The Thursday Group

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04042024 at exactly 18:23, we all took a selfie to mark the start of the next set of work on our co-devised ensemble piece, Falling Heads. Our work together in our very special practice place in North Melbourne enriches us. Some new members, some old members who discuss, practice, experiment and make performance, we love sharing the process of theatre with peers, students and the wider theatre community. We look forward to our next conversation in Open Rehearsal June 20 and 24.

Angelique Zhou

Tessa Marie Luminati

Diego Fajardo

Matthew Crosby

Alexandra Clouston

Damon Branecki

The Thursday Group in reverse alphabetical order… because...

Angelique Zhou, Tessa Marie Luminati, Diego Fajardo, Matthew Crosby, Alexandra Clouston, Damon Branecki.

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Co-Facilitators

Matthew Crosby, wrote and performed Corporare—Evan Task in Outer Space in 2024

Matthew Crosby

I have been acting, writing, directing and teaching theatre for decades. Influences received from training at NIDA in the 80’s, collaboration between Playbox/Malthouse and the Suzuki Company of Toga, Grotowski and Eugenio Barba training with IRAA (International Research into the Art of the Actor), work in tent theatre in Japan and Korea with Shinjuku Ryozanpaku in the 90’s and a decade co-creating with Yumi Umiumare and Ben Rogan the DasShoku butoh/cabarets in the 00’s have led me into a deep investigation into what Stanislavski first called “psychophysical” theatre. This practice informs my theatre-making, which has been developed in the context of groups—first in Actor’s Furniture Group and for the last fifteen years in The Thursday Group. So, my approach to teaching is dialogic—I seek to empower the skills and desire for theatrical expression that already exist in performers and offer pathways for development and collaborative investigation.

Tessa Marie Luminati

After studying music theatre and acting at Federation University, Tessa has explored different forms of theatre. From Robert Reid’s classical adaptations and political theatre to award-winning comedy performance with colleagues in SpudPuppy. She has been a member of Thursday Group four years and taken on the role of Co-Facilitator with Matt for the last year. Influenced by the culture at Thursday Group, empowering the group is a feature of her teaching and directing. She encourages performers in impulse work and, following her time in Japan at the Suzuki Company of Toga in 2024, she investigates precision in psychophysical expression as it relates to the organic inner life of acting.

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A retrospective of training, experimentation and performance-making.

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The group that was to become The Thursday Group was founded in 2009. Over the years we have investigated Suzuki Training exericses in concert with other disciplines such as Grotowski, Stanislavski, Chekhov and variations that the group has developed. During the Covid lockdowns in Melbourne in 2020-2021 Thursday Group facilitator Matthew Crosby created a programme of co-devising prompts arising from psychologist Lev Vygotsky's notion that the inner thought is completed in its social expression[1]. What were called 'musing' exercises assisted in developing communication across what was then a new performative online apparatus (Zoom). That practice has led to investigations within the Suzuki Training vocabulary of attending to the intention of verbal and gestural communication.
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Silent Forest, 2019, Matthew Crosby, Rodrigo Calderón, Eidann Glover, Lorna Mcleod and Alana Hoggart. Photo: Oscar Socias

Associate Members: Kathleen Doyle, Lorna McLeod

Many have worked with us since 2009
Glynis Angell, Elise Britton, Rodrigo Calderón, Joshinder Kaur Chaggar, Molly Farquharson, Caitlin George, Eidann Glover, Alana Hoggart, Kate Hunter, Keira Lyon, Tulipa Rodriquez Quin, Gabrielle Quinn, Tamara Saulwick, Oliver Skryzypczynski, Helen Smith, Brendan Snow, Nilees Suhasini, Tanabe Keisuke, Taka Takiguchi, Gareth Trew, Yamasaki Tomoko.

Our group has a history of durational and intense training aimed at crossing into next-level performance-making. In speaking to then new collaborator Tessa Marie Luminati in 2020, Kathleen Doyle said:
[…] it was very much a led-by-nobody… just actors trying to keep the craft, just trying to keep themselves fit and ready to perform, and it was like that for about three or four years, wouldn't it be Matt? […] It started to morph into more improvised territory […] and I think it was from there that [we tried to] put all of what we're working on into a show, that is specifically wanting to capitalise on these skills that we had from the training. So, then Matt was inspired by an improvisation he saw with myself and another member [Yoka Jones], and went ahead and wrote that play [Silent Forest…]. I think different people came in and out, so the group has been this constantly fluid thing. It’s hard to know how to contain it, except that we've got that great commonality of using the Suzuki Method of training. […] I don't know, I think we're still trying to find our identity.[2]

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Check the Works page to find out about our slate of projects under development and our past works.

[1] Vygotskiĭ, L. S. Thought and Language. Translated by Eugenia Hanfmann, Gertruda Vakar, and Alex Kozulin. Revised and Expanded edition. The MIT Press, 2012.
[2] 20200325, Transcript Zoom.
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Damon Branecki, Em Kimber, Angelique Zhou. Photo: Matthew Crosby

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Monday Sessions: come join our dialogue on Suzuki Method Actor Training, Grotowski, improvisation and co-devising practice. Mondays, 6-9pm, North Melbourne.

Thanks to all who participated in the 2024 Psychophysical Theatre Intensive. Our investigations will continue in the Monday sessions, next intensive workshop slated for August 2024… stay tuned!
North Melbourne Small Hall
Book here for the Monday Sessions