Physical theatre
Encyclopedia
Physical theatre is used to describe any mode of performance
that pursues storytelling
or drama
through primarily and secondarily physical and mental
means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre", which has led to a lot of confusion as to what the definition of physical theatre actually is. The means of expression, seem to be primarily physical rather than textual, often with emphasis on musical elements.
Several things that many of these various Physical Theatre traditions share is a collaborative devising approach to theatrical development and creation: various groups , such as DV8
, Frantic Assembly and the Forced Entertainment all use differing but nonetheless devising-based processes.
Some analysts believe that physical theatre was influenced by Bertolt Brecht
.
Dympha Callery suggests that despite the problematic use of the definition of physical theatre, some common characteristics may occur - though she stresses that these examples should not be seen as either exhaustive or that all are necessary all the time.
These include:
Many practitioners, such as Lloyd Newson, express a resistance to this term because they feel that physical theatre is used as a "misc." category for anything that does not fall neatly into a category of literary dramatic theatre or contemporary dance. For this reason, contemporary theatre including post-modern performance, devised performance, visual performance, and post-dramatic performance, while having their own distinct definitions, is often simply labelled "physical theatre" without reason other than because it is unusual in some way.
Another problematic area is dance that is of a theatrical nature. Often a dance piece will call itself "physical theatre" because it included elements of spoken word, character or narrative and therefore be theatrical and physical, but this might not necessarily have anything in common with a potential (and nascent) physical theatre tradition.
and theatrical clowning schools, such as L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
in Paris, have had a big influence on many modern expressions of physical theatre, and practitioners such as Steven Berkoff
and John Wright
received their initial training
at such institutions. Contemporary Dance
has also had a strong influence on what we regard as physical theatre, partly because most physical theatre requires actors to have a level of physical control and flexibility rarely found in those who do not have some sort of movement background. Modern physical theatre also has strong roots in more ancient traditions such as Commedia dell'arte
and some suggest links to the ancient greek theatre, particularly the theatre of Aristophanes
.
Another tradition started with the very famous French master Etienne Decroux
(father of corporeal mime
). Etienne Decroux's aim was to create a theatre based on the physicality of the actor allowing the creation of a more metaphorical theatre
. This tradition has now grown and corporeal mime is taught in many major theatrical schools.
Daniel Stein, a teacher out of the lineage of Etienne Decroux
, has this to say about physical theatre:
The point at which, arguably, physical theatre became distinct from pure mime is when Jean-Louis Barrault
(a student of Decroux) rejected his teacher's notion that the mime should be silent, deciding that if a mime uses their voice then they have a whole range of possibilities open to them that previously would not have existed. This idea became known as "Total Theatre" and he advocated that no theatrical element should assume primacy over another: movement, music, visual image, text etc. being viewed as equally important, and that each should be explored for their possibilities. Barrault was a member of Michel St.Denis's company, alongside Antonin Artaud
.http://www.weeblsstuff.com
Artaud has also been highly influential in shaping what has become known as physical theatre - Artaud rejected the primacy of the text and suggested a theatre in which the proscenium arch is disposed of in order to have a more direct relationship with the audience.
Eastern Theatre traditions have influenced a number of practitioners who have, in term, influenced physical theatre. A number of Oriental traditions have a high level of physical training, and are highly visual. The Japanese Noh
tradition, in particular has been drawn upon a lot. Antonin Artaud was fascinated with the energy and visual nature of Bali
nese theatre and wrote extensively on it. Noh has been important for many practitioners including Lecoq who based his neutral mask on the calm mask of Noh. Jerzy Grotowski
, Peter Brook
, Jacques Copeau
and Joan Littlewood
have all been consciously influenced by Noh. Alongside contemporary western practitioners, certain Japanese Theatre Practitioners were influenced by their own traditions. Tadashi Suzuki
drew partly on Noh and his highly physical training has been disseminated into the west by his students and collaborators. This has particularly happened through Anne Bogart
's Collaboration with him and the simultaneous training of her actors in both the Viewpoints
method and Suzuki training. As well as Suzuki, the Butoh
Movement, which originated from Tatsumi Hijikata
and Kazuo Ohno
contained elements of Noh imagery and physicality. Butoh, again, in term has been influencing Western practitioners in recent years and has certain similarities with Lecoq's mime training in terms of ideas (impression and consequential embodiment of imagery, use of mask etc.)
