Inside guide to physical theatre

THE
INSIDE
GUIDE TO
PHYSICAL
THEATRE

Introduction by
mezze eade
06
What is Physical
Theatre?
10
GUIDE
Guide compiled by
mezze eade
Artists
Ankur Bahl
Claire Coaché
Shane Shambhu
All photography, unless otherwise stated,
is taken by
Manuel Harlan
EDUCATION & COMMUNITY
Education & Community Director
Hannah Fosker
Head of Education & Community
Euan Borland
Community Manager
Kate Lawrence-Lunniss
Education Manager
Caroline Simonsen
Schools Club Manager
Becky Rathkey
Young Person’s Programme Coordinator
Abena Obeng
Education & Community Assistant
Suzie Carney
With generous thanks to
Old Vic staff and associates
If you would like to learn more about our
education programmes please contact
education@oldvictheatre.com
CONTENTS
Artist Profile:
Ankur Bahl
Exploring the body
Artist Profile:
Claire Coaché
Exploring the
Four Elements by
Claire Coaché
Artist Profile:
Shane Shambhu
Creating Image
and Text by
Shane Shambhu
Working from Text
Top Tips
12
20
24
34
42
46
48
52
1

Further Reading,
Watching & Listening
Glossary of Terms
Next Steps
54
56
58
PHOTO: GRAHAM BRAIDWOOD
CONTENTS
2
3

TRIGGER WARNING
We understand that some of the content in
Claire Coaché’s interview might cause distress
or trigger challenging emotion in some readers.
It is not our intention to cause distress or pain
but to allow artists to share their experiences
truthfully within the context of their work.
Claire talks about baby loss, which is something
they have experienced as well as being the
theme explored in Open Sky’s production Cold.
If you are distressed, please talk to someone,
a friend, teacher or family member. If this isn’t
possible, please follow the links below to find
support and resources:
MISCARRIAGE
ASSOCIATION
miscarriageassociation.org.uk
TOMMYS
tommys.org/baby-loss-support/
miscarriage-information-and-support/
support-after-miscarriage
SANDS
sands.org.uk/usefullinks
NOVA FOUNDATION
novafoundation.org.uk/
findingbabylosssupport
NCT
nct.org.uk/pregnancy/miscarriage/
miscarriage-eight-things-can-helpafterwards
4 Website links correct at time of publication
5

INTRODUCTION
BY MEZZE
EADE
Perhaps the best approach
to take when thinking about
Physical Theatre is that
it is an ever changing and
ever evolving practice;
incorporating many forms
in different combinations
and pushing theatre to
continually question its
relationship with how it’s
made, the spaces in which
it is made and the people
who watch.
Physical Theatre asks for an eclectic process
which is unique to each company, each show
and each performer, it requires commitment
from the individual and from the whole company
to be innovative, inventive and playful. There are
similarities and differences in the way Physical
Theatre artists and companies work but their
processes and working practices will be
influenced by their intentions and ideologies,
their age and experience and the forms in
which they choose to work and the spaces
and audiences for which they make their work.
By encompassing many specific styles and
being more than the sum of its parts, we can
understand the appeal of (and sometimes
anxiety about what truly constitutes as) Physical
Theatre. A Physical Theatre approach draws
upon dance, mime, acrobatics, clown, ritual,
Butoh, Noh, and many more practices which
emphasise the visual and physical. This doesn’t
mean that Physical Theatre rejects the verbal
and auditory but it can tell a powerful story
without it and it is often used to communicate
that which is difficult to put into word or to
hear. The physical and visual makes a direct
connection to the emotions of the watcher.
I find the most skilful performances (and
therefore, for me, more engaging) to be by
performers and companies that have a deep
understanding of their bodies and how they
connect thought and emotion to action. This
can be through the smallest detailed gesture
or exciting acrobatic feats.
The performer has spent time understanding
their individual capacity and the nuances
of their own body, how their own body relates
to different spaces and to different people.
You do not need to be a dancer or acrobat
to be a proficient Physical Theatre performer.
You do need to be open and curious and have
the ability to reflect truthfully on your practice
and commitment to continual development.
At secondary school I remember having an
uncontrolled passion for performing. I would
throw myself into each exercise and perform
with the wild abandon of being able to inhabit
other characters and share stories with an
audience. It wasn’t until I was taught by one
particular drama teacher and the new PE
teacher who also taught contemporary dance
that I began to understand the processes
of physicality and how engaging rigorously
with exercises could bring a depth to my
performance that connected directly with the
audience. This new found control brought
greater joy when working with text and
planted a seed of energy and curiosity about
devising. Thus began a lifelong, sometimes
frustrating but ultimately rewarding, commitment
to learning and investigating as many forms
of physical training as my income and time
would allow.
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7

My aim was not to be a performer, I didn’t know
what I wanted to do when I left university, I only
knew that I wanted to move and understand
the body more. I continued learning new dance
styles from Contact Improvisation to Salsa and
yoga and explored different practices including
Butoh, Clowning and Viewpoints, until eventually
I realised I was a creative theatre facilitator and
that my practice is rooted in movement.
The more training I undertake the better
I understand how to work with other bodies
and enable young people and adults to develop
their own physicality. I never share a process
that I haven’t experienced as a participant
myself or run an exercise that I haven’t practiced
myself. There is something wonderful about
supporting and watching others to work with
their body in a new way and to watch them
experiment and play with their learning. Whether
that’s in how they approach text or when they
create or devise something new — they know
it’s not magic but it always feels magical.
It’s important not to get caught up in searching
for the new, Physical Theatre allows you to
investigate what’s there in the idea, in the text,
in the spaces in between from different
perspectives; it enables you to find the right
combination for that story at that time and
imbues your telling with truth. Physical Theatre
isn’t about being theatrical, it’s about a direct
communication of each moment between the
performers and audience. You could tell it
another way but this, this is the immediate way
to each individual audience member and to
a unique collective experience.
PHOTO: MARTIN DEWAR
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9

WHAT IS
PHYSICAL
THEATRE?
Isn’t all theatre physical?
Yes, it is. However, if we
think about the history
of approaches in British/
European/white Western
theatre we can understand
how this form emerged, why
it has been categorised in
this way and what makes
the physical essential in
Physical Theatre.
It is important to understand that Physical
Theatre is not just about transitions, images and
sequences in a show — it is the fundamental
principle of the whole piece; how it is made
and how artists work together, individually and
on their own practice. Movement in Physical
Theatre creates meaning, the use of metaphor is
significant and dialogue is minimal, all of which
is underpinned by a principle of ensemble.
Although there was a shift in approaches
to theatre with Constantin Stanislavski and
Vsevolod Meyerhold and then again in the
1950s, with post war movements, in the first
half of the twentieth century there was an
overriding sense that the word was everything
and that actors had lost touch with the
expressive movement of their bodies. The ritual
out of which theatre had evolved was confined
to a reverence that misunderstood the
importance of the inter-dependence of body,
mind and spirit, resulting in an inexpressive body.
The techniques, forms and practices that are
included in the category of Physical Theatre
all observe, analyse and investigate the inner
attitude of a person and how this manifests
in movement or voice (which is produced by
the interaction of internal body movements).
The body becomes a tool for the performer
because as humans we have a wide choice
of movement and we can change the style or
form at will. Bringing attention to this enables
the expression of exciting physical languages,
something which practitioners began to study
in mime with Jacques Lecoq and actors in
studying dance with Rudolf Laban.
It is important to remember the diverse theatre
histories and theatre languages that have
existed for centuries around the world.
From the 1950s we also see ritual and theatre
from countries and cultures around the world
begin to influence British and American theatre
makers and we mustn’t dismiss the impact
of these important practices and principles.
The body was given attention as the primary
way of understanding the world through
touch, gesture and movement and became
the primary way of communicating and
storytelling in theatre.
Physical Theatre can be used to explore and
portray an existing text, it can be used to
adapt a text and it is usually central to most
devised work. It is possible to track a parallel
development of Devised Theatre and Physical
Theatre from the 1960s. Both use the visual
to investigate personal and social politics,
and both are self-consciously physical.
Although the description existed in the 1960s
the term Physical Theatre emerged as an
accepted way of describing a form of theatre
in the 1980s. With the emergence and
influence of dance theatre companies and the
development of film and sound technologies
Physical Theatre established itself as
challenging and risky.
Physical Theatre is now a key contemporary
British/European/white Western theatre
practice. It is embedded as an embodied art
form in the language of audiences, students
and theatre makers. Our shared understanding
is based on the idea that Physical Theatre is
imaginative, that it will bend the rules of textual
and literary approaches to theatre and that it
requires great technique and skill from the
performer, whose body works with intention.
Do remember that Physical Theatre also
encompasses the physical and visual setting
of a piece — the props, costume, set and stage
or location (Physical Theatre is sometimes
site-specific).
Many companies wear the title as a badge
of honour — a declaration of difference —
but perhaps the simplest description of what
Physical Theatre is, comes from a company that
rejects the label. What is Physical Theatre?
‘ A collaboration to establish
an ensemble with a common
physical and imaginative
language’
Simon McBurney
10
11

