SHIFT Artist Workshops

How do we create theatre that doesn’t just tell decolonial stories, but is made through decolonial practice?

This summer, we’re opening up a series of five artist workshops first held at the SHIFT Symposium, now available to anyone wanting to deepen their practice.

Led by artists and collaborators from the SHIFT network, these sessions offer space to question, experiment and reimagine how we make work. Together, we’ll explore new ways of collaborating, challenge inherited models, and share practical tools for creating work that responds to the world we live in today.

Spanning comedy, dramaturgy, movement, ecology and creative practice, each workshop offers a different way into the questions at the heart of SHIFT. Attend a single session or join us for the full series.

Whether you’re developing a new idea, rethinking your practice or simply curious, these workshops are for you.

Join us in SHIFTing the conversation.

13 AUG 3PM-6PM Comedy and Personal Story with Alaa Shehada

Comedy and Personal Story is a playful and practical introduction to creating comedy from personal stories, observation and imagination. Through games, improvisation and writing exercises, participants explore the fundamentals of stand-up and clowning while discovering their unique comic voice and stage presence.

The workshop encourages participants to find the humour in everyday life while building confidence, creativity and connection. Whether you’re developing a new idea, rethinking your practice or simply curious, you’ll leave with practical tools, fresh perspectives and new ways of approaching your creative process.

No previous experience is required, just curiosity and a willingness to play.

Who’s it for?

For people who think they can’t be funny and for the others who think they are funny.

What will you cover?

Participants will explore their unique comic voice and persona while developing a deeper awareness of themselves and the world around them. Through observation, play and experimentation, they’ll learn to find humour in everyday life and turn personal experiences into compelling comedic material.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Alaa Shehada (Playwright, Actor and comedian ) is a Palestinian theatre maker whose work blends physical comedy, stand-up, and mask performance. A graduate of The Freedom Theatre Acting School in Jenin Refugee Camp. Shehada uses humor and storytelling to amplify Palestinian experiences on global stages.

20 AUG 4PM-6PM Imagining a New Blueprint for the Arts: a speculative design workshop with Second Brain HQ – Abi Falase & Táiyé

How can we build a sustainable ecosystem for artists?

That’s the driving question behind this workshop from Second Brain HQ. We’ll start by exploring how today’s creative economy often works against artists examining the structural patterns that keep extractive models in place.

Moving from diagnosis to design, together we’ll dream and map out imaginative and actionable models for collaboration, resource-sharing, and collective support that prioritises both individual wellbeing and community resilience.

Come ready to dream, share, and build.

Who is it for?

Artists, creatives, industry professionals who are frustrated with the current ways of working, and want to do something about it.

What will you cover?

This isn’t just theory, it’s a working session with tangible takeaways. You’ll leave with fresh frameworks, practical prompts, and a clearer sense of how your practice can contribute to and benefit from a healthier creative ecosystem.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Second Brain HQ is a storytelling studio founded by Abi Falase and Táiyé. We create community-centric art centred on collective liberation, blending social realism, satire, and afro-futurity. Our work spans theatre, literature, and live art. Rooted in the philosophy that “two brains are better than one,” we prioritise nourishing creative processes and amplifying voices from historically overlooked communities.

27 AUG 4PM-6PM Biophilic Attunement: Listening and Voicing with Zoe Zimin Ho

What can an oak leaf sound like in your voice? Inspired by the Sámi tradition of joiking, we will explore how listening to the more-than-human world in a biophilic (life-loving) way can allow us to access our voice as a creative resource. We will engage in drawing, light movement, and voice exercises as a group – no prior experience required.

Who is it for?

Creatives, artists, actors, folks who just want to be closer to nature, anyone who wants to play and create with the voice, and anyone who is tired of being told what their voices should sound like.

What will you cover?

Participants will find a renewed way of relating with nature and with their voice. This workshop offers participants an anti-colonial, collaborative approach to voice work that puts the more-than-human world and our relationships with each other at the centre.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Zoe Zimin Ho (she/they) is a London-based voice creative from Singapore. Zoe is a voiceover actor, singer, and voice and accent director for stage. Recent work includes Love You Long Time (Already) at Theatre503, and (Re)Animation with New Earth Theatre as part of the Seedlings climate festival.

3 SEP 4PM – 6PM HOME:BODY with Divija Melally

This workshop explores the stories our bodies carry, human connection, and ideas of ‘Home’ through movement, text, and improvisation. Beginning with games and movement warm-ups, participants will engage in task-based explorations using props and objects as visual, auditory, and tactile prompts. The session will also incorporate gestural elements of Bharatanatyam to express and embody these stories.

Who’s it for?

This workshop is for anyone interested in exploring the stories that are present in us through movement. It will be particularly exciting for artists from other disciplines who would like to incorporate movement into their practice – no previous movement experience is required.

What will you take away?

You will get a practical opportunity to try something new, while connecting with your bodies and each other. Finding different perspectives on the same things, and exploring our relationship to our bodies, to place, and to our histories.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Divija Melally is a movement artist, invested in taking movement and art to different spaces through performance, choreography, movement direction and facilitation. She is interested in creating works that explore human themes, and strives to offer new perspectives and stories to her audience.

10 SEP 4PM-6PM Abundance Mindset with Titilola Dawudu

Led by Artistic Director of HighTide – Titilola Dawudu – this workshop looks at maintaining an abundance mindset whilst making work in the theatre industry.

People who want to lean into an abundant approach to their work should practise an abundant mindset whilst navigating the industry

Who’s it for?

For people who want to lean into an abundant approach to their work and practice having an abundant mindset whilst navigating the industry.

What will you take away?

Participants will get an opportunity to exhale and have fruitful and helpful conversations about dreaming on what is possible.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Titilola Dawudu is Artistic Director and CEO of HighTide, and a writer and dramaturg whose work explores storytelling, shifting narratives and theatre’s role in social change.

24 sep 4PM – 6PM Beyond Dramaturgy: Expanding Global Storytelling Practices with Rocky Ji

A participatory workshop exploring how dramaturgy, storytelling and creative development are currently understood across contemporary theatre practice. Through reflection, discussion and collaborative exercises, participants will examine if and how their own understanding of dramaturgy has been shaped by existing Western frameworks, disciplines and structures. The workshop will also explore what might emerge when multiple storytelling traditions and creative practices coexist alongside one another. Drawing from lived artistic experience and global storytelling examples, the workshop invites participants to question inherited models and expand creative possibilities. It also encourages participants to reimagine more inclusive approaches to development, commissioning and cultural storytelling.

Who’s it for?

This workshop is for theatre-makers across disciplines who are interested in dramaturgy, storytelling and creative development, particularly those who want to examine how their practice may have been shaped by existing Western frameworks and explore how multiple storytelling traditions and creative practices might coexist.

What will you take away?

Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on their own understanding of dramaturgy, question inherited models and consider how different storytelling traditions and creative practices might expand their work. They will also explore more inclusive approaches to creative development, commissioning and cultural storytelling.

If you have any questions about this workshop or would like to discuss any access requirements, please contact admin@tamasha.org.uk

About the Facilitator

Rocky Ji is an international award-winning arts curator, director and cultural leader with over 18 years of experience across Canada, the US, Asia and the UK. His practice spans directing, producing and creative development, with a focus on Global Majority storytelling, community-centred leadership, commissioning and dramaturgy.