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Physical Theatre, Through the Body, Dymphna Callery [Notes]

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Physical Theatre, Through the Body, Dymphna Callery [Notes]

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Neutrality- a state or stillness where the performer is ready for movement without previous or future ideas interfering in the movement, non conscious movement in a way. Energised stillness in a way, State of readiness.( Awareness)
Tag game- known to help energy, aim for a soft tap, releasing and gaining energy by transferring it to another person  (Energy)
Throwing the object- imagine a heavy object in one hand, be a metre apart with knees bent, take the hand far behind you, using your pelvis swizzle around like an athlete, throw the object into the space.Imaginary object hitting the floor lifts you up and you jump  Helps by channeling energy throughout the body and articulating your body through the movement ( Energy/ articulation)
Lift the arm- allows concentration of more than one thing and increases reactions, try lifting your arm from hanging by your side to shoulder height without juddering  ( Awareness)
Pass the laugh - someone starts off by laughing, each subsequent person must laugh louder until eventually everyone starts genuinely laughing, turns fake emotion into real emotion while adding energy into the atmosphere (Energy)
Hakka walk- plant both feet on the floor spread out and keep back straightened like the all blacks, shift weight onto one leg with arms stretched outright, this gives awareness of weight and movement while you hold energy in while contracting and releasing muscles to keep balance, shift energy from one leg to another, control level of tension in your legs you naturally feel more energised and powerful (Energy/ Awareness)
Pelvic Graffiti - imagine and a paintbrush on your back and the wall behind you is a canvas, write your name on the wall and plant your legs wide so you take on stance that allows this pelvic movement, this articulation is more present when making letters bigger and spacing between letters, the awareness of this stance and the movement within it help developing these skills ( articulation / awareness)
Pass the stick - stand in a circle, everyone holds a stick in there right hand, pass the stick clockwise in a circle, idea is to establish a seamless flow of sticks, on signal change direction and move sticks anti-clockwise, is difficult to sustain same level of energy and focus, shows the interaction of energy between partners on stage (Energy)
Slow motion race - several actors line up as runners for a hundred metre sprint, spare actors are spectators who react to the space, all happens in real time, when referee starts the race everything goes in to slow motion and silent, aim is for each runner to lose the race by being slowest, must take longest legs possible and not fall over, when a runner reaches the finish line everything returns to real time, helps with focus and concentration, while being aware of the movement while being articulate and channeling the right energy ( awareness/ articulation/ energy)

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Gecko is an award-winning company led by the artistic director Amit Lahav.

Gecko believe that one of their  shows is "visual, visceral, ambitious theatre crafted to inspire, move and entertain."

Characteristics of a Gecko production;
• intense physicality
• emphasis on ensemble
• athletic movement.
• action rather than text
• different languages
• inventive staging
• multifunctional props
• lighting from unusual sources
• multilayered soundtrack
• visually exciting
• design is both aesthetic and functional
• surprises
• open to interpretation.

The Youtube video shows the type of connection and tensity we are looking to achieve throughout our performance.

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Some really interesting stuff I think we can play with from this video, in particular the use of one limb such as his arm to support the back of the women while she stands up straight but due to her bent leg looks as tho she’s sitting. Also the gradual moving of the women up starting with the man raising his knees to his feet to his arms, I think me and Dom started this kind of body crawling movement but we could develop further.

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https://www.dv8.co.uk/media-portal/explore-our-work/to-be-straight-with-you/manchester-beating

This video showcases how the spatial dynamics between performers can give of different kinds of tensions if that is the only information the audience is given, for instance the heads interlocking and moving past each other at a fast tempo show give off signals of both sexual tension and violence. This kind of playing with singular body parts and the use of tempo and the decision to have physical contact or close contact can hugely impact the audience perceptions of characters and their relationships with each other.

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This is just the basic scheme of how DV8s show ‘John’ (2015) was produced and created from initial ideas through research and development aswell as unique dance styles coming together through improvised sessions to create material and the story forming from there, I feel like we’re doing this but the research and development into our characters for next rehearsal will help.

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- The consciousness which is not linked to language but presence
- The body is the actor's primary instrument
- To be open requires a responsive body without limitations
- First, make contact with your skeleton and muscles
- It is fundamental to activate and sharpen the physical nature of perception.
- Increasing awareness improves physical sensibility
- Noticing how the body responds to each articulation.

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Lift the Arm:
- Lift one arm from your side and notice what happens in order for you to do this.
- Try with different speeds and experiment with this.
- Note what your body has to do each time to achieve this.
- Try the other arm- is it harder?
- Trying this exercise with your eyes closed, your concentration turns inwards whilst your sensory awareness turns outwards + internal dialogue.
- Exploring one movement with concentration allows you to explore the use of your body further.