ARTIST
PROFILE:
ANKUR
BAHL
PHOTO: CAMILLA GREENWELL
HOW DO YOU DEFINE
OR DESCRIBE PHYSICAL
THEATRE?
I don’t know that I can define it, that’s a big task
but I could describe it. And the way I would
describe it is any piece of work that takes both
movement and text and brings them together to
either tell a story, investigate a theme or create
an abstract piece of work. But at its heart, it’s
both movement and text being alongside each
other. Now, that movement could be dance,
it could be choreography, it could also be every
day physical activity. And the text it could be
a script, it could be dialogue, it could be a
monologue, it could be interviews that we hear
in the sound score. They could also be song.
There’s endless permutations and possibilities
of how to bring these elements together but
I think those of us who are Physical Theatre
practitioners have a very deep-seated belief in
putting movement and text together in this way.
Physical Theatre is being able to tell stories
differently and able to tell certain stories better
because the movement and the text add layers
of complexity, layers of subtext, layers of
information that inform what you’re seeing.
Physical Theatre informs how you see the
characters, how you see the story, how you
see the work. Physical Theatre allows people
different ways into the work, whether that’s
through the movement or through the text.
That’s a really interesting investigation, for the
performer, the artist, the maker but also for
the audience.
DO YOU DEFINE OR
DESCRIBE YOURSELF
AS A PHYSICAL THEATRE
PERFORMER?
How I describe myself as an artist varies just
as much as how I describe myself as a human,
I think it really depends on the context. There are
times when I describe myself as an actor, there
are times when I describe myself as a dancer
and there are times when I describe myself as
a Physical Theatre performer.
When I’m talking specifically about Physical
Theatre I tend not to use actor because I think
the act of doing Physical Theatre requires a
multidisciplinary skillset, so that’s why I use
performer because it feels like the broadest
category.
WHAT TRAINING DID YOU
UNDERTAKE, HOW AND
WHY DID YOU BECOME
A PERFORMER?
I grew up dancing, I grew up studying
Bharatanatyam, which is a South Indian
Classical Dance form. I started classes
when I was five because I fell in love with
a performance I saw at my local temple when
I was a kid and begged my parents to enrol
me in classes, so I’ve been dancing since a
really young age. But then I went to university
and studied journalism because I didn’t see,
at the time, performing as a career option.
Then after I graduated from university
I returned to training because I did want to
become a performer, I knew I wanted to do
that, so I went to a dance conservatory.
I have a lot of training in dance, from being
a kid and from going to a conservatory and
getting an MA from the London Contemporary
Dance School. My performance training
is mainly dance based. But also my training
is a couple of other things; one is that my
university degree is in journalism, which at its
core is about storytelling and about language
and about writing. That’s where I think I started
to get really interested in how we structure
and tell stories. Then I spent a lot of my career
in working for really fantastic theatre companies
that invested in performers and in actors, and
got a lot of on-the-job training as an actor
along the way. By just getting into companies
and shows and performances and devising
processes, and learning how to do by doing.
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HOW DOES YOUR DANCE
TRAINING INFORM YOUR
PRACTICE AS AN ACTOR?
My dance training is very much at the core
of who I am as a performer because I’ve spent
the majority of my life in some way or other
working as a dance artist. I think the most
specific way you see it play out, is one of
the most primary and earliest ways in which
I investigate a character, is through their
physicality, is through understanding how they
hold their body, is through thinking about how
they walk. It’s also where a lot of the subtext
of my character study lives, when I’m working
on a piece of theatre or a piece of Physical
Theatre. Regardless of the text I think how my
characters are feeling and how their response
to the world around them is portrayed most
clearly through what I’m doing with my
physicality and my body. It’s also my go to
mechanism for comedy, especially when I’m
landing a comedic line, when I’m making a
comedic choice, or when I want to think about
the inbuilt awkwardness of humans and the joy
we have as audiences in watching somebody
else struggle in a tricky situation. A lot of that
comes out in how I use my dance training
and my understanding of my body to
communicate messages.
HOW DID YOUR PRACTICE
DEVELOP WHEN YOU
WORKED WITH DV8?
Working at DV8 was my very first professional
job after my apprenticeship as a dancer, and it
was an incredible learning experience. I spent
five years working on three different productions
for the company and it was a really formative
period of both my life and my practice as an
artist. That’s in a couple of ways — the first is
in understanding rigour. Rigour in relationship
to research for a piece, rigour in terms of
devising and creating work, rigour in terms
of rehearsing and touring and delivering top
quality theatre in a consistent way, year upon
year, venue upon venue around the world.
It was also the first time where I was able
to bring together my love of storytelling,
my love of dance and my love of text. Growing
up as a Bharatanatyam dancer — part of
Bharatanatyam is about storytelling —
we tell stories in Bharatanatyam through mime,
through physical hand gestures and facial
expressions and they’re backed up by a musical
score that is narrating the story. These musical
scores tend to be in South Indian languages,
Tamil or Telugu for example. But you’d have to
understand those languages to connect with
the music on that level. It’s sort of like opera —
if you go to a German opera and you don’t
speak German, the subtitles can help you.
Otherwise the storytelling of the performers is
your way in. But at DV8 it was the first time I
got to bring dance and my own voice speaking
on stage together, to tell stories and investigate
characters and that was the bedrock of
everything I’ve ever done since. Which is
very much bringing those two sides of myself
and those two sides of my practice together,
to inform each other and to hopefully tell
stories in the deepest, most true, authentic
and most interesting way I can as an artist.
YOU ALSO UNDERTOOK
RESEARCH FOR DV8’s
SHOWS CAN WE TALK
ABOUT THIS AND JOHN.
DURING THIS PROCESS,
WAS YOUR METHODOLOGY
INFLUENCED BY YOUR
EXPERIENCE AS A
PERFORMER?
The research I did for DV8 was influenced by
two things; one was definitely my experience
as a performer. Before I did research for John
I was in To Be Straight With You. The three
pieces were verbatim theatre works which
means we conducted interviews and we used
those interviews as source material for the text
that was going to be performed on the stage.
In Can We Talk About This I had the experience
of being able to listen to the original source
material interviews and then to try to inhabit
those characters on stage.
I give them a physical body through what I’m
doing but I hear their voice, I hear their tenor,
I hear their inflections, I hear their choices in
how they deliver text through those recordings
and I try not to mimic but inhabit that in a way
that’s authentic to them and to the story we’re
trying to tell. So I knew what was going to
be important to get out of those interviews
to inform the work. I knew what types of
information really work for the pieces we
wanted to develop. You know that you need
a mix of the really personal, things that only
that person can say to you whether that’s
about themselves or the situation they’re in.
But you also need something broad enough
so that everyone can connect. I also knew that
you need to be able to edit the information
down, so you might have an hour or two-hour
conversation with somebody but in the end
that might become five or ten minutes of
material in the show. You need to be really
specific about what you’re looking for, I knew
that from my experience as a performer.
I knew what worked, I knew what was exciting,
I knew how it would be used and therefore
could be really straightforward with the people
I was interviewing and say, this is where
we’re headed.
The other thing that really informed my work
as a researcher for DV8 was my background
in journalism. Having studied journalism at
university and having worked for a while as
a journalist, I had learned how to interview
people, I had learned how to approach
people’s stories to find the information needed.
I’d learned how to listen so you knew what
to expect, you knew when to leave space and
allow someone to tell their story. You knew
the clues of when they had more to share but
hadn’t quite found the way to say it and you
can encourage them. But also, I knew how
to be objective, fair and ethical in how you
conduct an interview, and how you get very
delicate personal information and how you
treat that — both in the interview context
and afterward.
WHAT WERE SOME
OF THE KEY WAYS OF
WORKING IN EMMA RICE’S
PRODUCTIONS?
I feel so lucky to have worked with Emma in a
number of different contexts. I worked with her
on The Empress at the RSC, on A Midsummer
Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe and
in Wise Children for her new company Wise
Children. So three different times and three
different company contexts but there’s a lot
that always brings Emma’s work together and
the first thing I should say is joy. It is joyous
to work with Emma Rice and be in her room,
and to devise theatre with her. I say devise
because the hallmark of an Emma Rice room
is that the possibilities are always open. There
is always an openness to new possibilities,
you can always bring an idea to the room
and Emma will listen — she’ll try it, she’ll be
curious and she’ll expect the same of you.
Often you can get into space as a performer
where you ask the director or choreographer
‘what do you want in this position?’ and more
often than not Emma will tell you ‘I don’t know’
because she wants us to go on a journey of
investigation together. And so what that looks
like on a day-to-day basis is: coming into the
rehearsal room with ideas having done your
homework but at the same time coming into
the rehearsal room knowing that everything
you’ve prepared might not be the right answer,
you just need to be really flexible, really agile,
really on your toes to be able to respond to
what’s around you. I’ve had conversations with
Emma and she thinks one of the most important
things she does as a director is cast — bring
together a cast. The reason for that she says
is that ‘if I bring the right people into the room,
they’ll create magic with me’. And that’s the
other thing, you learn from being in Emma
Rice’s room that you need to be responsive
to the magic everyone else is making so that
all of you can create something really
special together.
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In Emma’s Rice’s room there is always a
physical warm up at the beginning of the
day so that you’re getting into your body,
and starting with an element of play so that
the whole company is working together, is
playing together and keeping the spirit of
the company together in a way that interests
them. There is always an element of play to
keep the energy light and unexpected, and to
keep you responsive. At some point in the day
there will always be singing, there’ll be music,
that is always being built into the fabric of the
show. Then there will be a lot of character
investigation and that’s in a number of different
ways: we do physical improvisations around
characters, we do text improvisations around
characters, we do word association with
characters and what’s really interesting about
this is that this isn’t just you with Emma looking
at your character, this is the whole company
looking at the character because we all inform
each other’s decisions, and in the end what
the end production will look like.
WHAT CHALLENGES HAVE
YOU ENCOUNTERED WHEN
WORKING ON DIFFERENT
SHOWS THAT WOULD BE
DEFINED PHYSICAL
THEATRE?
I’m going to be really specific about the
challenges that are there for Physical Theatre,
because the challenges that are there for an
actor on a play or the challenges that are there
for a dancer on a piece of choreography will
be the same in visible theatre — you’re going
to be tired, you need to take care of your body,
you’re going to be investigating how it is
that you’ll tell the story. So I’m going to talk
specifically about the challenges that you face
in this Physical Theatre space. For me that
is being able to deliver character, text and
physical movement all at the same level of
excellence and in a way that feels seamless
so that the audience doesn’t feel like they’re
encountering different things that don’t come
together.
I think that the hardest thing is being able to
juggle all of those in a way that feels right for
the story you’re telling, so nothing feels like it’s
been tacked on for its own sake. Finding that
delicate balance so that you know if you didn’t
have that piece of movement, you would have
lost something of that character. Or if I didn’t
have that bit of text, that movement wouldn’t
make sense and making sure that you are
constantly keeping an eye on that. And being
really strict with yourself to edit out what isn’t
needed, sometimes the movement can tell the
story on its own, sometimes you need text and
it’s the only way to work and sometimes both
add something magical.
IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE
IN THE WAY YOU APPROACH
A ROLE OR CHARACTER
WHEN WORKING WITH
PHYSICAL THEATRE
PRACTITIONERS AND SAY
A MORE TRADITIONAL
DIRECTOR?
I would say there is a difference in the way
you approach any production or show as a
performer because every show is different
and every story has different needs. And every
collaboration will be different, between yourself,
your director, the cast, the creatives and the
audience you’re going to be visiting.
As a practitioner I like to think that I bring the
whole toolbox of skills to a production, then
the process of rehearsals is choosing which
of those tools are needed and to what extent
to do what the story needs. For example,
do I need the jackhammer to break through
this wall or is it a tiny chisel that just gives you
a sense of something? So what might vary
is how virtuosic my physicality might be for a
piece of storytelling. That will vary on what the
production is and how interested the director
is in movement and its part in the story.
PHOTO: GEORGE TAYLOR
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17

