Term One: Naturalism

Physical Theatre Exercises

Over the past few lessons in physical theatre we have learnt, practiced and perfected various different physical theatre exercises.

Routes to the floor

One of the exercises was about finding a variety of different ways of getting your body to the floor. Now, although this may seem very simple, in actual fact it isn’t, because in this exercise you must find different ways of getting your body to the floor - without doing so in the conventional way. The aim of this exercise is to make the training actors gain confidence in their own physical being, and among their peers and also to become more in touch with their own bodies.

Another way of getting to the floor is to do a ‘forwards roly poly.’ This is also an exercise where you move along the floor. To complete this exercise you must kneel on the ground on your knees and stretch out one of your arms whilst bending over to place the side of your head on the ground as if you are listening to the floor. From there you should use your bent knees to push your weight forward and to roll over so that the muscles along your shoulder and your neck are supporting your body.  Then it is simply a matter of following through with the roll, so that you do one complete roll, and end up in the same position you started in. Personally I found this exercise slightly painful. However this is because when I was kneeling on the ground there was strenuous amounts of pressure placed onto my recently operated on knee.  Other than this pain in my knee at the discomfort of being in such a position as kneeling, I found the rest of the exercise relatively easy, and unproblematic.

Another way of getting to the floor is to do a ‘twist.’ This is very simple. All you must do is simply go from standing in neutral position to crossing one of your legs over the other one, and then following through by twist your entire body and lowering yourself down until you are in the sitting crossed legged position. For this exercise you need to have very strong core muscles and good posture. In my experience of this exercise I did find it slightly painful to my left knee, and I also found that once sitting in the cross legged position my left knee was in serious discomfort.

Push me / Pull you

The first way of getting to the floor is the ‘fall back.’ It may also be known as the ‘push me/pull you’ exercise. Firstly standing in neutral position, extend one of your legs backwards whilst keeping the other leg still and slightly bent. From this position you should bend both of your knees downwards and lower yourself down onto the ground, using the small of your back to make contact with the ground first. Once you are lying on your back with your legs in the air you should roll yourself backwards slightly so that your legs go up further over your head and so that your body is supported by your shoulders and the top of your back. You should practice this repeatedly, until you have a nice fluid movement that holds no hesitation and is a continuous roll. The extension of this exercise is to pair up into twos and then do a repeated continuous roll simultaneously with your partner. To do this you must both hold each other’s forearms in a monkey like grip for support, and then as one person steps back to begin their roll their partner should take one step forward and bend down slightly whilst holding their partners forearm to support them in their roll, and so that as the first person rolling is pulled up by the second as they themselves step back and begin their own roll backwards. Once you have practised this for a length of time you should try speeding up, and to be successful in this exercise you should have a strong sense of confidence in yourself, your partner, and the floor beneath you.   I found this exercise quiet fun indeed, and when I personally compared the point of confidence that I was at before this exercise, to the point I was at when I had completed the exercise, it was evident that my confidence had grown substantially, in leaps and bounds.

Place, Press, Push

Another exercise we have done in physical theatre classes is place, press, push. In this exercise you must pair up and then in your pairs one person should lay down in soupine position on the floor and then slowly raise there arms up so that they are lying out on the floor above their head. The second person should choose a variety of different places on their partners’ body to place their hands. At first all you should be doing is placing your hands on your partners’ body and letting them rest there. Once you are ready to progress onto the next stage of the exercise you then should place your hands on your partners’ body and then press down slightly so that some pressure is felt in your partner. In the next and final stage of this exercise, you should use your full weight to push into them. However you should build it up in stages: slowly place your hand, the press down lightly, and then push your weight into them.  When removing your hands from your partners’ body you should do the exact reverse of place press push: you should slowly reduce the amount of weight you are pressing into their body until you take your hands off of them.  You should then switch over so that your partner can place press and then push their hands onto your body. This exercise is all about interacting with your partner, and responding in the appropriate way. Also before the exercise begins you should be completely clear that if at any time anyone in the group feels uncomfortable and wishes to discontinue the exercise he or she should simply say “stop” at any given time. When I this completed exercise personally I found that when I was the one laying down on the floor it was a very enlightening yet slightly discomforting experience. However when It was my turn to place press and push my own hands onto my partners body I found it was quiet fun actually, and had some merit to the exploration of one another’s physical beings.