As well as ideas outside of the western theatre tradition creeping in gradually, there is a tradition from within Western theatre, too, starting with Stanislavski
. Stanislavski, later on in life, began to reject his own ideas of naturalism, and started to pursue ideas relating to the physical body in performance. Meyerhold and Grotowski developed these ideas and began to develop actor training that included a very high level of physical training. This work influenced and was developed further by Peter Brook.
Contemporary dance has added to this mix significantly, starting particularly with Rudolf von Laban. Laban developed a way of looking at movement outside of codified dance and was useful in at looking at, and creating, movement not just for dancers but for actors too. Later on the Tanzteater of Pina Bausch
and others looked at the relationship between dance and theatre. In America, the postmodern dance
movement of the Judson Church Dance
also began to influence theatre practitioners, as their suggestions for movement and somatic training are equally accessible for those with a dance training as those with a theatre training. Indeed, Steve Paxton
taught theatre students at Dartington College of Arts
and other institutions.
Modern physical theatre companies and practitioners:
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
that pursues storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
or drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
through primarily and secondarily physical and mental
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
means. There are several quite distinct but indistinct traditions of performance which all describe themselves using the term "physical theatre", which has led to a lot of confusion as to what the definition of physical theatre actually is. The means of expression, seem to be primarily physical rather than textual, often with emphasis on musical elements.
Several things that many of these various Physical Theatre traditions share is a collaborative devising approach to theatrical development and creation: various groups , such as DV8
DV8
DV8 is a comic book published by Wildstorm. The series revolves around the lives of a group of Gen-Active people , initially living in New York under the supervision of Ivana Baiul, who sends them on life-threatening black ops assignments.-Publication history:The series lasted 32 issues, and was a...
, Frantic Assembly and the Forced Entertainment all use differing but nonetheless devising-based processes.
Some analysts believe that physical theatre was influenced by Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
.
Dympha Callery suggests that despite the problematic use of the definition of physical theatre, some common characteristics may occur - though she stresses that these examples should not be seen as either exhaustive or that all are necessary all the time.
These include:
- Work is often devisedDevised theatreDevised theatre is a form of theatre where the script originates not from a writer or writers, but from collaborative, usually improvisatory, work by a group of people...
, rather than originated from a pre-existing script (an exception to this would be the troupe Shared Experience, which focuses on making contemporary reinterpretations of highly literary plays including A Doll's HouseA Doll's HouseA Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
by IbsenHenrik IbsenHenrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
and War and PeaceWar and PeaceWar and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
by TolstoyLeo TolstoyLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
). - Work has inter-disciplinary origins - it crosses between music, dance, visual art as well as theatre.
- Work challenges the traditional, proscenium arch, performer/audience relationship.
- Work celebrates the non-passive audience.
- Work utilises the imagination of the audience in conjunction with the imagination of the performers.
Problems with defining physical theatre
The definition of physical is very hard to trace. This is partly to do with multiple origins, and partly to do with the fact that very few practitioners themselves are comfortable with the definition. In the book Through the Body, author Dymphna Callery suggests that the phrase originated more as a marketing term to describe anything that does not fit within commercial literary theatre. Indeed, there is a lot to support this: so called Physical Theatre companies often do not share any defining stylistic characteristics other than that they do not make commercial theatre based on "Staged Literature."Many practitioners, such as Lloyd Newson, express a resistance to this term because they feel that physical theatre is used as a "misc." category for anything that does not fall neatly into a category of literary dramatic theatre or contemporary dance. For this reason, contemporary theatre including post-modern performance, devised performance, visual performance, and post-dramatic performance, while having their own distinct definitions, is often simply labelled "physical theatre" without reason other than because it is unusual in some way.
Another problematic area is dance that is of a theatrical nature. Often a dance piece will call itself "physical theatre" because it included elements of spoken word, character or narrative and therefore be theatrical and physical, but this might not necessarily have anything in common with a potential (and nascent) physical theatre tradition.