But then I think character is always the same
in the question: ‘what is the most authentic
way to tell this human’s story?’. The process
of character investigation is very similar across
all of those different types of work that you
might do in Physical Theatre or a play, you
try and understand the gut motivation and
to represent that in the most authentic
way possible.
Devising a character has different challenges
to that of a character that’s written in a script,
so if you’re given a script then it’s about
investigating the script and investigating
what the writer has put on the page and
what you’re trying to do there. Whereas with
devising you start with an idea of a character
and a set of situations this character might go
through and you find the words — so they’re
sort of inside-out processes in relationship
to each other. But at the end of the day a
character search is a character search: what
makes this human tick, what makes them
react in certain ways to certain situations
and people, what motivates them, what’s
their perspective on their world around them,
what’s their experience, what’s their history,
what do they want? Knowing that and allowing
that to inform how you inhabit them.
HOW DOES YOUR PRACTICE
INFORM WRITING SCRIPTS
FOR WAYNE PARSON’S AND
VOXED?
Collaborating with Wayne on his Physical
Theatre productions as a writer is a really
exciting way for me to investigate a different
part of the work that I’ve done for years and
years as a performer. I get to think a lot before
the rehearsal room, normally I encounter a
script and a character just before rehearsals
and start working, whereas with Wayne
Parsons and with VOXED I start working on
an idea years before it gets to a rehearsal
room. It’s a nice way to dwell on situations
and on characters.
I write for the purpose of being used for
Physical Theatre which is very different to
playwriting or writing a screenplay. I write a
scenario and set of characters in collaboration
with Wayne for him to be able to take into
the rehearsal room as a score that can be
manipulated in a lot of ways, and that can be
used to generate a Physical Theatre piece,
part of which will be told through dance.
So you have to create a scenario that works
but also include a flexibility so that it can be
chopped and changed, that bits of it can be
taken out and put back in, and for there to be
enough room for the movement to tell its own
story. What we end up doing is writing these
really complex dense full-on scripts and then
stripping, and stripping, and stripping it back.
What you get in the rehearsal room is probably
a 30 page draft for a full-length evening,
in comparison to a 100–150 page play.
We walk into the room with thirty pages of
written text with stage notes like ‘he does
movement that conveys him struggling with
the encounter he’s just had’. That’s the stage
direction that then allows Wayne and the
performers to devise something physical that
gives us a really interesting part of the story.
So we’ve written a 110 page script and
stripped everything back to the barebones,
to the bare essentials that you’ll need to be
able to tell the story through text, and then you
let go as the writer to allow the next devising
process to happen where the performers and
Wayne take that as a starting point for what
they’ll make. This is very different from being
a playwright in that the play is the play and
not much editing happens in big ways in the
rehearsal room. There’ll be some but not
that much.
ANKUR BAHL
Ankur is an artist and
changemaker. Originally from
California, he has built a career
in London focused on pushing
the envelope on the stories we
tell and how we tell them, with
the central goal of increasing
representation and expanding
artistic possibilities. He is
currently Director of Content
at Sadler’s Wells, where he is
also the co-host of Arts Work
— a podcast on ways into the
creative industries.
As a practitioner, Ankur
has been an actor, dancer,
Physical Theatre performer,
writer, researcher, journalist
and broadcaster in a variety
of contexts.
Theatre includes:
Wise Children (Wise Children);
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Shakespeare’s Globe);
This Beach (Brokentalkers);
Volpone, The Empress,
The Comedy of Errors,
The Tempest, Twelfth Night
(RSC); Can We Talk About
This (DV8 Physical Theatre);
Miranda (Assembly Rooms/
Tara Arts); Britain’s Got
Bhangra, Where’s My
Desi Soulmate (Rifco Arts);
To Be Straight With You
(National Theatre/
DV8 Physical Theatre);
Just Add Water (Shobana
Jeyasingh Dance Company);
Seven Deadly Sins (Welsh
National Opera); Shades of
Passion (National Dance
Company of Wales).
Television & Film includes:
Avenue 5; Voices of Finance;
The Surprise; Honeycomb
Lodge; Desi Boyz.
Writing includes: Vestige; Out
Late (VOXED); The Art of
Defining Me (Seeta Patel &
Kamala Devam).
Broadcasting includes:
Arts Work Podcast (Sadler’s
Wells); Jump Nation (BBC)
Ankur holds an MBA from NYU
Stern School of Business,
an MA in Migration and
Diaspora from the School of
Oriental and African Studies,
an MA in Contemporary Dance
from the London Contemporary
Dance School, and a BA and
MA in Broadcast Journalism
from Northwestern University.
He was the recipient of the
Fulbright and Marshall
Scholarships and proudly
serves on the Board of
Trustees of Paines Plough.
voxeddancetheatre.com
18
19

EXPLORING
THE BODY
WARM UP (15 MINUTES)
Allow 15 minutes for this warm up. Ask
everyone to find a place in the room in a way
that balances the space — having enough
distance between each person so that all the
gaps feel equal and that everyone has enough
space to move freely. In this place they are
going to adjust their standing position so
that it is open and ready:
— Place the feet in parallel —
hip distance apart with the toes
pointing forwards
— Make sure the knees are soft and
not locked — a very small bend
in the knees
— Check the pelvis is balanced —
if the hips were a bowl of water the
surface should be flat, no water
should spill out of the front or back
— Lift the ribcage and think about
creating space for the lungs to
expand and fill with air
— Allow the shoulders, arms and hands
to hang by the sides of the body
— Imagine there is energy moving from
the bottom of the spine, through
each vertebrae and up the back of
the spine and out of the top of the
head — think about creating space
between each vertebrae
— Allow the chin to float and the eyes
to focus on the horizon
— Close the eyes and bring attention
to the breath — inhale through the
nose and out through the mouth
Allow everyone to stay in this position and
focus on their breath for one minute. Ask them
to slowly open their eyes and without speaking
or making eye contact move to another place
in the room, facing any direction. Check that
the room is balanced, then ask everyone to
check their position and close their eyes.
Ask them to focus on their breathing for
30 seconds, open their eyes and move to
a new position, and repeat.
After the third time, ask the group to start
walking around the space at an even pace,
keeping their bodies open and energised.
They should try to explore every part of the
room (imagine they are following a piece
of string that winds and loops around the
space and avoid walking in circles to
following other people):
— Increase their pace so that it becomes
faster but still even and calm
— Increase their pace so that it becomes
a gentle jog
— Imagine they are weaving a path
between the other people in the
room — this should be playful like
a small insect weaving its way
through a wood
— Slow their pace to an energised
walk, still weaving
— When they meet someone ask them
to circle each other and then walk
away in a new direction
— When they meet, one person will
pause and the other person will
circle around them
— Can they create circles of threes
or fours (if you have a large enough
space)?
— Can they create circles of threes
or fours joining and leaving at
different times?
Return to walking around the space and ask
the group to see if they can stop walking at
the same time. Check their standing position:
— Bring the shoulders to the ears, hold
and then release. Repeat three times.
— Circle the right shoulder backwards,
just the shoulder, then using the elbow
and then whole arm and hand
— Repeat on the left side. Repeat on
both sides circling forwards.
— Allow the chin and head to drop
forwards so they are looking at the
floor, stay here for 10 seconds
— Slowly lift the head, then look to the
right for 10 seconds and then to the
left for 10 seconds
EXTENSION (5–10 MINUTES)
Ask the group to focus on the horizon again,
then when they feel ready they will start walking
at the same time. Let them walk for about
30 seconds and ask them to feel when they
are ready to stop walking all at the same time:
— Repeat starting and stopping
together three to five times
— Continue walking and stopping but
now leave one person standing while
everyone else walks and one person
remains walking while everyone else
stands still
— Repeat with two, three, four and then
five people and then count back down
— Finish with everyone walking and the
whole group finding stillness together
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21

