black star, black sheep, black dog, underdog, underling, underlying, lies, truths, empathy, love, light, luminously bright, deadly and dark, humble human beings. Black Star Projects works with anomalous performers and sharped-edged stories from society’s margins. ‘Black’ in this context signifies an alternative to the dominant group. It includes, but also extends beyond racial diversity to ‘othern
ess’ across class, age, sexuality, physicality, mentality, or indeed any other personal challenges that lead to discrimination. Human suffering is acknowledged as ‘embodied’ knowledge, and who feels it, knows it. From this basis, Black Star embraces yoga and meditation as body and mind actor training methods. Yoga increases physical strength and flexibility, but both disciplines are used to enable flexibility of mind: a willingness to take risks - with creative processes and content. Working with self-acceptance, we also deepen our empathy for others and their situation. This happens off stage, within our interpersonal relationships, and on stage, through presentation of ‘true’ narratives drawn from ‘real’ life. A further realm for potential transformation is among the audience, who may also experience some shift in consciousness through contact with the work. Always striving for quality, always seeking to entertain and provoke, ‘black’ humour is inherent in the work, with laughter enabling an essential release of energy. Black Star also aspires to harnessing ‘higher states of consciousness’ through these ancient yoga and meditation techniques, as a means of increasing creativity. When applied to theatre practice, this opens a fresh space for raw performances and gritty tales from beneath life’s shiny surface, which encourage us to observe the social realities, inequalities and real-life dramas that fuel the present moments of contemporary life.