Origins
Modern physical theatre has grown from a variety of origins. MimeMime
The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...
and theatrical clowning schools, such as L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre situated in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1956 by Jacques Lecoq, the school is a professional two-year course...
in Paris, have had a big influence on many modern expressions of physical theatre, and practitioners such as Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt...
and John Wright
John Wright (theatre director)
John Wright is an English theatre director.-Told By an Idiot:John Wright is an international director of theatre and is a co-founder and an artistic director of Told by an Idiot where he has directed most of their repertoire including: Aladdin at the Lyric Theatre, I Can’t wake up, On the verge of...
received their initial training
Training
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
at such institutions. Contemporary Dance
Contemporary dance
Contemporary dance is a genre of concert dance that employs compositional philosophy, rather than choreography, to guide unchoreographed movement...
has also had a strong influence on what we regard as physical theatre, partly because most physical theatre requires actors to have a level of physical control and flexibility rarely found in those who do not have some sort of movement background. Modern physical theatre also has strong roots in more ancient traditions such as Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte
Commedia dell'arte is a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened...
and some suggest links to the ancient greek theatre, particularly the theatre of Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
.
Another tradition started with the very famous French master Etienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux studied at Jacques Copeau's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime...
(father of corporeal mime
Corporeal mime
One subgroup of physical theater is corporeal mime. Its objective is to place drama inside the moving human body, rather than to substitute gesture for speech as in pantomime. In this medium, the mime must apply to physical movement those principles that are at the heart of drama: pause,...
). Etienne Decroux's aim was to create a theatre based on the physicality of the actor allowing the creation of a more metaphorical theatre
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
. This tradition has now grown and corporeal mime is taught in many major theatrical schools.
Daniel Stein, a teacher out of the lineage of Etienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux studied at Jacques Copeau's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime...
, has this to say about physical theatre:
"I think physical theatre is much more visceral and audiences are affected much more viscerally than intellectually. The foundation of theater is a live, human experience, which is different from any other form of art that I know of. Live theatre, where real human beings are standing in front of real human beings, is about the fact that we have all set aside this hour; the sharing goes in both directions. The fact that it is a very physical, visceral form makes it a very different experience from almost anything else that we partake of in our lives. I don’t think we could do it the same way if we were doing literary-based theatre."
The point at which, arguably, physical theatre became distinct from pure mime is when Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
(a student of Decroux) rejected his teacher's notion that the mime should be silent, deciding that if a mime uses their voice then they have a whole range of possibilities open to them that previously would not have existed. This idea became known as "Total Theatre" and he advocated that no theatrical element should assume primacy over another: movement, music, visual image, text etc. being viewed as equally important, and that each should be explored for their possibilities. Barrault was a member of Michel St.Denis's company, alongside Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
.http://www.weeblsstuff.com
Artaud has also been highly influential in shaping what has become known as physical theatre - Artaud rejected the primacy of the text and suggested a theatre in which the proscenium arch is disposed of in order to have a more direct relationship with the audience.
Eastern Theatre traditions have influenced a number of practitioners who have, in term, influenced physical theatre. A number of Oriental traditions have a high level of physical training, and are highly visual. The Japanese Noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
tradition, in particular has been drawn upon a lot. Antonin Artaud was fascinated with the energy and visual nature of Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
nese theatre and wrote extensively on it. Noh has been important for many practitioners including Lecoq who based his neutral mask on the calm mask of Noh. Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and innovator of experimental theatre, the "theatre laboratory" and "poor theatre" concepts....
, Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
, Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...
and Joan Littlewood
Joan Littlewood
Joan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
have all been consciously influenced by Noh. Alongside contemporary western practitioners, certain Japanese Theatre Practitioners were influenced by their own traditions. Tadashi Suzuki
Tadashi Suzuki
Tadashi Suzuki is a theatre director, writer and philosopher working out of Toga, Toyama, Japan. Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga , organizer of Japan’s first international theatre festival , co-founder of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute in Saratoga...
drew partly on Noh and his highly physical training has been disseminated into the west by his students and collaborators. This has particularly happened through Anne Bogart
Anne Bogart
-Biography:She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bard College in 1974, followed by a Master of Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1977. She served as Artistic Director of the Trinity Repertory Company for its 1989-90 season...