MOVEMENT AND ENSEMBLE:
SECTION 1 (15 MINUTES)
Play a piece of music (moderate in pace that
doesn’t link to a particular dance or movement
style) and ask the group to begin moving to
the music. They aren’t dancing but exploring
how different body parts move, they can move
their whole body or focus on a particular part.
If they focus on two or three bodyparts how
do they affect each-others’ movement?
(There should be no gaps in the music or
silence until the end of the exercise)
After three to five minutes (dependent on
how comfortable and confident the group is)
change the music so that it is faster or slower
and then switch. How does the pace of the
music affect the way they move, can they move
against the music? Sometimes they might be
moving, sometimes they might be dancing.
Change the music again, this time to a
particular style, eg The Twist, Salsa, Afro
Beats, Punk, how does the music affect the
way they move, can they find ways to move
in opposition to or against the music.
Tell the group that you are going to stop
playing music but they must keep moving
in the silence, this should continue for at
least one minute. See if they can find a way,
without speaking or counting the beats,
to stop moving at the same time.
SECTION 2 (15 MINUTES)
Give them a moment to remember any
interesting or exciting ways of moving and
then choose a section of movement 5–10
seconds long. What were they doing with
their body, were they moving to or against
the music and where was their focus?
What emotion did they experience?
Practise this short sequence.
Ask them to choose a new place in the room
and walk to it. In this place they will choose
one part of their body (encourage them to
choose a part that might not have been used
in the sequence) and find a way of moving
it that can be repeated. Encourage them
to play with levels and direction. Practise
this movement.
Ask the group to return to their first place
(called One), now they must choose how
to move from the first to the second place
(called Two), eg in slow-motion, crawling,
star jumps. Practise travelling between the
two places.
Practise doing the sequence in One, travelling
to Two and doing the repeated movement.
Repeat this a few times, in silence and then
playing different music. They mustn’t allow
the music to influence how they move.
Split the group into two or three groups so that
they can watch each other. Allow each group
to go twice. After all the groups have shown
their movement ask the group to reflect on what
they experienced and watched — what was
interesting, did they notice any relationships,
could they feel or see a narrative?
SECTION 3 (15 MINUTES)
Ask the group to find a new place in the
room, this place is called base — Base can
be anywhere, they can sit or lean against a
wall, they can sit or stand near other people.
When you say ‘Base’ they must always
return to this place and position. Practise
the following instructions with the group:
— Go — everyone walks around the
room at an even energised pace
—Far — everyone moves to a place
that is as far away from everyone
else as possible
— Near — everyone stands as close
to each other as possible
— Leader — apart from one person,
everyone sits or kneels on the floor
and looks at the person who is
standing
— Chilling — one person lies on the
floor, everyone else remains standing
and looks at the person
— Look away — can be used with or
after Leader and Chilling, everyone
looks away from the person
—Object — say the name of an object
in the room and everyone must stop
and point to it
— Sky — everyone stops and looks
at the ceiling
— Audience — everyone stops and
looks at where an audience would be
—One Two — each person completes
the sequence, travels to Two and
repeats the movement
Split them into groups (the same or different
groups as before). Run the exercise in silence
and then with music for each group. You could
ask the group to call out the instructions, being
careful not to call out at the same time and
giving each instruction the amount of time
it needs to be completed.
Ask the group to reflect on how it felt to do
or watch and if they discovered anything new.
Did they notice a character starting to develop
in themselves or in other people?
22
23

ARTIST
PROFILE:
CLAIRE
COACHÉ
HOW DO YOU DEFINE
OR DESCRIBE PHYSICAL
THEATRE?
Broadly it’s theatre that doesn’t rely solely on
words to convey meaning, and there’s a vast
range of theatre that fits underneath that
description. That’s my first answer and then
my second answer is that it’s just theatre. But
I think that particularly here in Britain we’ve
got this kind of received idea, it is shifting,
but I think it’s that notion that ‘proper’ theatre
is a play where one or more actors stand on
stage and proclaim loads of text — it’s a kind
of ‘head-mouthing’ that happens rather than
anything going on from the neck down.
There was a study by Albert Mehrabian,
in the late seventies, about non-verbal
communication and in the study it’s about 7%
of what we understand communication to be
is the meaning of the words spoken, 38% is
tone of voice and 55% is facial expression and
physical, is body language. I always like to share
this with the students I’m working with —
you’ve got this vast amount of resource that
you can work with so why would you just use
your voice?
I think Physical Theatre has become more
absorbed into mainstream theatre over the
past couple of decades and something like
War Horse, for example which has been
phenomenally successful, I think has Physical
Theatre embedded throughout it.
WHAT TRAINING DID YOU
UNDERTAKE, HOW AND
WHY DID YOU BECOME
A PERFORMER AND
THEATRE MAKER?
I feel hugely fortunate that as a teenager, as a
young person, I was able to be involved with
the Birmingham Rep Youth Theatre Workshop
and that was immediately formative for me to
be part of that. The director of the company
at that time was Julia Smith and she was really
influenced by a lot of Lecoq work that she had
seen. So we ended up making and devising a
lot of work with Physical Theatre in it. We took
one of those shows up to the Edinburgh Fringe
when I was seventeen and that was an amazing,
kind of mind-blowing experience. We won
a Fringe First for it as well which was
indescribable. Then I went on to do theatre
studies at Lancaster University, which was a
very practical course. I loved all the practical
application but I did struggle with the more
theoretical analysis. It wasn’t that I couldn’t
do it but it was challenging. So I had to dig
into that a little bit — I’m a very emotional
person, and a watcher of things, and in my
own work I work a lot from an emotional place.
So I sometimes found it clinical, having to
chop my heart out and just coldly analyse
stuff. I find that quite difficult to do. But my
degree was really formative.
When I was at University, I visited Glasgow
and saw Theatre de Complicité’s Street of
Crocodiles, this was in about 1993 and it
just blew my mind. I was so moved, inspired,
provoked. I didn’t know that theatre could
look like that, work like that and it was like...
(gasps), it was magic. I still maintain that
that is one of my favourite pieces of work.
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25

After I left University I got a little bit lost for
a while — I had a degree in theatre and didn’t
quite know what to do with it. I wasn’t in a place
where I felt comfortable to perform at that
point so I started working in theatre marketing.
I got some work experience in the Birmingham
Rep’s Marketing Department and then I got
a job in London. I spent about five or six years
working for various producers and working
for agencies selling theatre — that was an
interesting insight into the world of commercial
theatre. I got to see some massive shows, from
inception right the way through to opening
night, I got to see how that mechanism works.
But it wasn’t where my passion lay.
So I was in my mid-twenties and thinking about
performing again. I went to City Lit and did
a devising course to get me back in to it. I had
a brilliantly inspiring tutor, Peda Kirk. I talked
to him about my passion for Physical Theatre.
And he said ‘look, if you’re interested in Physical
Theatre either go to Paris and train at Lecoq
or go to Poland and train in Gardzienice’.
Comparing the output of those two kinds of
training and knowing how much I love Theatre
de Complicité it was a foregone conclusion.
I applied to Lecoq and was fortunate enough
to get in. Then I was able to do two years
training there, which was absolutely amazing
and incredibly challenging but really formative
— personally, creatively and professionally.
When I first left Lecoq, like many people, I
formed a theatre company with two very good
friends from North America but the geography
made it difficult to sustain. I was part of
Jammy Voo which was a five-woman clown
troupe. Then I set up a company called Red
Cape Theatre with two other women in 2006
and we made the Idiot Colony which Lisle
Turner wrote and I co-devised. It was a story
about a woman who was placed in a mental
health institution in Birmingham during the war
because she had an illegitimate baby.
We researched how thousands of women
were incarcerated for absolutely spurious
reasons under the Mental Health Act at that
time and then released under the Care in the
Communities Act in the 80s, having been
institutionalised for decades.
Then I directed the second show which Lisle
also wrote. We had moved out to Herefordshire
and I wanted to direct more, so it made sense
that because we worked well together that we
should set up our own company, Open Sky.
This was in 2012 and then we lost two babies.
When I came back to work, I made two
children’s shows before we began making
shows for adults again. The first was Scorch
which was about dementia and then we
starting working on The Disappearing Act.
We’re in rural Herefordshire, which doesn’t
receive a great amount of work but is a beautiful
place to make work. There was an amazing
touring network which did a great job bringing
work to rural places but this was struggling
even before the pandemic. One thing that we’re
thinking a lot about now is skills exchange;
how when we bring professionals here, we can
start to share and grow that knowledge locally
so we have a local ecology of making that has
access to a high level of skill that doesn’t mean
spending lots of money to go away and train.
WHAT KEY PRINCIPLES
UNDERPIN YOUR APPROACH
TO THEATRE MAKING?
Collaboration, learning how to work with other
people but also seeing the benefit of when
you’re able to work together — if you can
learn to create in a collaborative process the
end result is always so much more satisfying,
and richer than if it’s just come out of one
person’s brain.
The compulsion to make work is something
that was instilled in me at Lecoq, where week
on week on week, we’d have to keep creating
and keep creating and sometimes things would
work and sometimes things wouldn’t work, and
they’d tell us why it didn’t work.
But immediately, there was no time to feel
sad about it, you had to get back up and
make more work. I’ve really seen that pattern
through my career. Sometimes I make stuff
that’s great, sometimes I don’t but after a
certain amount of recovery time I feel that
kind of itch, that compulsion to make again.
As Simon McBurney says in the moving body
‘he taught us how to see’. Learning how to
look at work with a critical eye, to see what
works and what doesn’t work. And to look
at life, to look at the natural world to see the
order of how things work, how it fits together,
what causes conflict — where the drama is.
ARE THERE ANY KEY
DIFFERENCES AND
SIMILARITIES WHEN YOU
WORK AS A PERFORMER
AND AS DIRECTOR?
For me it’s a really different thing, I don’t know
if it’s the same for other people but for me it’s
about the vantage point. As a performer I’m
usually working in a collaborative process so
I contribute to the shape of a show but it’s
very much from within this role, this character.
It’s whatever I’m trying out, I’m inside looking
out. I find it hard to conceive of the whole thing,
I’m too much inside the process to have a
sense of the whole thing and I find that really
stressful, trying to separate myself out from
myself. Whereas when I’m directing, I’m outside
looking in and I have this sense of really trying
to hold the whole piece: what’s happening off
stage and on stage, in the rehearsal process
in the overall creative process, and as someone
who runs their own company and creates their
own work the other big chunk of that — the
mechanism behind it all. I have been in stuff
that I’ve tried to direct but I’ve had to get
someone to come in and be an outside eye.
I find it much less stressful if I can do the two
jobs separately. I really respect people who
can do both but I don’t think I do my best
work if I do the two together.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN
AN ACTOR WHEN MAKING A
PHYSICAL THEATRE SHOW?
It may help to think about something they used
to say when they picked people the second
year of Lecoq training. Apparently he said
‘Il a une certaine lumiere’, which is really
pretentious but just that there is a certain light
about somebody. Just the way someone is,
so there’s a bit of that.
Collaboration is really important to me, to the
company and how we work, it’s looking for
somebody who can play well with others.
Someone can be brilliant but if they can’t flow,
adapt, compromise, have courage and give
space to enable others then the collaboration
doesn’t work. And it can be quite painful and
it can be a struggle so definitely someone
who has that ability to collaborate.
I have to hold the space and it’s really important
to me that that’s a safe space where people
are able to take emotional and creative risks,
not in a way that harms them but that people
feel able to explore and play and make
something that might surprise them. There’s
trust there, that someone’s willing to go there.
I’m conscious that in our industry that has
become really exploited so I say that with lots
of caveats around what I would ask an actor
to do in a space. It’s a two-way trust.
Physically, it’s someone who is able to move
and interpret stories, concepts and ideas with
some degree of physicality in the bounds of
their own ability. A lot of the work I’ve made
has been with able-bodied actors, in reflecting
on that there is nothing in my practice that
precludes someone who isn’t able bodied so
this is something I want to address moving
forward. Historically a lot of my work has
been with able-bodied performers.
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27

