ABSTRACT
Physical Theatres: A Critical Reader is an invaluable resource for students of physically orientated theatre and performance. This book aims to trace the roots and development of physicality in theatre by combining practical experience of the field with a strong historical and theoretical underpinning.
In exploring the histories, cross-overs and intersections of physical theatres, this critical Reader provides:
- six new, specially commissioned essays, covering each of the book’s main themes, from technical traditions to contemporary practises
- discussion of issues such as the foregrounding of the body, training and performance processes, and the origins of theatre in both play and human cognition
- a focus on the relationship and tensions between the verbal and the physical in theatre
- contributions from Augusto Boal, Stephen Berkoff, Étienne Decroux, Bertolt Brecht, David George, J-J. Rousseau, Ana Sanchez Colberg, Michael Chekhov, Jeff Nuttall, Jacques Lecoq, Yoshi Oida, Mike Pearson, and Aristotle.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part Section 1|38 pages
Genesis, Contexts, Namings
chapter Chapter 2|5 pages
Altered States and Subliminal Spaces
Charting the Road Towards a Physical Theatre
part Section 2|70 pages
Roots: Routes
part A|42 pages
Deep Traditions: Classical and Popular
part B|18 pages
Hybrid Pathways
part Section 3|42 pages
Contemporary Practices
part Section 4|42 pages
Preparation and Training
part Section 5|38 pages
Physicality and The Word
chapter Chapter 35|4 pages
Rockaby and the Art of Inadvertent Interpretation, and Considerations of acting in the early plays
part Section 6|35 pages
Bodies and Cultures