's Collaboration with him and the simultaneous training of her actors in both the Viewpoints
Viewpoints
Viewpoints is a technique of composition that provides a vocabulary for thinking about and acting upon movement and gesture. Originally developed in the 1970s by choreographer Mary Overlie as a method of movement improvisation, The Viewpoints theory was adapted for stage acting by directors Anne...
method and Suzuki training. As well as Suzuki, the Butoh
Butoh
is the collective name for a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement inspired by the movement. It typically involves playful and grotesque imagery, taboo topics, extreme or absurd environments, and is traditionally performed in white body makeup...
Movement, which originated from Tatsumi Hijikata
Tatsumi Hijikata
was a Japanese choreographer, and the founder of a genre of dance performance art called Butoh. By the late 1960s, he had begun to develop this dance form, which is highly choreographed with stylized gestures drawn from his childhood memories of his northern Japan home...
and Kazuo Ohno
Kazuo Ohno
was a Japanese dancer who became a guru and inspirational figure in the dance form known as Butoh. It was written of him that his very presence was an "artistic fact."...
contained elements of Noh imagery and physicality. Butoh, again, in term has been influencing Western practitioners in recent years and has certain similarities with Lecoq's mime training in terms of ideas (impression and consequential embodiment of imagery, use of mask etc.)
As well as ideas outside of the western theatre tradition creeping in gradually, there is a tradition from within Western theatre, too, starting with Stanislavski
Konstantin Stanislavski
Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski , was a Russian actor and theatre director. Building on the directorially-unified aesthetic and ensemble playing of the Meiningen company and the naturalistic staging of Antoine and the independent theatre movement, Stanislavski organized his realistic...
. Stanislavski, later on in life, began to reject his own ideas of naturalism, and started to pursue ideas relating to the physical body in performance. Meyerhold and Grotowski developed these ideas and began to develop actor training that included a very high level of physical training. This work influenced and was developed further by Peter Brook.
Contemporary dance has added to this mix significantly, starting particularly with Rudolf von Laban. Laban developed a way of looking at movement outside of codified dance and was useful in at looking at, and creating, movement not just for dancers but for actors too. Later on the Tanzteater of Pina Bausch
Pina Bausch
Philippina "Pina" Bausch was a German performer of modern dance, choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director...
and others looked at the relationship between dance and theatre. In America, the postmodern dance
Postmodern dance
Postmodern dance is a 20th century concert dance form. A reaction to the compositional and presentation constraints of modern dance, postmodern dance hailed the use of everyday movement as valid performance art and advocated novel methods of dance composition....
movement of the Judson Church Dance
Judson Dance Theater
Judson Dance Theater was an informal group of dancers who performed at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, Manhattan New York City between 1962 and 1964. It grew out of a dance composition class taught by Robert Dunn, a musician who had studied with John Cage...
also began to influence theatre practitioners, as their suggestions for movement and somatic training are equally accessible for those with a dance training as those with a theatre training. Indeed, Steve Paxton
Steve Paxton
Steve Paxton is an experimental dancer and choreographer. His early background was in gymnastics while his later training included three years with Merce Cunningham and a year with José Limón. As a founding member of the Judson Dance Theater, he performed works by Yvonne Rainer and Trisha Brown...
taught theatre students at Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts
Dartington College of Arts was a specialist arts institution near Totnes, Devon, South West England, it specialized in post-dramatic theatre, music, choreography, Performance Writing and visual performance, focusing on a performative and multi-disciplinary approach to the arts. In addition to this,...
and other institutions.
Modern physical theatre companies and practitioners:
Companies
- Theo Adams CompanyTheo AdamsTheo Adams , previously referred to as The-O, is a performance artist and director of the contemporary theatrical performance art group Theo Adams Company.-Personal life:...
, London, England - Chicago Fusion TheatreChicago Fusion TheatreChicago Fusion Theatre was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 2007 by a collective of artists and business associates committed to physical based theatre that fuses different genres, mediums and styles in an effort to foster a greater appreciation of diversity and the arts in the community...
, Chicago, USA - Chotto Ookii Theatre CompanyChotto Ookii Theatre CompanyChotto Ookii Theatre Company are a physical theatre company based in Leeds, England. It comprises performer/directors Matt Rogers, Kathleen Yore, Rebecca Devitt, Jake England-Johns and Rebekah Caputo...
, LeedsLeedsLeeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England - CompliciteCompliciteThe British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicité. "The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting...