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- The body must be disciplined in the service of play, constrained in order to attain freedom.
- Articulation promotes awareness
- Breaking down movement into components
- The body is an orchestra, individual parts , that can act as solo, as well as accompany.
- Relaxation techniques and exercises
- Closing your eyes makes you more aware of your attention and actions
- Break down the body into spectre parts to learn the geography of the body.
- Frees the performer and their movements.

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Slow Motion Race:
- Line up as if for a race
- Others become the spectators
- Happens in real time
- Using vocalisation, react to what is occurring
- The aim is to lose the race by being the slowest
Rules:
- Must keep in motion at all times
- Must lift foot to knee height each time they move
- Must take the longest step possible
- Must not fall over

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"One does not work on the body or voice, one works on energy"
- Physical theatre exploits the intensity of energy on stage
- Physical risk of intensified energy on stage
- Slick choreography with 'near misses'
- Reinforces the visceral nature of physical theatre
- Empathy in physical theatre is more sensual than sentimental
- Performance is body conscious
- Internal energy as well as physical

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Haka Walk:
- Stance used by the All Blacks
- Legs wide apart, knees bent with weight evenly distributed
- Back long, with feet firmly planted
- Shift the weight between each side, arms outstretched to help balance
- Doing this slowly helps you become aware of shifting your body weight
-What muscles are involved and where is the tension in your body
- You can also stop and reverse the movement- may be withholding your energy, holding the dead weight back
- This exercise helps to create dynamic movement on stage, by opposing tensions in the body.

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- Use of different languages (English, French and German)
- Use of breath, ranging from heavy to fast and shallow
- Choral speaking
- Limited dialogue, if dialogue was used it was broken up, yet still made sense
- Acrobatic, high energy movements
- Several motifs were repeated between the performers throughout the performance

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This an example of Gecko's work. Performance about a man's life- events are broken up and shown in different orders.

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- "visual, visceral, ambitious theatre crafted to inspire, move and entertain."
- Performances are sometimes inspired by everyday life
- Multidisciplinary practice
-  "Beyond the stage, we aspire to open the doors on our process via every possible avenue, be it digital, in schools or through one-to-one relationships with our audience."
- Use of Total Theatre
- Collaborative ensemble process between actors, writers, directors and the production team.
- Gecko's style is holistic, it's parts are explicable as a whole
- Their style is something that requires a person's whole expression
- Physical, mental, imaginative, spiritual and emotional approaches are all brought together at the same time.

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https://youtu.be/VY6rEZU9K8I

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- Lloyd Newson founded DV8 Physical Theatre in 1986 in response to his frustration with the lack of subject matter in contemporary dance.
- Contemporary dance, which he saw as generally superficial; obsessed with 'aesthetics over content'
- Their work is "characterised by a desire to take dangerous risks, to question people’s attitudes and beliefs, to dissolve barriers that separate art forms, and ultimately to communicate ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously"
- Work addresses a range of themes around social issues like, multiculturalism, gender roles and social class.
- Productions include elements of circus skills, dance, video and naturalistic movement.

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DV8 is a physical theatre company founded in 1986 by Lloyd Newson, Michelle Richecoeur, and Nigel Charnock in London. DV8 pride themselves on making theatre that surrounds and highlights sociopolitical issues as well as challenging relationships between men and women in theatre.  Previous productions tackle issues such as gay men in theatre and disabilities in a modern world. DV8 have 18 stage productions under their belt and are considered a portfolio artist by the Arts Council UK.

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The stuff highlighted in pink are what i feel we most need to go over in rehersal before the work in progress

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•The main idea behind locus is that of a box roughly the size of the person (a little bigger) with 26 points numbered that correlate to the alphabet, the 27th point was in the middle and was designated the space between the letters
• Browns own living space in downtown Manhattan contributed to the minimilist style used to move from point to point due to the lack of space
• The movement is that of a pedagogical tool to explore Brownian movement vocabulary, in physics it is the random movement and fluctuation of particles but in physical theatre it is the use of seemingly random and subtle body movements however the movements correlate to a word or sentence that is being said through the movement
•This movement style does not have as much steps but focus’s on the quality and approach that links them
•The task set inside the locus is to do something unique at each point in succession for instance jump, crouch, or lead with a specific body part to create an enticing visual piece
• The avant- Garde theatre In New York during the 1960s-1970s influenced her work as she wanted to grasp a sense of neutrality, she was pollitically and socially motivated, this was popular at the time and a main aim of locus was to not be subjective and be neutral which she attempted to achieve via the allocation of numbers that she derived was “random advice” to guide her movement

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- Started off with the idea of Cluedo, however, this idea was adapted into drinking games and mind games that are explored through a party setting.