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# ​CURRENT PROJECTS

# ​FUTURE PROJECTS

# ​PAST PROJECTS

# ABOUT THE COMPANY

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Naked Frank Theatre are a physical theatre company, who specialise in arts engagement to support mental health recovery. Founded in 2013 and artistically directed by Carleigh-Ann Portelli and Claire Louise Portelli, the company use performing arts to; bring about social change, create opportunities for participation and exploration, reduce social isolation, promote self expression, instil confidence and self worth, challenge and test boundaries, enrich the experiences of vulnerable individuals and promote mental health recovery.

Their theatre is bold and daring; serving as a positive voice for mental health and those still under represented in society. They push audiences to their limits; asking them to question their perceptions on mental health and reassess the very nature of what it is to be the "1 in 4". 

"We don't believe that theatre can change the world, but it can change an opinion. Change enough opinions and you might just change the world."

The company host free outreach events, engage communities in arts projects, produce, perform and tour new and original theatre, host participatory workshops and educational sessions, run campaign projects and collaborate with charitable organisations to provide engagement opportunities for vulnerable and disadvantaged people, with limited or no access to theatre and the arts. 
(For more information on workshops, campaigns and events that you can join in with, click on the JOIN IN button at the top of the screen.)

Though not exclusively, they focus heavily on the forensic mental health sector, engaging ex-offenders in arts projects to rehabilitate and support the prevention of re-offending. Since establishing in 2013, they have maintained consistent partnerships with charitable Kent based organisations, providing on-site arts engagement to service-users on long term recovery programmes within medium secure forensic mental health facilities. Engagement opportunities include; acting, singing, dance, movement, writing, directing, design and theatre/film production; all of which are used to encourage; analysis, evaluation, communication, critical thinking, initiative, planning, practical competence, professional practice, team and independent work.  

"We're not shy about challenging opinions and educating communities or groups of people on controversial topics. We don't believe in making theatre for the sake of theatre. All entertainment must serve a purpose." 
 
As a non-profit organisation Naked Frank Theatre rely heavily on funding and support in-kind to produce work and run projects.

# ABOUT THE TEAM

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CARLEIGH-ANN PORTELLI
​CO-FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
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​Carleigh-Ann Portelli began her professional at the Miskin Theatre in 2006 where she trained for three years in Acting and Performing Arts. ​In 2009, after playing lead roles in various productions, she was given the opportunity to work in collaboration with a primary school. Working alongside seven professional actors, she wrote and directed the show, What A Spectaculaire Mess! starring the children, parents and teachers of the school. She then began teaching for a short while before returning back to training; this time in Physical Theatre at East 15 Acting School. Over three years she explored a range of disciplines including; acrobatics, mime, commedia dell' arte, clowning, bio-mechanics, mask, aerial, suzuki, melodrama, puppetry, stage combat and contact improvisation; and was directed by such names as Filomena Campus, Mark Bell and Ian Morgan. During this time she also worked with a number of well established theatre companies including; Para-Active, Complicite, Odin Teatret and Jasmin Vardimon Company. In 2012, after performing The Darkside Of The Frame; a solo production written and devised by herself, she became the Assistant Director and cast member of Skinhead!, a production devised by the cast, Concrete Jumble, and directed by Sean Dupont. She then founded NAKED FRANK THEATRE with Claire Louise Portelli.

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CLAIRE LOUISE PORTELLI
CO-FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Claire Louise Portelli began her professional training in 2004 at the Miskin Theatre where she trained in Acting, Dance and Musical Theatre. During this time she took on the directorial role of a Greek chorus and even stared within the production 'And The River Weeps', an adaptation of Ariel Dorfmann's 'Widows'.  She then began training at East 15 Acting School, this time in Physical Theatre, where she gained skills such as Grotowski movement techniques, corporeal mime, contact improvisation, commedia dell' arte, clowning, aerial, static trapeze, acrobatics, bio-mechanics, butou, capoera, suzuki, melodrama, stage combat, mask, puppetry and stage management. During this time Claire was also directed by such names as Filomena Campus, Marcello Magni, Antonio Fava, James Sutherland and Rafe Beckley; and before graduating in 2010, worked on a promenade production of Georg Buchner's 'Woyzeck' with U.K. based theatre company Para-Active. 'H. H. Sexual Correct' was Claire's first devised solo piece of theatre. It explored the attitudes of society towards homosexuals and revealed the truth about gay love. 'What would happen if the straight person became the minority?' After appearing in 'Skinhead!' directed by Sean William Dupont she founded NAKED FRANK THEATRE with Carleigh-Ann Portelli.

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