, London, England - Dell'Arte International, Blue Lake, CA, USA
- Double Edge TheatreDouble Edge TheatreDouble Edge Theatre is a physical theatre company located in Ashfield, Massachusetts. Artistic Director Stacy Klein co-founded the theater with designer Carroll Durrand in 1982 while at Tufts University. The company uses physical training and improvisation to create original performances...
, Ashfield, MassachusettsAshfield, MassachusettsAshfield is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,737 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...
, USA - DV8 Physical TheatreDV8 Physical TheatreDV8 Physical Theatre is a dance company based at Artsadmin in London, UK. It was founded in 1986 by an independent collective of chiefly modern dancers. It is led by Lloyd Newson, whose intent has been to have a different approach to most contemporary dance than other existing companies...
, London, England - HoipolloiHoipolloiHoipolloi are a British touring theatre company committed to creating new work for theatre that imaginatively engages their audience and makes them laugh...
, CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England - Horse and Bamboo TheatreHorse and Bamboo TheatreHorse and Bamboo Theatre or Horse + Bamboo Theatre is a British theatre company founded in 1978 by Bob Frith. The company works with a commitment to strong narratives but using visual, physical, and music-based forms rather than text. In particular it uses distinctive full-head masks...
, England - Kage Physical TheatreKage Physical TheatreKage Physical Theatre is a physical theatre/contemporary dance company founded in 1996, by Kate Denborough and Gerard van Dyck. They perform at the intersection of dance, circus and theatre...
, MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia - Kneehigh TheatreKneehigh TheatreKneehigh Theatre is an international theatre company based in Cornwall, England.Kneehigh was started in 1980 by Mike Shepherd. Early productions were performed in village halls, marquees, cliff-tops and quarries...
, CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, England - Studio 58Studio 58Studio 58 is an intensive theatre school located in Vancouver, British Columbia. A part of Langara College's Theatre Arts Program, the school offers professional theatre training for actors and production personnel. It is the only conservatory-style theatre training program in Western Canada...
, VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, Canada - Synetic Theater (Arlington, Virginia)
- Margolis Brown Adaptors CompanyMargolis Brown Adaptors CompanyThe Margolis Brown Adaptors Company is an internationally touring physical theatre company that also houses the Margolis Method Training Center now located in Highland, New York. It was established in New York City in 1984 by Kari Margolis and Tony Brown...
, New York, USA - Theatre de l'Ange FouTheatre de l'Ange FouTheatre de l'Ange Fou is a theatre company based in London, England. Its artistic directors are Steven Wasson and Corinne Soum.It was created in Paris in 1984, the last assistants of "the father of Modern Mime", Etienne Decroux, and relocated to London in 1995.The Theatre de l'Ange Fou and the...
, London, England - MotionhouseMotionhouseMotionhouse is a dance company based in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. It operates under the direction of Husband and Wife team Louise Richards and Kevin Finnan and it aims to utilise imagery, theatricality and immediate impact in modern dance with a focus on accessibility...
- Chickenshed Theatre Company, London, England
Practitioners
- Antonin ArtaudAntonin ArtaudAntoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
- Adam DariusAdam DariusAdam Darius is an American dancer, mime artist, writer and choreographer. As a performer, he has appeared in over 85 countries across six continents...
- Theo AdamsTheo AdamsTheo Adams , previously referred to as The-O, is a performance artist and director of the contemporary theatrical performance art group Theo Adams Company.-Personal life:...
- Étienne DecrouxÉtienne DecrouxÉtienne Decroux studied at Jacques Copeau's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime...
- Steven WassonSteven WassonSteven Wasson , is the director of Theatre de l'Ange Fou, and the International School of Corporeal mime. He studied literature and drama at the University of Northern Colorado with Dr. Lloyd Norton, and mime with Dr. E. Reid Gilbert and Thomas Leabhart at the Valley Studio in Madison, Wisconsin...
- Jacques LecoqJacques LecoqJacques Pierre Lecoq born in Paris, was a French actor, mime and acting instructor.He is most famous for his methods on physical theatre, movement and mime that he taught at the school he founded in Paris, L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq from 1956 until his death in...
