A unique and intensive opportunity to create an original devised performance in three days.
United is D.I.V.E. Theatre Collective’s physical theatre residency for high school, international school students and community youth groups that is as rigorous as it is transformative.
Working alongside D.I.V.E.’s professional ensemble, students devise, rehearse, and perform an entirely original piece of physical theatre, contributing to every stage of the creative process and performing in the finished work.
They started as individuals and ended as an ensemble. You gave our students an awesome experience to remember forever and transformed how some students think of theatre.
Teacher, Hong Kong International School
The Residency
United is a 20-hour physical theatre devising residency, led by D.I.V.E. Theatre Collective’s professional ensemble of multicultural artists.
United is built around a shared creative framework: an elemental world of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire peoples, living in precarious harmony—until Fire’s drive for dominance breaks everything apart. Students work within this framework to explore what it takes to find unity again. This scaffold is a starting point and holds the work together; the students shape everything inside it.
Residencies are led by D.I.V.E. practitioners across 3–5 days for groups of 20–60 participants. All participants contribute to the devising process and perform in the final show.
D.I.V.E. work is challenging, fresh, demanding, risk taking, liberating, collaborative, intense, emotional and amazing.
Teacher, UN International School, Hanoi, Vietnam
How D.I.V.E. Works
D.I.V.E.’s residencies are active explorations of physical and political theatre-making, grounded in the belief that theatre is not just for entertainment, but a tool for reflection and social action.
D.I.V.E.’s methodology draws on the work of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Biomechanics, Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, and the traditions of physical and devised theatre.
Students work collaboratively as a professional ensemble. They draw on movement, breath, spatial relationships, visual metaphor, and multilingual storytelling to build performances that are visceral, poetic, and enlightening.
This is not conventional theatre education. It is challenging, immersive, and transformative.
Learn More About D.I.V.E.’s Artistic Practice Here
The type of work you do with students is challenging and highly important. The physical proxemics, intimacy and visceral, intuitive nature of the work seems like an antidote to modern society.
Teacher, Shanghai American School
Participants will:
- Develop physical theatre skills, using movement, breath, and physical presence as primary storytelling tools to devise scenes, build characters, and create meaning without a script
- Explore how professional physical theatre practitioners use physicality, sound, and lighting to shape subtext, atmosphere, and audience experience
- Experience devised theatre from the inside, working collaboratively as a professional creative ensemble
- Develop confidence, physical expression, and creative risk-taking abilities
- Build transferable skills in collaboration, leadership, communication, and critical thinking
- Perform in an original production in front of a live audience
One of my students has already referenced Biomechanics in a reflection and connected and compared it to work in Balinese Topeng. It has opened up their minds to the abstract and physical.
Teacher, Shanghai American School
Aligning with the Curriculum
Our physical theatre residency directly develops skills central to leading drama and theatre curricula worldwide.
The residency directly addresses:
- Physical Theatre: Developing a movement vocabulary that communicates complex human experiences without relying solely on text.
- Ensemble Building: Creating a safe, inclusive space where students feel heard, valued, and inspired to lead as a collective.
- Devising: The rigorous process of crafting original narratives from the ground up, building critical thinking and confidence transferable to any field.
United is particularly relevant for students and teachers working within the IB Diploma Programme (IBDP) Theatre course—especially regarding the Collaborative Project—and for schools following GCSE and A-Level Drama (UK), the Queensland Senior Drama Curriculum, NSW HSC Drama, and VCE Drama (Australia).*
Residency Logistics
Capacity: 20–60 students.
Duration: 20 hours (divided over 3 or more days)
Requirements: A large open space (school hall or theatre) and one or two smaller rehearsal rooms.
D.I.V.E. provides: Full facilitation, a creative framework, artistic mentorship, and comprehensive technical guidance.
Output: A fully realised original performance, performed by participants.
Example Schedule
- Day 1 – Creative Development (5 hours): Introduction to physical theatre techniques, narrative framework exploration, ensemble building, and initial improvisation.
- Day 2 – Devising (5 hours): Research-based movement workshops, crafting original narratives, and developing a movement vocabulary.
- Day 3 – Refinement and Rehearsal (5 hours): Structuring the pieces, refining physical sequences, integrating music/sound, and polishing transitions.
- Day 4 – Technical Run & Performance (5 hours): Technical management (lighting/sound), full dress run-through, and the final 40-minute performance.
The workshop was engaging, highly practical, and pitched perfectly to the needs of senior students. Cesar and Megan created a collaborative and professional environment that encouraged risk-taking, ensemble awareness, and creative exploration. Their expertise not only deepened our students’ understanding of the theatrical form but also gave them concrete tools to apply directly in rehearsal.
Teacher – Wavell State High School, Qld
Booking Information
United is one expression of D.I.V.E.’s residency model. If your school has a different theme or creative brief, we will build something around it.
All residencies draw on students’ own imaginations, experiences, and stories as primary creative material.
To enquire, please contact our Education Officer: [email protected] or click on the link below.
*This reflects D.I.V.E.’s understanding of these curricula and the skills the residency demonstrably develops. It does not represent formal endorsement by any examining body. Teachers are welcome to contact us to discuss curriculum fit for their specific cohort.