Physicality is hugely important but also we
do work with text and new writing, it’s finding
performers who are comfortable with both
of those. Historically they are taught as two
separate trainings although your voice comes
out of your body. I’m very interested in what
happens in silence but there’s a point where
we need text and we need to speak so it’s
being comfortable with being able to deliver
text as well.
I’m interested in seeing what training someone
has done but I want to see them transcend
their training. Where are you the artist, how
are you interpreting the exercises you know
(Lecoq, Frantic Assembly), how are you putting
them into your play and making them your own?
Lecoq taught a series of training exercises for
you to pass through and then come out the
other side and go and make your work. Don’t
just recreate those training exercises because
you’re not really making a piece of theatre.
HOW DOES TEACHING
INFLUENCE YOUR PRACTICE
AS A PERFORMER AND
A MAKER?
Teaching speaks to both and I’ve been teaching
more over the past five years. In 2015 I went
back to Lecoq to do their intensive pedagogical
training, where you relook at what you’ve learnt.
With a perspective — you’re up here looking at
it as a teacher but in order to do that you have
to do it all again. It was great to be able to go
back and do that, to be able to understand
why I had been taught what I’d been taught in
the way I was taught it. As I’ve been teaching
it it’s given me the third perspective: I got my
actor perspective, then I got my director
perspective and then I got my teacher’s
perspective. So, as I’ve shared some of this
training with young people, it’s reiterated why
I’ve learnt that and then seeing them take it on
board it’s brought deeper understanding of the
principles I learned.
I’ve been doing quite a lot of clowning teaching
recently — I work as a clown with older people
— I go into care settings and work with people
with dementia and that’s been wonderful to
teach that and refresh that stuff and then to
have the opportunity to put it back into my
own practice, that’s become a lovely loop.
Clowning is really useful for audience
awareness, being able to listen to an audience
in that way is so useful whatever you do with it.
Clowning is something I’ve always struggled
with; I don’t call myself a clown performer.
Some people are natural clowns, they have
just got a slightly other timing thing so they
just walk on stage and you start laughing,
and you can’t explain why. Being able to put
yourself in a place and play with vulnerability
is scary but wonderful — here I am in all my
ridiculousness — and to gently open the door
on that every now and then is a healthy thing
to do. There is something about the openness
of the clown state and being in close contact
with a person, there’s something magical that
can happen which is why I use it in my work
with older people. There’s permission to be
and play and it’s not judgemental, and there’s
something lovely there that I’m still discovering
and exploring. Clown for me is something
that I have and will keep dipping in and out of
because it informs a lot of the fundamentals
of theatre making.
HOW DOES FILM INFLUENCE
YOUR PRACTICE AS A
PERFORMER AND A MAKER?
I have worked with Lisle Turner for a long time,
Lisle is a writer and a filmmaker. Our work has
always had a visual aspect to it and when
writing for the work we’re making Lisle doesn’t
write a script. He writes prose first so that we
can devise for something that generates visual
imagery. If we start from dialogue, I can’t tell
you why but it does something to the actors’
imaginations, to all of our imaginations —
‘here I am, saying this’. But if we rewind back
from that and start with story and some images
a more rich and visual play comes out.
We’ve always worked in that way.
PHOTO: JACK OFFORD
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29

PHOTO: KIE CUMMINGS
Lisle has a separate filmmaking practice,
I’ve acted in a lot of Lisle’s film work, so that
strand has gone along beside us for quite a
while. We incorporated digital animation into
one of our shows, projecting onto an actor’s
body. So we’ve gradually introduced film into
our shows. Then two years ago we started
working on a project called Microplays, which
are filmed micro-dramas. We commissioned
five writers to write those, and rather than
writing Lisle directed the films and I AD-ed the
whole project — I also featured as a barmaid in
one of them. For me there was a huge amount
of learning because it’s a different language,
the movement is with the camera.
Microplays was all about trying to attract
audiences who wouldn’t normally come into
the theatre and was specifically targeted at
audiences who would be interested in the
subject matter of some of the short films.
600,000 people saw those short films, and
I calculated that we would have had to have
done a run for 18 months in a West End
Theatre to achieve figures like that. So for us,
as a relatively small scale rurally based theatre
company, it was huge. We’re really, really
pleased with the project.
Microplays was kind of a testing ground for
Cold. We’ve been R&D-ing Cold for the last
five years. It’s a hugely personal piece about
pregnancy loss. We lost two babies through
pregnancy loss and the second time I miscarried
I nearly died, which was an emotionally,
physically and personally debilitating experience
for me but then that inspired us to try and make
something out of it. And Cold is an absolute
marriage of Physical Theatre and film, where
we’ve devised this Physical Theatre piece with
virtually no words in it. There’s puppetry and
mask in it and lots of the Physical Theatre
tropes in an attempt to tell this really painful
story. It’s about a couple and you meet them
in a hospital setting where they are waiting
for a neonatal appointment.
They are a bit on edge but everything seems
fine — then it starts snowing and they find
themselves transported into a snow filled
forest where they find they can no longer
speak. We’re editing it now; it looks stunning.
We used real trees and spent a lot of the
budget on fake snow! We were given two
weeks on the main stage at The Courtyard
Theatre and we built it into a set so there are
moments that you don’t quite realise you’re in
a theatre. We spent a lot of time working out
where to put the camera and what we could
get away with.
It’s a hybrid piece, I don’t know what we’re
calling this filmed theatre thing, as we made it
in this way because during the pandemic it
wasn’t possible to make a piece of live theatre.
But strangely it feels like film is the right medium
for this story. I led the rehearsal process in the
way I would if we were staging a play and then
it moved to the set and Lisle led the filmmaking
process. We both shadowed each other and
sometimes it was like ‘how is this going to
work?!’. It’s been a huge learning curve and it’s
likely this process will change how we work
moving forward.
We released it in autumn to coincide with
baby loss awareness week. When Cold was
screened, there was a symposium with baby
loss professionals to support people who have
had that experience or for people wanting to
find out more about it. When we did an R&D
showing of the piece in Spring 2019 there was
a panel Q&A afterwards and what happened
was loads of people stood up and said this
happened to me, and it was really powerful.
We want to support people to be able to have
conversations and not feel like they’re alone.
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31

WHICH PRACTITIONERS
OR COMPANIES HAVE
MOST INFLUENCED YOUR
UNDERSTANDING OF
PHYSICAL THEATRE?
I’ve been really fortunate to do some
professional development/workshop training
with Told by an Idiot, Angela De Castro who’s
a clown teacher and Peter Lily, another clown
teacher. Then I’m a huge fan of DV8’s work —
it’s so beautiful — and CanDoCo and Pina
Bausch. I really enjoy Emma Rice’s work,
in terms of mastery of the form and, of course,
Complicité. There’s lots of younger artists’
work that I don’t get to see because of my
geographical location, so sometimes I feel
like I’m missing out.
CLAIRE COACHÉ
Claire recently directed Cold
and oversaw the creation of
Open Sky’s series of digital
microplays The Importance of
Being Honest, The Ceremony,
Stile, Head Over Wheels and
Homework and directed
The Disappearing Act. She
directed the critically acclaimed
Scorched for its run at the
Edinburgh Fringe and national
tour in 2016. Her first shows
for Open Sky were both for
children Hairy Fairy Tails and
The Mighty Prince and other
Fabulous Fables in which she
also performed.
Before founding Open Sky,
Claire was a founding partner
and Co-Artistic Director of
RedCape Theatre. At RedCape
she conceived, devised and
performed The Idiot Colony
(Fringe First, Total Theatre
Award). She directed From
Newbury With Love at the
Newbury Corn Exchange and
developed 1 Beach Road.
Claire has worked in the
UK theatre industry for over
25 years. She studied Theatre
Studies BA (Hons) at
Lancaster University and
trained in Mime and Physical
Theatre at École Internationale
de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq,
Paris. Claire additionally
attended École Lecoq’s
Laboratoire d’Etude de
Mouvement intensive and the
Pedagogical Training intensive.
Claire is a visiting lecturer at
Hereford College of Arts and
also works extensively as a
drama practitioner with older
people in and out of care
settings. Claire is proud to
be a working mum and splits
her time between leading
Open Sky and raising her
daughter, Sukhi Belle.
openskytheatre.co.uk
Claire has also directed for
Limbik Theatre, The Harbour
(2010 Prague Festival
Creative Award) and with
Jammy Voo, she created and
performed Something Blue.
Claire was a finalist for the
2008 Samuel Beckett Award
for her stage adaptation of
Berta La Larga. All work
referenced was funded by
Arts Council England.
PHOTO: KIE CUMMINGS
32
33

