Actor John Bolton once turned up his nose at teaching and directing but has since discovered both pastimes can be fruitful. He tells Rebecca Fox about his journey to Dunedin.
When Melbourne-based Englishman John Bolton gave up acting, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
''It was a real shock.''
Not one to ever give much weight to teaching or directing, he discovered there might be more to it when, during 18 months living in Whangarei, he worked with unemployed youth creating a theatre group.
''It was a great experience.''
When he gave up acting, he set up his own school in Melbourne in 1991 and was head of acting at the Victorian College of the Arts between 2002 and 2006.
He continues to teach at New Zealand's Toi Whakaari drama school and hold workshops for actors and companies.
Bolton, who trained at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and Ecole Jacques Lecoq, Paris, is bringing a three-week workshop to Dunedin and the Fortune Theatre this month with support from the Dunedin Fringe and Dunedin City Council.
''I love to see where it is people are hiding, where people are prepared to go but for some reason aren't able to do it.
''Often people don't know how to feel that sort of energy or imagery. A lot of time they can feel extremely calm or very still or highly energised but feel that is not allowable on stage.''
So he finds a lot of the processes in his workshops are about assuring people those feelings were interesting and freeing for an audience.
Those taking part in his workshops can be all ages. In a recent workshop, there was a 19-year-old and a 56-year old.
''It's the sort of work someone with a lot of experience is no better at than having very little experience.''
Theatre did not require people to be born with talent; it required people having access to their imagination to have a strong and flexible body and voice, he said.
Fortune Theatre artistic director Jonathon Hendry took part in one of his workshops a few years ago.
''Working with John ... was a boon. It allowed me to grow with others, feel new sensations, awaken imagination and experience a lot about myself at 49 that was joyfully familiar as well as much that felt totally new.''
It was through Hendry that Bolton made the connection to come to Dunedin. He had also previously worked with Hendry at Toi Whakaari.
Bolton has never been to the city so contacted Hendry when he got the job at the Fortune.
''It seemed like a great opportunity to explore and create theatre.''
Participants, whether actors, writers or designers in the Fortune ''Summer School'', will use their own experiences and stories just like artists do in painting or musicians in songs to make theatre.
''You often find some [writers and designers] are very talented actors as well.''
Students will explore their personal histories using different theatrical styles including bouffon, melodrama, storytelling and clown. Bolton will guide students through exploration using movement, writing, drawing and contemplation.
''People are always interested in exploring the purity of themselves as human beings, their foibles and mistakes as well as those grotesque parts of themselves, the parts that don't fit. Mocking our life is part of the work I do in school.''
In the final week, students will create short autobiographical pieces to be shown in the last days of the workshop as part of Dunedin Fringe 2017 in a live performance at Fortune Theatre.
Bolton himself has the knowledge on which to base his teaching from his first uncertain experience in acting at the Guildhall.
''At 18, I didn't really have the confidence. It was a hard time.''
It was not until some years later when he become involved in street theatre with children in Edinburgh that he had his eyes opened to levels of impoverishment he had never seen.
''It ticked a lot of boxes and excited me.''
It was then he remembered a teacher recommending Ecole Jacques Lecoq.
''I was 26 and much more able to handle the rigours of investigation.''
On a cycling holiday before starting school in Paris, he met a New Zealand nurse who is now his wife.
They ended up back in Edinburgh for family reasons before realising it would be nice to spend time with her family in New Zealand.
The lure of a job in Melbourne took them to Australia and they have never looked back.
He has worked with community theatre companies and with refugees and continued the street theatre and school shows.
Bolton has created many award-winning solo shows based on the actor and writer's life including Odyssey by Andreas Litras; I Don't Wanna Play House by Tammy Anderson; The Baby Show by Donna Jackson and Thumbul by Tom E. Lewis.
He has received numerous awards for directing and teaching, including two Melbourne Green Room Awards, the 2002 Kenneth Myer Medallion for services to Theatre in Victoria, and the 2005 Teaching Excellence Award at the Victorian College of the Arts.
