Acting Styles: Physical Theatre

Physical theatre, in essence, is theatre that puts emphasis on movement rather than dialogue. In other words, anything that puts the human body at the centre of the storytelling, therefore, it is often very abstract and unique in style, using movement in a stylised and representational way.

One famous drama company who specialise in Physical Theatre are DV8. They use Physical Theatre as a full art form and focus on looking at the dramatic potential that can be unlocked from movement. They describe their work as combining the crossroads, where dance and drama meet. They use Physical Theatre to explore complex aspects of human life, issues and relationships.

In their production of "Can we Talk About This?" the performers used Physical Theatre to express extremely complicated and delicate social and political issues surrounding Islam.

Another company called Frantic Assembly combine dialogue with movement, and worked with the National Theatre for the production of the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night.

The companies production of "Lovesong" by Abi Morgan, demonstrates a different way of performing Physical Theatre. They use more dialogue, but most of the impact comes from movement, to show relationships and changes over a couple of years.

Stylised Movement: Normally, in Shakespearian plays, actions are described. For example, the battle scene before the beginning of Macbeth was described, however in his production of Macbeth, Kenneth Branagh was hailed for the physicality of the piece. Movement can make a play much more exciting.

Physical Theatre can also be used in the way of the director. Steven Berkoff used it in "The Trial" to provide scene, whether it is furniture for a room or a busy street, he always used people, allowing for great impact. The stage for his production was a cast, simple frames and a rope, in order to allow the actors to create the staging and show off their versatility and talents.

Combining Art Forms: Physical Theatre has a focus on movement, but at the same time can be separate from the spoken word, or combined with it. It can be devised or contain elements of improvisation beyond the script. These elements may include music, dance or media.

Commedia: Commedia dell'arte is recognised as the starting point for Physical Theatre. It began in Italy in the 16th century and was a popular form of street theatre in which actors carried out improvised scenes with stock characters. The main focus on this type of theatre was that the actors wore masks, so facial expressions couldn't be seen, so emotions must have been obvious through their body language.

Techniques

• Proximity
• Gesture
• Harshness and Tenderness
• Stance
• Mask work
• Contact Improvisation
• Mime
• Status
• Dance work
• Not moving
• Movement
• Motif

Contact Improvisation: Was developed from improvisation and is usually performed by two people. When there is contact between the two people, there is a response, for example if someone was to go up and push another actor the actor would respond in one of three ways. Absorb the impulse, to resist or to respond with the motion.