existing drama by the likes of Joyce, Heaney, Shakespeare and Shaw. All members of the company are trained in mindfulness and each day’s work begins and ends with meditation.

Mindfulness turns you into your own best friend and everybody needs a best friend, none more so than the actor, the “luvvie” the ne’er-do-well who should go out and get a “proper” job, unless of course he/she is one of the tiny number who “make it” earn big bucks and are on the telly.

We hear a lot at the moment about the evils of the “gig” economy, (an environment in which temporary positions are common and organizations contract with independent workers for short-term engagements), a hip new word for an old tyranny known all too well by many, not least the actor.

Simon Rattle, asked why he chose to take the position of chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, said this:

“There is something about being in a place where the arts are essential, even to politicians . . . it is simply a mark of intelligence, just as it should be. It’s deeply embedded. Not a luxury. It’s understood as something everybody should have. Everybody in the arts in Britain spends too much time trying to survive . . . The arts in Britain needs help and money, but most of all the arts needs respect.’’

Meditation is the bottom line, the foundation or root of mindfulness. It isn’t rocket science, you sit and close your eyes and simply focus your attention on your breath and this is a form of meditation. Simple! Ye-e-s, simple to describe but not, at first, all that easy to do for any length of time. Try it now and see. (PAUSE) A pound to a penny before you knew where you were you were wondering what to have for your tea, or off down any number of rabbit holes.

Like any other skill, be it playing the piano, typing, or tennis, you have to stick with it and sometimes at the beginning it’s boring and/or frustrating. It is not unusual to think that you can’t do it, are doing it wrong. The important thing is to keep doing it.

Remember your intention is to pay attention (to the breath) with curiosity and acceptance patience and trust and without judgment or striving too hard.

The rewards are enormous but you have to “suck it to see”.