
Duncan Alldridge: Playing on the Edge
By Guy Medd
Ask most people if they’d like to attend a series of ‘improvisation’ workshops and they’d in all probability say “you must be out of your mind” or words to that effect. When then the opportunity came to me I took leave of my senses, and eager to support a friend who was going and in a pique of bravado I jumped at the idea and signed on the dotted line. It didn’t take long though for the fear to set in, and with my head in hands wonder why on God’s green Earth did I sign up to this. But it was too late. I’d paid and signed and I wasn’t going anywhere for the next three months, so I could find no dignified excuse not to show up.
I was never a natural ‘performer’, even in my school-days I was rarely chosen or raised my hand to volunteer even as a lowly sheep in the Christmas Nativity play. I would watch instead in awe at the audacity and brevity of my young compatriots who sat immobile with terror and bewilderment under the stage lights and adoring gaze of their cooing parents. No, performing was not for me. I was much too ‘cool’ for that!
So I’d committed, and not being one to renege on a deal I duly showed, clueless of what to expect — apart from perhaps an hour and a half of ritual humiliation and embarrassment.
Looking back on the experience I realise now and appreciate more what Duncan Alldridge’s series of improvisation workshops ‘Playing on the Edge’www.playingontheedge.co had taught me.
- It’s fun
- It’s OK to make a fool of myself
- It’s healing
- It’s funny and revealing like a therapy
- I discovered I enjoyed acting out scenes real or imagined
- I found real catharsis in illustrating them in a physically demonstrative way
There is though a poignant side to all this, which after all is the focus of The Altruistic Foundation in Duncan’s own journey and story.
Playing on the Edge evolved out of a challenging time for him. Experiencing a series of mental breakdowns while he battled depression, Duncan used his talents and skills as a teacher and performer during this period to explore masculinity and male identity by creating Deep Diving Men www.deepdivingmen.com
As the name may suggest these workshops are more about men ‘who want to undertake a unique personal journey’ in that they ask and explore what it means to be a man in today’s world where boundaries are more blurred than ever in our relationships and in our place in society.
To paraphrase the media “Deep Diving Men is a fusion of practical research through the body and voice. It’s also about developing trust to ask questions in safety and to hear each other’s stories and voices”.
It’s serious stuff then and deals with some weighty issues which (and let’s face it) us men aren’t usually too good at expressing preferring sometimes to bottle it up which in my case anyway was the norm growing up in ‘70’s Britain.
5 Out of 10 Men a play incarnate of Deep Diving Men was performed at the Edinburgh fringe to much acclaim by critics and audiences for its courageous dealing with sensitive issues like divorce, bereavement and loneliness and it continues to rouse interest from special interest groups concerned with the mental well-being of men from all backgrounds, social classes and cultures.
Duncan has established Playing on the Edge as a Ltd Company and is offering agility performance and experiential team-building workshops using improvisation and theatre skills to businesses and organisations.
He also offers a private performance coaching practice which I, for one thoroughly recommend.
If you have a personal story to share or know of someone deserving of a wider exposure through The Altruistic Foundation platform and its growing list of global subscribers then we’d be delighted to hear from you. It’s free although donations are always appreciated to remain sustainable and we are registered as a not for profit organisation. Just click on the Link above.