- Lloyd NewsonDV8 Physical TheatreDV8 Physical Theatre is a dance company based at Artsadmin in London, UK. It was founded in 1986 by an independent collective of chiefly modern dancers. It is led by Lloyd Newson, whose intent has been to have a different approach to most contemporary dance than other existing companies...
- Alan ClayAlan ClayAlan Clay is a film director, writer and clown teacher. In his early career he performed extensively as a clown and increasingly taught the artform. He wrote three novels and a clown textbook. He went on to write and direct a short film and two feature films, which are adapted from his...
- Anne BogartAnne Bogart-Biography:She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bard College in 1974, followed by a Master of Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 1977. She served as Artistic Director of the Trinity Repertory Company for its 1989-90 season...
- Bill RobisonBill RobisonBill Robison is an American physical theatre artist.- Career :Bill Robison is an American physical comedian. He is one of the two clowns that make up the performance team, The Shneedles, with whom he has traveled the world. Their show "Luggage" has toured in several countries...
- Steven BerkoffSteven BerkoffSteven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt...
- Thomas LeabhartThomas LeabhartThomas Leabhart born 1944,Pennsylvania is a United States American mime.Leabhart studied at the Ecole de Mime Etienne Decroux, Paris under the instruction of master mime and teacher Etienne Decroux from 1968-1972...
- Philippe GaulierPhilippe GaulierPhilippe Gaulier is founder of École Philippe Gaulier, a theatre school located in Sceaux, near Paris. He trained with Jacques Lecoq from 1965 - 67. Then became a teacher at École Jacques Lecoq from 1976 - 80. Gaulier is also a playwright and has worked as a clown and theatre director...
- Petra MasseyPetra MasseyPetra Massey is a British actress, and a physical theatre performer in stage, film and television. Petra is best known for British television playing the "enhanced human" Sandstrom in the BBC2 Sci-Fi comedy series Hyperdrive 2006-07....
- Matt MitlerMatt MitlerMatt Mitler is an American actor and voice actor best known for multiple roles on the television series Pokémon . He is also the director of Theatre Group Dzieci that works in hospitals and psychiatric wards and produces experimental work such as the critically acclaimed "Fools Mass" which was...
- James ThiérréeJames ThiérréeJames Thiérrée is the writer, director and star of The Junebug Symphony, La Veillée des Abysses and Au Revoir Parapluie ....
- Wolfe BowartWolfe BowartWolfe Bowart is a modern-day physical comedian, actor and playwright whose work is reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. His current touring productions include Letter's End, LaLaLuna and The Man the Sea Saw...
- Kate ChampionKate ChampionKate Champion is a contemporary dance choreographer and the director of Force Majeure, a dance collective exploring strong physical performance.Champion began her dance training with Karen Kerkhoven and also studied in Munich...
- Daniel Stein
- Pina BauschPina BauschPhilippina "Pina" Bausch was a German performer of modern dance, choreographer, dance teacher and ballet director...
Further reading
- Artaud, Antonin; Theatre and Its Double
- Bogart, Anne; The Viewpoints Book
- Brook, Peter; The Empty Space
- Callery, Dympha; Through the Body: A practical guide to physical theatre, Nick Hern BooksNick Hern BooksNick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...
, London, 2001 - Clay, Alan; Angels Can Fly, a Modern Clown User Guide
- Cross, Robert; Steven Berkoff and the Theatre of Self-Performance
- Decroux, Etienne; Words on Mime
- Felner, Myra; Apostles of Silence: The Modern French Mimes
- Grotowski, Jerzy; Towards a Poor Theatre
- Hodge, Alison (ed.); Twentieth Century Actor Training
- Leabhart, Thomas; Modern and Post-Modern Mime
- Lecoq, Jacques; The Moving Body (Le Corpes Poetique)
- Marshall, Lorna; The Speaking Body
- Meyerhold, Vsevolod and Braun, Edward ; Meyerhold on Theatre
- Oida, Yoshi; The Invisible Actor
- Stevenson, Darren ; A Case for Physical Theatre
- Suzuki, Tadashi; The Way of Acting
- Wright, John; Why Is That So Funny?: A Practical Exploration of Physical Comedy, Nick Hern BooksNick Hern BooksNick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nick Hern in 1988.-History:...
, London, 2006 - Allworth Press; Movement for Actors