EXPLORING
THE FOUR
ELEMENTS
EXPLORING THE
FOUR ELEMENTS
These exercises come from the first year
of Lecoq’s pedagogy. They are a wonderful
introduction to the physical experience of
embodied performance. Students are
encouraged to use their whole self to express
the movement and behaviour of an element:
fire, air, earth and water. It introduces the idea
of physical routes into character preparation.
It also encourages participants to identify
dramatic potential of improvisation.
The first session lasts approx. one hour.
Extension task 1 approx. 90 minutes.
Extension task 2 approx. 75 minutes.
SESSION 1: WARM UP
(10 MINUTES)
Rotate each of the joint articulations in both
directions 5 times in turn from feet to head:
ankles, knees, thigh joint, hips, ribs, neck —
side to side and circular motions, shoulders,
elbows, wrists. Connect each finger to thumb:
— Run gently on the spot
— Run forwards 10 steps
— Run backwards (whilst facing forward)
10 steps
— Run to the left (whilst facing forward)
10 steps
— Run to the right (whilst facing forward)
10 steps
Encourage the students to move independently
around the space without talking and take
themselves to the empty spaces in the room.
1. After a minute or two ask them to return to
stillness. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale
2. Inhale and bring hands through a circular
motion to rest above their head
3. Exhale and allow upper body to fall forward,
bending at the waist, hands reaching
towards the ground
4. Repeat the inhale rise and exhale forward
fall once more
5. In the forward bend position, allow the
fingers to tracing a figure of eight shape
on the ground
6. Increase the movement so the whole arms
begin to move, then the hips
7. Allow the figure of eight to grow and your
movement to travel up the body so that
you are upright, exploring your whole
sphere of movement. Forwards, backwards,
to the sides, above the head
8. Gradually reduce the size of the movements
with the idea that you are absorbing it
into your core
34
35

THE FOUR ELEMENTS
Ask the class what are the four elements?
AIR
For this exercise encourage the students to
work in their t-shirts or to roll up their sleeves
so they have the skin of their arms exposed.
Split the group into two (or more lines
depending on your space and size of group).
1. One half of the class stand on one side
of the room, the other half of the class
stand on the other (give them the longest
distance to traverse)
2. Arrange the students so each one is
facing a gap rather than a student (they
are going to run across the room into
the gap so it is important they don’t
run each other)
3. The first group run across the space with
arms bare and stop at the opposing line
of students*
Encourage them to notice how they affected
the space by moving through it and how the
space affected them when they and/or their
friends moved through it.
1. Now they have felt the air, ask each
one to find a space and BE the air.
2. Play around with the body being as
light as air
3. Being moved by a breeze
4. Being moved by a stronger wind
This is AIR. Ask them to remember what
they’ve discovered. We will return to it.
WATER
This is a visualisation exercise that you narrate
to the students whilst they participate.
1. Stand as a group along the longest wall
of the room
2. Imagine you are at the edge of a beach,
looking out to sea
3. Watch the waves come in and go out
4. Synchronise your breathing with the
inward and outward motion of the wave
5. Step out into the imagined waves and
feel it gradually rising up the feet, ankles,
shins, knees, legs, waist, chest as you
step further into the sea (at each stage
remind the students of the pull of the
current, coming in, going out)
6. Allow yourselves to be moved by the
current coming in, going out
FIRE
Ask the group to form a circle. In the middle
we are going to build a campfire.
1. Mime assembling the kindling, ask them
to gather sticks and logs
2. Together assemble the fire
3. Light the flame and watch it build
4. As you all stand round the fire, observe
the fire, describe how it builds from
small flickering flames, larger flames
dancing upwards into huge whooshing,
roaring flames
5. You all become the fire, embodying the
flames as they build and flick upwards
with the occasional explosive crackle
6. Throw on some extra wood, the wind
blows across it, even throw on some
petrol!
4. The second group now walk to the
opposite wall and arrange themselves
5. The second group run across the space
with arms bare and stop at the opposing
line of students*
*Each time ask them what they noticed.
How did the air feel on their arms? Did the
still students feel the air move as the others
ran towards them? Did they notice anything
move in the space as the air moved?
7. Now, become the waves. In rows, explore
crashing into the shore, dragging back
out to sea, re-crashing onto the shore
8. The water rises now and fills up the rest
of their torso
9. Tell them they have a magical ability to
breathe under water and now their heads
fill with water
10. The room is filled with water. They are
water. Find the undulatory movement
7. Allow the fire to burn a while and then
allow it to die down
8. Fire is physically quite tiring!
This is FIRE. Ask them to remember what
they’ve discovered. We will return to it.
11. They’ve been the ocean, now try being a
mountain spring, a puddle, a drop of rain
This is WATER. Ask them to remember what
they’ve discovered. We will return to it.
36
37

EARTH
1. Divide the group into A’s and B’s
2. Each A partner with a B
3. A’s will be a lump of clay. B’s are going
to sculpt A into different positions
4. A will maintain the quality of clay whilst
B shapes them
5. Ask all A’s to stay still and the B’s can
wander around and see the creations
6. Now the partner’s swap over, B is now
clay and A will sculpt them
7. Again you can have an exhibition where
A’s can view the creations
FYI: Lecoq found that ‘earth’ was difficult
to transpose into dramatic situations so
after some experimentation with students
he discovered that ‘trees’ offered the quality
of Earth element and were able to play
more easily.
This is a visualisation exercise that you narrate
to the students whilst they participate.
1. Ask the students to find themselves
a place in the space separate from
each other
2. Encourage them to stand with their feet
hip width apart and close their eyes
3. Notice their feet on the floor. The skin
of their feet in contact with their socks,
shoes, the surface of the floor
4. Imagine roots growing out of your toes,
out of your heels, out of the balls of your
feet and burying down, down through the
floor into the ground, down underneath
the building reaching and curling, deeper
and deeper down into the earth
5. Now feel that earth energy travel back
upwards, back up the roots, up through
your feet and sense your feet, your ankles,
your legs, your trunk, your arms reaching
up and outwards, your neck, your head
6. Imagine a gust of wind passes by, you
sway but feel yourself rooted to the earth
7. Now we are going to walk, as trees. How
slowly? How rigidly do the limbs move?
8. What kind of voice starts to arrive?
OPTIONAL: A’s and B’s can take it in turns
to be trees, root themselves to the floor whilst
the other tries to push them over.
This is EARTH. Ask them to remember what
they’ve discovered. We will return to it.
PHOTO: GRAHAM BRAIDWOOD
38
39

EXTENSION TASK 1:
IMPROVISATION
(90 MINUTES)
Warm up first — 10 minuets. Ask the group to
recall the four elements by moving physically
as each element in turn.
AIR, WATER, FIRE, EARTH (TREE)
Invite the students to volunteer suggestions
about how elements affect each other and
then embody the suggestion.
1. How does fire affect water/how does
water affect fire?
2. How does fire affect a tree/how do trees
affect fire?
3. How does fire affect air/how does air
affect fire?
4. How does air affect water/how does
water affect air?
5. How does air affect trees/how do trees
affect air?
6. How does water affect tree (earth)/
how do trees (earth) affect water?
The next exercise brings the elements
into conflict.
1. Tell the group the space is a ‘boxing ring’
2. Divide the group into four: trees, air, water,
fire (they will work in these teams)
3. Each team stands along one side of the
imaginary boxing ring (which is square)
4. Bring one team into the ring then ask
a second team to meet them in there
5. Watch the reactions as elements meet
in all combinations
The next exercise enables elements to
become human.
1. Ask the students to work by themselves
in the space
2. Each student will perform everyday
actions as the elements
3. Get out of bed as water
4. Wash their face, clean their teeth as air
5. Get dressed for school/college as a tree
6. Eat breakfast as fire
If there are any particularly interesting
performances happening stop the group and
ask the student to repeat what they are doing
to share it with the others.
The next exercise involves the four elements
meeting on a park bench. The characters will
be 70% element, 30% human.
1. Set out three chairs as a park bench
on stage
2. Ask the whole group to sit as the audience
3. Tell them they are all going to have the
opportunity to play out this scene but they
are not going to plan what they do
4. They are going to improvise
5. Ask four students to volunteer
6. They wait stage left and right
7. One by one they enter as an element
in a park
8. They need to make their element clear
to the audience and to each other
9. The first element settles on the bench, the
next enters and we watch what happens
10. Then the next element enters and
we watch
11. Finally, the fourth element enters and
we watch
Hopefully you will all have fun playing with
this exercise. There is huge scope for comedy,
tragedy and drama as the elements inform
human interaction and vice versa.
Encourage feedback about what you see,
what works and what’s truthful about how
the elements behave in relation to each other.
Ask the students to note the possibilities
for dramatic encounters. Ask them to note
what kind of characters emerged via
playing elements.
EXTENSION TASK 2:
CREATION (60–75 MINUTES)
If your students have responded well to this
work, here is an additional extension task.
1. Invite them to form small groups of 4 or 5
2. They are going to create scenes with
element characters in a human situation
3. They should play 50% human,
50% element
4. Encourage them to use only necessary
text and if they speak consider how the
air whispers or howls, fire shouts, spits
or laughs, trees creak or groan, water
gurgles, trickles, bubbles etc. What kind
of voice quality does this give them and
what words would they use?
5. Now create a scenario and place the
element characters in it:
— A job interview
— The gym
— Waiting in line at the post office
— On the bus
— In the supermarket
— Also encourage them to come up
with their own scenario
6. Give them 30 minutes or so to devise
the scene then allow enough time for
them all to perform the work to each
other and to give each other feedback
7. Encourage them to notice what worked,
what was truthful and what was less
successful
8. Discuss what possibilities weren’t fully
explored. What characters emerged?
What did they want to see more of?
40
41

