Working better together on stage
ABLEVISION JOINS FORCES WITH QUINTESSENCE THEATRE
“THE greatest gift of life is friendship.”
It’s true that life is better when we all work together, and that was the theme of a unique collaboration that took place recently, devised by Ablevision Productions in association with Quintessence Theatre Company.
Funded by the Creative Ireland Programme, over a series of collaborative workshops, Quintessence Theatre, Droichead Art Centre’s theatre company in residence, joined forces with Ablevision to share some of their favourite theatrical storytelling techniques, and together created a short piece of movement, drama, tableaux, and multi-media, meditating on the universal theme of friendship.
The result was ‘Better Together’, a delightful workshop, which audience and participants certainly loved.
Ablevision is an organisation that works with adults with intellectual disabilities through the arts with a focus on collaborative projects between participants and professional artists. Project to date include: Films: Joe and Sarah, A Crack in Everything & Little Fairy Tree: Dance with Cathy O’ Kennedy, Bodies in Motion which was premiered on stage at the Ablevision International Film Festival.
Founded in 2015, Quintessence dedicates itself to exploring the human condition through the most theatrical means available to us: the actor themselves, their imagination, and embracing the live relationship between actor and audience.
“We believe in play; we believe in collaboration; we believe in amplifying voices not always heard; and we believe in the democratisation of art: that it should reach people beyond the cultural hubs of large urban populations,” says Anna Simpson, artistic director of Quintessence. “We believe that great work can be made from modest means with these quintessential elements: a story, a performer, and audience.”