CPPM GUEST ARTIST
GRZEGORZ AND ALICJA BRAL
Song of the Goat (POL)
1.-12.05.2023
Open class
12.05.2023 19:00 black box
GRZEGORZ BRAL
Grzegorz Bral is a theatre director who has created his own acting method, known as the Bral Acting Method. He is the President of the Song of the Goat Association, as well as a co-founder and artistic director of the Song of the Goat Theatre. He also serves as the artistic director of the Brave Festival – Against Cultural Exile, Brave Kids, Brave Together, and the director of the “Let’s Plant a Forest” project. Additionally, he is the President of the Bral Foundation, and has been involved with the charity organization ROKPA International since the 1990s.
Bral studied literature, psychology, and theatre studies, and worked with the Centre for Theatre Practices in Gardzienice from 1987 to 1992. He also served as the artistic director of Warsaw’s Studio Theatre from 2010 to 2012. Throughout his career, Bral has received many awards for his exceptional artistic contributions. These include the Honorary Order of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, the Scotsman Fringe First 2004, and the Herald Angel 2004 for the play “Chronicles – a Lamentation”. Bral’s theatre team was nominated for the XII European Theatre Prize in the New Theatrical Realities category in 2009. In 2012, his play “Songs of Lear”, which he directed, received the prestigious Fringe First award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play also won the Herald Archangel award and a special award within the Musical Theatre Matters Awards during the same festival, and was ranked first among all theatre performances presented in Edinburgh. “Songs of Lear” was also nominated for the Total Theatre Award.
In addition to his artistic work, Bral is also actively involved in education. He created the Bral Acting Method, which has inspired many artists and is included in the curricula of several theatre schools in the UK. Bral’s educational work and annual workshops attract actors and directors from around the world. Until 2012, he taught drama techniques as part of the MA in Acting program led by the Song of the Goat Theatre in cooperation with Manchester Metropolitan University. Since 2013, he has been carrying out educational activities in cooperation with the Bral School of Acting in London.
ALICJA BRAL
Alicja Bral is an accomplished artist with two doctoral degrees. In 2010, she earned her PhD in theatre history from the University of Gdańsk. She later defended her PhD in Practice as a Research at the University of Kent (UK) in 2021.
Since 2016, Bral has been involved in writing dramatic and poetic texts for the Song of the Goat Theater Company, and has played a key role in creating a number of performances, including Crazy God, Island, Hamlet-A Commentary, Seven Gates of Thebes, Anty-gone, Ecstasy, Cassandra’s Report, Warrior, Apocrypha, and Andronicus-Synecdoche. Alongside Grzegorz Bral, she established the Bral School of Acting in London in 2013, where she has been leading theoretical classes on theatre anthropology, acting techniques, and stage writing since 2015.
Before this, between 2008 and 2013, Bral collaborated with the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theater, where she was responsible for coordinating the Shakespearean “off” scene. Additionally, she was involved in the creation of the Gdańsk Contemporary Dance Stage (DanceDesk.pl) between 2005 and 2008 as part of her collaboration with the Baltic Sea Cultural Center.
SONG OF THE GOAT
Song of the Goat Theatre, also known as Teatr Pieśń Kozła, was established in Wrocław in 1996 and has since gained a reputation as one of Europe’s most innovative theatre companies. The company’s unique approach to training is based on the Acting Coordination Method, which was devised by Grzegorz Bral and Song of the Goat actors. This intense acting training encompasses music, text, voice, body, and imagination, allowing actors to fully embody their roles and create performances with a strong musicality and sensory impact. The company’s commitment to integrating all of these elements in its training process has resulted in performances that are known for their power and emotional depth. By combining rigorous training with a deep understanding of the art of theatre, Song of the Goat Theatre continues to push the boundaries of what is possible on stage.