Surfing Banana Rolls

Bow to boat: This exercise is a warm up of sorts to the following exercise, banana rolls. However it is essential to begin at the basic levels and work your way through each stage of the exercise. You must move from lying on the floor in soupine position to lying on the floor with only your back supporting your weight. To do this you must stretch out your arms and head above the ground and lift both of your legs pivoting at your hips so that only your back is supporting all of weight. This is the ‘boat’ position. From there you should use your abdominal muscles and the muscles in your back to roll over onto your front so that only your torso is supporting your weight. Whilst rolling onto your side you should stretch your hands and feet out as far away from one another as you can to lengthen your body. This exercise strengthens your abdominal muscles, your quads and the muscles in your lower back. In my experience of this exercise I did find it slightly hard, as my core muscles are not as strong as they could be.

Banana rolls: The next stage to this exercise is to extend the bow to boat exercise by rolling continuously from bow to boat and crossing from one side of the room to the other while doing so. You should practice rolling up and down the room without putting your head, neck, arms or legs on the floor, and your roll should be initiated from your torso and abdominal muscles. Although it is slightly harder to do so when moving slowly because you have to demonstrate more control over your own body in my opinion to increase the challenge for yourself you should experiment with the pace of your roll. In my experience of this exercise I did find it very fun and enjoyable; however I realised very early on that you have to fully commit to the banana rolls to make them work properly. An improvement to this exercise could be made if you were to try rolling to the other side of the room very slowly and holding each position for 5 seconds, and then try rolling at double that speed back down the room. You could then also try going from a very quick pace of moving your body across the floor, to slowing down suddenly. And also trying different routes around the room would be interesting: you could do 2 banana rolls to the left, then do three to the right, and even attempt to roll diagonally across a room.  I think that you should be creative and experiment with what feels natural to you in this exercise.

Surfing banana rolls: This is quite a leap from the simplicity of ‘bow to boat’ and ‘banana rolls,’ however with practice the ‘surfing banana rolls’ is not a hard exercise. You should pair up and then in your pair one of you should lie down in the previously mentioned boat position whilst your partner lies down vertically across you laying their hands and arms across your stomach. They should be laying face down, so that when you (the partner on the bottom) start rolling continuously from bow to boat and crossing from one side of the room to the other while they surf across your body as you do so. In my experience of this exercise I did find it slightly painful when my partners various bones came into contact with my hip bones, and I did find some bruising afterwards, however the exercise itself was very enjoyable.

Performing lifts

Performing lifts: As a training actor, lifts are an essential technique that you need to be able to do with ease and grace. There are many various different types of lifts that can be performed, however it is not the complexity of the lift that you perform that is important; it is the standard of quality in which you perform any lift that counts. To do this requires dedication, commitment, and buckets of confidence in yourself, your body and your peers.

Pencil lift – Partner 1 will jump straight up whilst standing in front of partner 2 and partner 2 should catch partner 1 at the peak of their jump by placing their arms at the back of partner 1’s thighs, to support them. Once the partner 1 is being held there this lift can be used to transition a person from one place to another.

Shoulder lift – This lift is essentially an extension of the pencil lift.  Partner 1 will jump straight up whilst standing in front of partner 2 and partner 2 should catch partner 1 at the peak of their jump by placing their arms at the back of partner 1’s thighs, to support them. Once the partner 1 is being held there, they can then lean over one of partner 2 shoulders using their abdomen and core muscles to keep them there. Partner 1 can then use their arms and legs to do something artistic if this lift were being used in a physical theatre routine.

Cradle lift – Partner 1 wraps one of their arms around partner 2’s shoulders, and then jumps up into their arms, whilst bring their other arm up to meet the first arm at the nape of partner 2’s neck. Partner 2 should support partner 1 by placing their arm underneath their knee joints and holding them as if they are a baby. From here you can move around whilst carrying and supporting your partner. Partner 1 should have both of their arms wrapped around partner 2’s neck for support during this lift.

