ABSTRACT
The English term ‘physical theatre’ designates a type of performance that emphasises the actor's body, rather than their words or their mind. 1 Le Théâtre du geste (Theatre of Gesture and Movement) 2 is a possible, albeit approximate, French translation of this formulation, but it mainly refers, as is the case in the book which bears the name, to mime and its variations. Whatever we call it, physical theatre is a genre that turns up in many Western experimental art forms. Thomas Leabhart, mime and former student of Etienne Decroux, defines it thus: ‘Physical theatre, however, attempts to describe a type of hybridized non-cultural theatre which places emphasis on physical virtuosity but not exclusively dance, and which, although if often uses words, usually does not begin with a written text.’ 3