ARTIST
PROFILE:
SHANE
SHAMBHU
HOW DO YOU DEFINE
OR DESCRIBE PHYSICAL
THEATRE?
I am not a fan of categories. But I suppose,
one could say that Physical Theatre is just
a label created to describe theatre that uses
elements of physical movement, however big
or small, to amplify moments that go beyond
the naturalistic to communicate and express.
But if you want to create theatre you have to
use the body and so, to some extent we could
say that all theatre is Physical Theatre. Right?
WOULD YOU DESCRIBE
YOURSELF AS A PHYSICAL
THEATRE PERFORMER
AND/OR MAKER?
I create work that uses physical movements
to bring forward the emotional and complex
subject matters of a work and so I suppose
my practice falls into the category of
Physical Theatre.
WHAT TRAINING DID YOU
UNDERTAKE, HOW AND
WHY DID YOU BECOME A
PERFORMER AND MAKER?
I initially trained in Bharatanatyam in East
London from the age of 10. I was a ‘fat kid’
and my mum thought that dancing would help
me to lose some weight. Also, she thought I’d
learn more about my South-Indian heritage.
I immediately fell in love with Bharatanatyam, it
made me feel alive and connected to something
much bigger than myself. I then wanted to study
dance in higher education, but my parents
weren’t really supportive of me following the
arts as a possible career. When I — despite the
odds — did finally decide to take a career in the
arts there wasn’t much opportunity for me as
an artist only having trained in Bharatanatyam.
It was through working with companies like
Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company where
I was able to expand on my dance vocabulary
to include different Contemporary dance styles,
such as Graham, Cunningham, Release etc.
Different dance techniques really enhanced
my physical capabilities and widened my
possibilities of movement. But working as
a contemporary dancer I felt detached from my
true self. It was wonderful for technical precision
and strength but after a while I really began to
miss expressing the emotional, narrative and
dramatic aspects of Bharatanatyam. I was
fortunate at this stage in my career to work with
Complicité. It was following this and several
other acting roles that I decided to try and
bring together my Bharatanatyam training,
contemporary dance and theatre experiences
to discover my own unique movement-driven
language and style of theatre.
WHAT KEY ELEMENTS
DEFINE AND/OR PRINCIPLES
UNDERPIN YOUR APPROACH
TO THEATRE MAKING?
I find there is often an expectation placed
on me, as a South Asian artist to focus on
representing my specific cultural heritage.
However, having grown up in East London,
my lived experiences have been shaped by
interacting with many different migrant cultures.
And so eventually I created a company,
Altered Skin, to produce multi-lingual and
intercultural theatre capturing the reality of
contemporary Britain which I experienced
growing up in East London.
The performers we collaborate with represent
artists, people and voices of the diaspora and
the ensemble works Altered Skin creates are
led by a process of devising from the principles
and thinking underpinning Bharatanatyam with
performers bringing their individual creativity.
This leads to a genuine merging of cultures
and a unique theatrical language that goes
beyond cultural boundaries to share narratives
bridging cultures and artforms through the
shared experiences and understandings of
identities, belonging and home.
42
43

HOW DOES YOUR DANCE
TRAINING INFORM YOUR
PRACTICE AS A
PERFORMER?
My varied dance training has equipped me
with the freedom to escape narrative and
character confines and to think and feel in a
more abstract way when needed, connecting
my physicality with my thinking. Dance training
has also raised the quality of my performance
through movement clarity, precision, presence
and strength of performance delivery.
HOW DID YOUR PRACTICE
DEVELOP WHEN YOU
WORKED WITH COMPLICITÉ?
Often, in dance, there is a tendency to follow
the choreographer and sometimes as a dancer
you can feel muted or just being a body in the
space. Working with Complicité I discovered
a stronger relationship with text, recognised
the importance of each artist’s voice and
realised the importance and impact of ‘play’
and ‘experimentation’ all of which now is a key
part of my practise and creative process.
COMPLICITÉ DO NOT
DESCRIBE THEMSELVES
AS A PHYSICAL THEATRE
COMPANY. HOWEVER, ARE
THERE ANY KEY WAYS OF
WORKING OR PRINCIPLES
THAT COME UNDER THE
PHYSICAL THEATRE
UMBRELLA?
There are no real hard and fast rules that
constitute ‘Physical Theatre’. I suppose there
are particular approaches that are considered
as being Physical Theatre, such as collaborating
and devising. Devising often involves
experimenting or investigating a subject or
a text with the body in space or building up
from physical exercises.
WHAT ARE THE KEY
DIFFERENCE AND
SIMILARITIES WHEN
MAKING DEVISED WORK
AND WORKING WITH TEXT?
I feel that in devised work there is a freedom to
explore aspects of your own life and experience
in relation to a specific subject or body of text,
in essence it is writing in the space, together.
Whereas with a text you have to grasp,
analyse and understand the context in which
the text is set and unearth what the writer is
communicating, and the key messages being
relayed. The similarities appear once a structure
of a work for both devised and text are
somewhat fixed (if that’s ever possible!). At this
point, it is all about collaboration, openness
and honesty of artists’ thoughts on the work
and the ways in which it is being represented.
SHANE SHAMBHU
Shane Shambhu is a
multi-faceted artist whose
initial training was in the
South-Indian performing art
of Bharatanatyam. As Creative
Director of multilingual theatre
company, Altered Skin,
Artistic Associate of Centre for
Advanced Training Yuva Gati,
and Associate Lecturer at
East 15 Acting School,
Shane’s artistic career spans
many roles across different
artistic genres including work
with Complicité, BBC, British
Council, Royal Opera House,
Nigel Planer, Shobana
Jeyasingh Dance, Icon Theatre,
Menagerie Theatre and Crying
in the Wilderness Productions
to name a few. Following his
successful show Confessions
Of A Cockney Temple Dancer
he is currently creating two
new productions to premiere
in 2022 and recently launched
Unleashed, a new artists
platform event for diasporic
voices as part of Birmingham
International Dance
Festival 2021.
alteredskin.org
PHOTO: DENIZ SOEZEN
44
45

CREATING IMAGE AND TEXT
1. Create four static images that capture
your emotional response to your idea
of belonging using your whole body
(not just the face). What does belonging
mean to you and how can you portray
this in four different images?
2. For each image write a 9-syllable line
about the feeling of that image
CREATING
IMAGE AND
TEXT
3. Assign each line to a different image
(i.e. not the image for which it was written)
4. Simultaneously, read/speak each line while
moving into its newly assigned image
5. Once you are comfortable and familiar,
transition smoothly from image to image
along with the text
PHOTO: GRAHAM BRAIDWOOD
46
47

WORKING
FROM TEXT
WARM UP GAME: WAH!
Ask the group to stand in a circle, remembering
to be energised and ready (feet in parallel,
rib cage lifted and relaxed shoulders). To show
they are ready to play everyone places their
hands together (palms touching, fingers
extended and thumbs hooked over the
opposite hand/thumb in front of their chest).
How to play:
— One person makes clear eye contact
with and points with both hands, arms
extended, to another person in the
circle as if they are passing a stream
of energy. As they do the action the
person must say ‘Wah!’, this should be
projected clearly, with energy, at the
person. To make the first move more
dynamic the person can lunge as they
pass the energy to the other person.
Practise this all together a few times
to energise the group, remember
to say ‘Wah!’
— To acknowledge that they have
received the energy the person
raises their hands, palms together,
above their head. And say ‘Wah!’ at
the same time. Practise this together
a few times, remember to say ‘Wah!’.
This person keeps their hands above
their head until the people either side
have completed the next move.
— The people either side slice the air
with their hands, palms together,
as they twist their upper body to look
at the person between them (their
actions mirror each other) and say
‘Wah!’ at the same time. The action
is as if they are trying to chop the
person between them at the waist
(they mustn’t make contact / touch
them) but they are powering up this
person with more energy. Practise the
action to the left and then to the right
as a group, remember to say ‘Wah!’
— The person holding the energy then
picks a new person to send the energy
to and the sequence begins again.
So there are three moves which
get repeated: one person sends
the energy, one person receives
the energy and two people power
up the energy. Practise playing the
game, sometimes the group might
find a rhythm to the pace of the
actions and expression
— It’s a game so there are ways that
a person can become out. A person
is out if they:
— don’t say ‘Wah!’ with the action
— hesitate before sending the ‘Wah!
— hesitate before receiving
the ‘Wah!’
— perform the action of receiving
the ‘Wah!’ when it wasn’t sent
to them
— perform the action of powering
up but they aren’t next to the
person
— perform the action of powering
up slower than the other person
These can be introduced one by one as the
group becomes better at playing the game.
Encourage the group to challenge themselves,
how dynamic can they make their actions and
how quickly can the execute each move and
send the ‘Wah!’ around the space.
48
49

TEXT
The following steps are written for a group
or class but this exercise can be completed
as a solo task.
1. Split into groups of five, give each person
a copy of the extract from Caleb Femi’s
poem Schrodinger’s Black
What are you looting for? Asked the
evening news, &
the crowd continued looting. I wasn’t
there, but I thought
I was — my brazen face live on the
nation’s screens, half-tucked
under a t-shirt chucking bricks. An expert
on riots was invited
to speak about shy these particular
young people were rioting.
While he talked they showed more
footage.
2. In their groups they should take it in
turns to read the extract out loud, paying
attention to how the words feel when they
are spoken and what they notice when
they listen. They should make a note of
any key emotions or words that spring
to mind as they are listening (5 minutes)
3. Create two images that represent what
the narrator is trying to communicate.
If appropriate challenge them to avoid
making literal representations of what
is described (5 minutes)
4. Add movement to the images to show
action or communicate emotion, this can be
repeated gestures a sequence of gestures
or abstract movement (5 minutes)
5. Select no more than three sentences or
short sections (no more than eight words)
to add to their movement. These can
be spoken before, during or after,
by one person or more than one person
(5 minutes)
6. Have any distinct characters emerged;
who is each character, why are they there,
what do they want, what is their relationship
to the other characters, is there conflict
between any of the characters
(10 minutes)
7. Ask each group to develop what they
have created into a short scene, at least
two and no more than five minutes long.
They should keep dialogue to a minimum
and find ways to develop the story using
movement. They should avoid using mime
and think about spatial relationships,
and encourage them to use levels.
If necessary, remind them that they aren’t
choreographing a dance sequence but
they can incorporate qualities of flow,
levels, tempo etc. Only allow groups to
use lifts or holds that you have previously
practised and where there is space work
safely. Play different styles of music
(without lyrics) as they work (10 minutes):
— It doesn’t matter if the scene/story
that develops is completely different
to the theme of Caleb’s poem
— If you are working on this as a solo
task think about creating a monologue
where some words can’t be spoken
and movement and gesture
communicate the story and emotion
more effectively.
Questions for developing the short scene:
— How does the scene begin, where
is each character and who is on and
off stage?
— What do the opening positions tell us
about the story and the relationship
between characters?
— Throughout the piece, how close to or
far away from another character am I,
when do characters make physical
contact, when do characters make
eye contact? When do characters
break physical and/or eye contact?
— Does my character move with,
in opposition to or in response to
another character?
— What movements does my character
repeat and when?
— When is my character still?
— When does my character speak,
do they need to speak?
— How does the scene end?
When each group shares their piece ask
if they would like music and if so what style,
or experiment with watching the pieces with
and without music. When they are watching
another piece, they should make note of
what is effective and why.
As a group, reflect on what it was like to work
in this way and what was challenging? Were
there any moments during creating or when
watching that stood out? How might they
develop the pieces?
50
51

