Psycho- Physical Theatre

What is it all about?

During my training, I found inspiration in the psycho-physical theatre practices. Especially in the practitioners Eugenio Barba who was the founder of Odin Theatre and the International School of the Theatre of Anthropology: The Theatre of Anthropology is the study of the pre-expressive behaviour,which is what lies beyond the actor. I also found inspiration in the practitioner Jerzy Grotowski, the founder of Poor Theatre. Poor Theatre is the stripping back of elements such as set, lights, makeup, costumes etc and it focuses purely on the actor.

By gradually eliminating whatever proved superfluous, we found that theatre can exist without make-up, without autonomic costume and scenography, without a separate performance area (stage), without lighting and sound effects, etc. (Jerzy Grotowski, Towards a Poor Theatre p19)

This was very interesting to me, it was almost as if the actor has nothing to hide behind, you fully open yourself up to the practice and become one with it. To a certain extent this practice helped me to understand the naturalistic characters which are found in many modern day plays.

The art of pyscho physical training with the Actor is to allow oneself to be completely free. Start with meditation and yoga to completely relax and free the body. Allow complete focus and concentration to take over. Dive into something new, begin the journey with music allow this platform to take you on a journey. Explore the creative world you imagine in your mind's eye, only when you free yourself from the stresses of day to day life can you really be true and will create some of your best work.

Remove any tension from the body with deep breathing, allowing the breath to enter every part of your body feeling light and free. Exercise this technique daily to focus on your mind set and what you want to achieve that day.

Nothing in the creation process is wrong, it is all experimental at this stage. Start working on Jerzy Grotowski's plastiques and work in isolation on the body, focusing on one area at a time whether this be the fingers, head or spine. Use this as a starting point when creating work. Jerzy Grotowski loved to create sequences to music and later layered these sequences with text. It is not the text that tells the story but rather the body through movement to music. Your body through facial expression, gesture and language will tell a story with tension, build up and climaxes with the aid of music and the creation of the score will be beautiful. All you have to do is allow yourself to be free.

These practitioners were influential in opening myself up to the limitless possibilities. . Before encountering these practitioners sometimes my work would be a little wooden and I found it difficult to find the flow. As this type of theatre was heavily driven through the body my imagination was opened to many possibilities. Barba and Grotowski worked together and developed the pre-expressive level. The pre-expressive level of connecting with yourself as an actor, the work is not scripted but developed through scores and later layered with text if desired. It is an intense form of improvisation, music was always used and often a stimulus based on history, tribes and traditions.

It is a very interesting art form to practice, develop and train in.