Snapshots: Photos of Remember Romeo R&D
21st July 2026
We’ve had the pleasure of collaborating with the European Theatre and Film Institute (ETFI) this summer, welcoming them to the UK for a series of workshops with both ourselves and students at Central Saint Martins. The workshops were an incredible, invigorating immersive experience, encouraging us to reconnect with the essentials of theatre-making and art-creating. We were also able to share our own practices with ETFI, inviting them along to some of our Remember Romeo R&D sessions. Our co-director Andrew Quick shares his reflections on this artistic exchange in this blog.
I am a little nervous, to honest. Having led, or being part of a team who delivers workshops, I could not remember the last time I had participated in one on this side of the divide, as it were: where I get told what to do. I am experiencing what are probably the usual trepidations that many go through in such moments. Will I make a fool of myself, will I be able to react in the moment, will it be too physically demanding? Am I experienced enough?
I am in a room with twelve other participants, most of whom are much younger than me. Imitating the dog have invited The European Theatre and Film Institute (ETFI) to run a two-day workshop around the theme of collaboration. It’s part of a wider project that we are in the process of developing. This is a first step. Maybe, this adds a bit more pressure since we hardly know each other. ETFI is based in Brussels and has just completed a large project entitled ‘Theatre in the Palm’, which sought to bring artists together across Europe in new and sustainable collaborations. We are here not only to experience the workshop but to talk through a future project, one that has collaboration and digital technology at its core. What better way to begin such conversations than throw yourself into a workshop.
It’s a good feeling to just go with the flow and not to have to worry about the journey that the workshop is taking us along like I usually do. It starts off with talking and we are asked about what we are interested in, what we want to get out of the following two days. Vladimir Bouchler, who is the Artistic Director of ETFI tells us about his background. That he is from Tashkent in Uzbekistan. That Tashkent means the city of stones, deriving its name from the fact that it is surrounded by mountains. We talk and I notice that Vladimir is a good listener, that he is reading the room and making little adjustments to the process. He is tailoring the program to our needs. There are two other members from ETFI’s team in the toom with us. Helen Ibra is documenting the workshop – filming and recording conversations. She is unobtrusive, sensitive to her surroundings. Louisa Tchemoutova makes notes, always focussed on the exercises that unfold.
Time flies. A central exercise is the moving of chairs. The aim is to be soundless. Making new patterns across the space. Moving around the chair in counts. Picking up the chair and placing it somewhere new. There’s fluidity. Focus. New encounters. It’s so simple. It’s very effective. We move on to longer exercises. Transitions seem an underlying theme. How transitions create tensions, micro dramaturgies. Day one ends and I am very tired. It’s been hot: the heatwave in London takes it out of me.
Day two begins slowly again. There is less talking. There are a series of great exercises where we have to guess which participant is making particular sounds. We learn how to recognise each other’s smell and so forth. Then we move to explore an excerpt of Chekov’s The Three Sisters. It’s not about acting, it’s about looking for hidden meanings, the layers beyond the surface of the words. Vladimir is patient. These are beginnings, overtures into a method. It’s good to experience the exercises and not be concerned with accumulation, leading the journey. This is the freedom that comes with just doing. I am enjoying myself.
Day three sees us in Leeds. We’re beginning to get to know each other now. We are talking about life stories, our parents, our grandparents. We are speaking of origins and how we have ended up where we are. This is where collaboration begins, I think to myself. In the social, or where the social and the more organised components of work, meet. Vladimir, Helen, and Louisa are watch the ITD team filming sections of Romeo and Juliet for an R&D on Remember Romeo. It’s great to have them in the room with us. Breaks are snatched conversations. We are beginning to really listen to each other now. As we speak, I think back to the chair exercises and how collaboration, good collaboration, seems to be embodied in this simple exercise. You pick up chair and make a perfect, equally spaced circle, without noise, without bumping into anyone. Always listening, always aware, always ready to adjust and accommodate.
A perfect start to future encounters. I can’t wait for our next meeting.
Andrew Quick (Co-Director of imitating the dog)
Photos provided by ETFI
latest news
Support our work
If you have enjoyed watching a show or taking part in one of our activities, and would like to support our future work, you can make a one-off financial gift. Please click below.