Approaches to acting

11/11/2016
In todays lesson we started our unit on approachs to
acting we began working on physical theatre. Examples of
which are like cirque soulet. This is a form of theatre
where verbal language is minimal if not non-existent and
communication is through the body.
Pracs carried out today include;
On off balance work (up on toes and heels whilst
leaning forwards and backwards)
Circle Pushing body (balance and Trust)
Stick work evolving push and pull
Circle; this practical exercise deepened my understanding
of teamwork and focus. Whilst observer the exercise I
came to realize that the force pushed against the person
in the middle increased the pace, which meant more
focus, was need to keep it consistent.
Push and Pull; this practical exercise working with Brittany
was difficult as we were both significantly different
heights. But, as the rehearsal process moved forward we
turned this to our advantage and used the concept of
power play coexist with playfulness to enhance the
performance.
Homework
69-80 The moving body

14/11/16
Today in class were further developed our understanding
of the push and pull and the off balance exercises from
Fridays Lesson. This time we further developed these
exercises buy introducing charging the space. This
involved observing how our bodies impact in a scene when
they enter a neutral space. Observing each class

individuals natural work carried this. We concluded that

everybodys was unique as we analyses as if they were
being pulled by the hip, pushed in the back of the head as
they were walking, and thing impacted on how they
charged the space etc.
Group work where we experimented with sound (alphabet)
we played with movement and created shape on the floor
with our bodies. These included A, B, K, Toast, Car.
The second group task was to create 5 tableux
incorporating balance, charging the space and push and
pull. In my group we developed a circus themed with tight
rope, puppet, queen chair. It deepen my understanding of
the effect it creates with captivation to the audience and is
a possible technique for HSC group assignment.
Everything we did was non-verbal.
What I experienced and learned and what we
experimented with (what worked and what didnt work)
experimental and experiential.
The moving Body Jacques Lecoq
Pages 69-80:
Movement technique is divided into three distinctive
aspects: first comes physical and vocal preparation;
then dramatic acrobatics; finally, movement analysis
which changes, in second year, into applied
techniques relevant to the different dramatic
territories.
In the theatre making a movement is never a
mechanical act but must always be a gesture that is
justified.
Indications, actions, states, these are the three ways
of justifying a movement. They correspond to the
three major dramatic modes: indications are related
to pantomime; actions take us towards commedia
dell arte and states bring us back to drama.

 We begin by carrying out mechanically, very simply,

in order to see how it goes. Next, we try to enlarge
the movement to test its limits, filling the largest
possible space. The third stage is to concentrate
especially on two essential phases in the movement,
trying to understand their dramatic dynamics.
Analyzing the movements of the human body, based
on undulation, invers undulation and eclosion.
I discovered undulation as the principle of all physical
effort, in the sports stadium. It was on the stage of
the theatre at Grenoble that I discovered eclosion.
Undulation is the human bodys first movement, the
one underlying all locomotion.
Undulation is the driving force behind all physical
effort manifests in the human body, which comes
down to pushing/pulling.
The mode employed is one of dramatic indication.
Whereas undulation is a voluntary action, initiating
movement from one point to another, inverse
undulation always expresses dramatic reaction.
Balanced between the two preceding movements,
eclosion opens up from the center. It starts from a
crouched position down on the ground, the body
occupying the smallest possible space, and opens up
to finish on the high cross position, upright, legs
together and arms extended above the horizontal.
15/11/16
Childhood Bedroom
The Journey
Movement Provokes Emotion Jacques Lecoq
The Body Remembers
Physicality creates personality, character that is then used
in improvisation and then meaning.
In todays lesson we focused on Jacques Lecoq practical
called The Childhood Bedroom. This entailed complete
silence as we imagined and thought about the narration
given by Ms. This practical is located on page 30 of the

Moving Body text. This practical dived into the power of

memory.
We then explored the practical known as The Journey. As
Ms. read out a description we acted through movement in
the adjectives and setting. It involves walking, running,
climbing and jumping. We then explored this prac under
extreme conditions, meaning pace and energy was
increased.
16/11/16
The topic explores approaches to actor training in the 20 th
Century and its realization in theatre production or other
forms of drama performance. The study involves the
theoretical and experiential exploration of the
philosophical and practical approaches to Meyerhold and
Lecoqs work and the manifestation of the techniques,
process and specific exercises, for performance. Students
must consider the aesthetics and expression of the actors
presence and its relationship to audience engagement.
Specific examples from the practioners theatre work;
contemporary theatre practice and the students own
experiential learning should be used to explore the topic.
Jacques Lecoq;
1921-2999
Lecoq is recognized as a French teacher and thinker,
rather than for plays he might have written or for the
productions he directed.
His Paris school, L Ecole international de Theatre Jacques
Lecoq, still exists today and is responsible for the
development of hundreds of famous artists working in
theatre today.
His man influence includes mime, mask, melodrama, and
tragedy and commedia dell arte.
Lecoqs real influence lies embodied within thousands of
performers, writer, movement choreographers and theatre
directors across the world who were once in Paris, and
elsewhere, during a period of 42 years, like
mummenschanz (company that explores Jacques Lecoq).