‘...the imposition of extreme
spatial constraints
encourages the invention
of dramatic forms.’
Jacques Lecoq — The Moving Body
ANKUR’S TIPS
Develop a physical practice and that could be
any number of things: yoga, capoeira, mixed
martial arts, dance — any type of dance. But
some type of physical practice that requires
you to think about using your body intelligently
and with awareness. That’s different to running,
running will make you incredibly fit but it will
not necessarily give you the awareness of
‘oh if I do this with this part of my back, the
implications on the rest of my body are this
and this is how I hold my body’. That’s what
I mean by a physical practice. Invest in some
way of building that for yourself and really
understand your body. Because what you
are going to need to be able to do when you
walk in the room is to be able to offer that
understanding of your body, to be as deep and
as rich as your understanding of your ability to
convey a character through your voice, through
your expression, through your use of space.
CLAIRE’S TIPS
Train, do some courses but then make your
own work.
Keep yourself healthy — your body is your tool.
One of my teachers at Lecoq would say
something that I have always found really
useful: ‘what do you want to say with that?.
If you’re making something, what do you
want the audience to think and feel?’.
SHANE’S TIPS
Constantly push your body out of its comfort
zones and take joy in discovering new
sensations and feelings through it.
Discover your true centre, through your breath,
through your alignment and connecting to the
floor. It is from here that everything else will
flow. Once you find that stillness inside,
you can become whoever or whatever you
want to be.
Sense the world around you physically, notice
your physical reactions and others around
you, observe movements of objects and nature
around you and feel their rhythm. Movement
is everywhere.
General Principles to think about:
— Listening and responding
— Space and architecture
— Rhythm and tempo
— Sound and silence
— Ensemble and individual
TOP
TIPS
Then there’s the boring stuff about having
a career in the performing arts so have
secondary jobs so that you’ve got a source
of income because work is, particularly now,
sporadic and unstable.
Look after yourself — develop your coping
strategies (this comes with experience)
and be aware of when you need to put
them in place.
52
53

FURTHER
READING,
WATCHING
& LISTENING
If you want to
find out more
about Physical
Theatre check
out the following
recommendations.
This is not an exhaustive
list, there are so many other
writings and resources
on Theatre and Physical
Theatre. Please do remember
what works for one person
may not work for you, it’s
important you find your own
path. Keep experimenting
and playing with your learning
to understand how it fits
into your work as this will
change and evolve over time
alongside your practice.
READ
Complicité —
Devising Notes
for Teachers
complicite.org/media/
1439372000Complicite_
Teachers_pack.pdf
Complicité —
British Library
Introduction
bl.uk/20th-centuryliterature/articles/theatrede-complicite-andstorytelling#
Total Theatre
Magazine
totaltheatre.org.uk
World Mime —
Physical Theatre
history and
practitioners
worldmime.org/en/aboutmime/liaisons/101-liaisons
/265-physical-theatre.html
LISTEN
Rash Dash
podcasts.apple.com/gb/
podcast/rash-dash-talkabout-devising-physicaltheatre/id1482290486?i=
1000453387729
Told by an Idiot
WATCH
Contact
Improvisation
youtube.com/watch?v=
Gi-OaiQvnTU
Gecko —
Amit’s Top Tips
theatrevoice.com/audio/
told-by-an-idiot-celebratetheir-21st-birthday
youtube.com/watch?v=-
G9fwO4RgpU
London
International
Mime Festival
mimelondon.com/
videotheque
Simon McBurney
on Complicité
youtube.com/watch?v=
SnbPAGeA6Ec
Strictly Arts —
Seaview Series
facebook.com/pg/Sea
ViewSeries/videos/?ref=
page_internal
Trestle Theatre
Company
youtube.com/watch?v=
Ot5CxvLmr-M
Vamos Theatre
youtube.com/watch?v=
p4uSYu99vcU
54
Website links correct at time of publication
55

GLOSSARY
OF TERMS
ARTICULATION
Bringing clarity to the
expression of movement
through full use of movement
at a joint. The act of working
through the joints to make
movement possible.
AWARENESS
Bringing attention to one
or more elements of and
in a space which enhances
your quality of presence and
interaction, in the space and
elements within it. Paying
attention to your physical and
psychological presence and
how they interact with other
bodies, objects and space.
BHARATANATYAM
The oldest traditional classical
dance form in India, originating
in the temple in the south.
Bharatanatyam is a
combination of words meaning
dance, emotions and feelings,
music and rhythm.
Bharatanatyam requires the
dancer to be skilled in theatre,
music, literature and poetry.
BIOMECHANICS
How muscles, bones,
ligaments and tendons work
together to produce movement
in the body. Paying attention
to precision, coordination,
efficiency, balance, rhythm,
expressiveness and
responsiveness.
BUTOH
Butoh originated in Japan,
originally named ‘dance of
utter darkness’. It developed
as a rejection of rigid Western
dance and Japanese traditions.
One principle of Butoh is to
encourage what is within to
emerge, its highly charged
stillness and slow motion
allows the performer to explore
their body with great depth.
CLOWNING
Theatrical clowning explores
character and relationships,
using improvisation and
honesty.
CONTACT
Connection to objects, bodies
and space can be visual,
tactile and kinesthetic.
CONTACT
IMPROVISATION
A form of improvised dancing
which explores the relationship
of bodies bringing awareness
to touch and weight, energy
and time.
DYNAMICS
Qualities used to create
movement — speed, tempo,
length, direction, levels, size,
shape, contrast etc
EMBODIED
To give tangible form to or
an expression of, a quality
or feeling.
GESTURE
A movement of any body part
in any direction, at any level.
HEIGHTEN(ED)
To make more intense rather
than over-emoting.
INTENTION
The motivation and/or energy
which sustains a movement.
KINESTHETIC
Anything that requires the
body to move — walking,
running, shifting, rolling,
wriggling, sliding etc
MIME
A technique that suggests
action, character and emotion
using only gesture. No words
are spoken.
MOTIF
A repeated movement pattern
or sequence.
NOH
Traditional Japanese masked
drama incorporating dance
and song.
PLASTIQUES
The movement of specific
body parts. Isolating a joint
and exploring all possible
movement, creating flow to
move through the space or to
different body parts. Always
work in relation to another
body or object.
RELEASE
Letting go of tension in one
or more muscles to shift the
dynamics of movement or
extend the range of movement.
REPRESENTAT-
IONAL AND
PRESENTATIONAL
Representational theatre tries
to create an illusion of reality
and in presentational theatre
the performer acknowledges
the audience.
SITE SPECIFIC
Artwork and theatre that is
created to exist in a particular
place. The location influences
the concept, process and/or
performance or showing of
the piece.
STYLISED
Distinctive and non-realistic
depiction or form.
VIEWPOINTS
A technique for movement
exploration and composition
developed by Mary Overlie.
Overlie’s six viewpoints:
space, shape, time, emotion,
movement and story were
extended, by Anne Bogart,
into nine: tempo, duration,
kinesthetic response,
repetition, shape, gesture,
architecture, spatial
relationship, topography.
56
57

NEXT
STEPS
Interested in
taking physical
theatre further?
Although many courses and
workshops are on hold at the
moment do keep an eye on
the following websites for
training and development
opportunities. These courses
below aren’t free but some
companies, like Complicité
and Frantic Assembly, do offer
free workshops and training
programmes. LABAN, RADA
and RCSSD usually offer
summer course that focus
on physical technique,
understanding the body
and ensemble and Physical
Theatre making.
TRAINING
Babel
babeltheatre.co.uk/
take-part
Babel creates multidisciplinary
highly visual theatre
Benji Reid
Benji is an award-winning
theatre director and explores
the relationship between visual
arts, theatre and sports
David Glass
Ensemble
davidglassensemble.co.uk/
learning
David Glass Ensemble is an
artist-led international theatre
company creating vibrant,
relevant and powerful theatre.
Established in 1990, the
David Glass Ensemble as a
pioneering physical, devised
and applied theatre company
Future Learn —
Meyerhold
Physical Actor
Training online
futurelearn.com/courses/
physical-theatre-exploringthe-slap
A free online course.
London
International
Mime Festival
mimelondon.com/
workshops-2022
Performances take place in
several venues around London,
celebrating visual theatre
which challenges traditional
and mainstream theatre
making. The festival asks
you to experience art, dance,
music and theatre from
different perspectives
Open Sky Theatre
openskytheatre.co.uk/
workshops
Open Sky collaborates with
local, national and international
artists. Based in rural
Herefordshire they draw
stories from the real world and
the experiences of real people.
Tmesis Theatre
tmesistheatre.com/
train-with-us
Tmesis makes playful
passionate theatre that
explores what it is to
be human
SPYMONKEY
benjireid.com/workshopsand-masterclasses
spymonkey.co.uk/artistdevelopment.html
SPYMONKEY is a physical
comedy ensemble, based
in Brighton
58 Website links correct at time of publication
59

The Old Vic
The Cut, London SE1 8NB
+44 (0) 20 7928 2651
oldvictheatre.com
The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000 Charity No. 1072590
The Old Vic Endowment Trust Charity No. 1147946