(Lion King uses Jacques Lecoq techniques, especially the

musical theatre version) Talk about the five senses!!
Concept of playfulness (le jeu to play) This work is
universal renowned. Another incudes Cirque Du Soleil.
Provocative, shocking, confronting, acrobatic, dynamic,
pastals are words used to describe.
Lecoqs Philoshophy;
Interested in human movement an dhow the body moved.
Influenced Paris in the 50s and 60s provoked Jacques
Lecoq ideas.
From 1956, Lecoq devoted himself to running a school of:
Mime and theatre based on movement and the human
body..a organic and emotional dynamics of man and
nature.. the school concerns itself with theatre to be
created; this theatre belongs to the pupils, their ideas,
their quest.
They want you to be uncomfortable, shocked and
questioning.
Training Techniques;
He was predominantly interested in the physical training
of his actors and the concepts of Movement provoking
emotion and body memory, push and pull, balance and off
balance and charging the space.
With actors accustomed to the realms of movement their
bodies could engage with, the further trained his actors in
the dramatic dynamics of; mime and movement, mask,
acrobatics, Le Bouffon/ The Clown, Melodrama, Tragedy
and Commedia Dell Arte. This further developed their
creative and physical abilities.
Lecoq on Mime;
To mime is a fundamental action, the foundation of
dramatic creation, not only for the actor, but also for
writing and for performance. For me, mime is central to
theatre. Lecoq 2000:21 P80 Murray
Lecoq as Teache
Although utilizing training techniques, suckle facilitator.
Criticism was two words, he never praised you just pushed
you in the right direction.
Pracical Work;
1. Practical workshops

2. Auto Cours the period of time you have to prepare

3. Exploration of modern manifestations
4. In class formal assessment essay based on auto cour
assessment.
18/11/16
I (Otkaz - Preperation) / Ras (Posil Action) / Dva (Tochka 0
Return)
And

One

/ Two

Today we transitioned from Jacques Lecoq to Vsevolod

Meyeherhold. We focused on the Bio-Mechanical
approach to physical theatre. His nine basic principles
include;
Precision
Could I do that again? If yes, then you have been
acting with a definite sense of precision
Other skills to create a precise gesture include
coordinating, balance, discipline and an
understanding of rhythm.
If there is a physical risk involved in the work the
need for precision is multiplied.
Eg Circus and Acrobats
Balance
His training reflects this by forcing the actor to think
about the bodys natural capacity to keep balanced.
He does this by making things unnatural.
Concentration
The need to master your own individual moving parts
and to exhibit overall control to these arts is
essential.
Meyerholds theatre was influenced by both
disciplines (The word biomechanics itself is a clue to
this) and it is by worth keeping this in mind as we
approach the exercises.

Efficiency
You need all your physical resources at your
command when you are performing in a production in
Meyerhold style and needless gestures or
overelaborate actions simply use up those resources
unnecessarily.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the glue, which binds all the other skills to
the actor together.
A rhythm made up of three parts. He then gave each
part a name: Otkaz, or preparation; Posil, or action;
and tochka, or end point
These are the building blocks to biomechanical
theatre.
Expressiveness
Meyerholds mode of expression was exaggerated,
elongated and stylized.
Without the us of words
The actor in Meyerholds troupe had to be physically
fit, agile and flexible, just as the actors of commedia
dellarte were in a previous era.
When a biomechanical actor walks on the stage there
is always some kind of reaction for his fellow
performers. Eg Charlie Chaplin
Responsiveness
As an actor, you need to be permanently switched
on, or responsive, too what is happening before you.
All stage actors, by definition, must be able to
respond to the unpredictabilitys of the live event.
By definition, must be able to respond to the
unpredictabilitys of the live event.
Playfulness and Discipline
Balance with one another
He was an exacting taskmaster who had a precise
vision of what he wanted to see on stage.
This atmosphere of control would be punctuated but
moments of frolicsome play

 As a leader you must define the right atmosphere for

concentrated and sometimes grueling physical work
You have to transform to unforeseen occurrences and
be adaptable enough to transform the atmosphere
with a different exercise or a change of tack
As a participant, you must commit yourself to what
are very prescriptive exercises at times.
Practicals undertook include;
1. Circle Sticks
2. Partner Sticks
3. Ball Circle
4. Ball Practical scene
5. Mimed Ball Scene
6. Robotic Sequences