Koala bear lift – In this lift, partner 1 places both of their hands on partner 2’s shoulders and then jumps up using both legs and quad muscles so that partner 1’s thighs end up being supported on partner 2’s waist, just slightly above their hips. This is a very intimate lift, and if it is being used in a physical theatre routine it can represent the relationship between two people one stage very simply.

Knee lift – In this lift, partner 1 wraps one of their arms around partner 2’s shoulders and then partner 1 will jump up whist lifting one knee, so that partner 2 can catch them at the peak of their jump by holding them under their knee. Partner 1 can place both hands at the nape of partner 2’s neck during this life, but as you practice more and gain confidence you may find you are able to do this using one arm wrapped around your partners neck for support, so that your other arm is free to do something artistic or symbolic in a piece of physical theatre work. From here partner 2 can carry partner 1 around the room and move them from one place to another.

Performing lifts requires commitment and the key to all lifts: TRUST. Whilst performing lifts you should be completely focused, whist knowing and being aware of your own bodies’ limitations - because if you are physically unable to perform a lift and you and a partner still attempt it knowingly, then you will most definitely injure yourself and most probably your partner too. So it is essential that you are focused, and that whilst performing these lifts you act professional and display diligence whilst doing so.

Theatre Company: DV8

DV8 is a unique and very entertaining physical theatre company. They were founded in the late 1980’s by a man named Lloyd Newson.
The aim of the DV8 theatre company is essentially to have a different approach to contemporary dance than other theatre companies. Also, the theatre company has been well known for incorporating dancers whom have to live with disabilities into their physical theatre pieces.
In their gloriously colourful past, the theatre company DV8 has produced 17 different dance pieces which have toured all around the entire world, and also they have won many awards for 4 different films they created.
DV8 Physical Theatre Company was formed in 1986 and has been led since its inception by Lloyd Newson.
The company has produced 17 highly acclaimed dance pieces, which have toured internationally, and four award-winning films for television.
DV8 Physical Theatre receives regular funding from Arts Council England and is an Artsadmin associate company. DV8 has also received project support from The British Council. DV8 is a member of the ITC and Dance UK.
http://www.DV8.co.uk/about_DV8
in my opinion, DV8’s work is very
The Sunday Mirror gave DV8 a massive leg-up. "Gay sex orgy on TV" shrieked the headline for their story on the screening of Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men, prompting a flood of complaints to the TV network, angry questions in parliament by Tory MPs – and a huge surge in DV8's viewing figures.
"Content rather than style drives DV8's work, which distinguishes it from a lot of other contemporary dance … Our work delves into how individuals relate to one another … exploring the individual's actions, and looking at how these in turn reflect political and social issues."
Lloyd Newson, interview with Jo Butterworth, 1998

DV8 Physical Theatre's work is about taking risks, aesthetically and physically, about breaking down the barriers between dance and theatre and, above all, communicating ideas and feelings clearly and unpretentiously. It is determined to be radical yet accessible, and to take its work to as wide an audience as possible.
DV8 is motivated by artistic inspiration and creative need: these, rather than financial, organizational and touring demands dictate the creation of new works.
Great emphasis is placed on the process by which new work is created. The company has fought successfully for funding to cover lengthy research and development periods in order to maintain rigorous artistic integrity and quality in each new project. The focus of the creative approach is on reinvesting dance with meaning, particularly where this has been lost through formalised techniques.DV8's work inherently questions the traditional aesthetics and forms which pervade both modern and classical dance, and attempts to push beyond the values they reflect to enable discussion of wider and more complex issues.DV8 (Dance and Video 8)'s strong commitment to film and video continues. This reflects its ongoing interest in how two primarily visual media can enhance one another and reach a crossover audience from within both forms.
The company's reputation relies on pushing its own boundaries and on the constant re-examination of the roles and relationships of men and women in our society. Its policy insists on the importance of challenging our preconceptions of what dance can, and should, address.
http://www.DV8.co.uk/about_DV8/artistic_policy

Physical Theatre Performance Evaluation 

in my physical theatre performance I was put into a group with Molly and Phoebe. Our only given stimulus for the piece was to imagine that your performance takes place in a desolate wasteland. We were instructed to use this stimulus, and one other added stimulus of our choice - such as music, poetry or dialogue, to inspire our piece of physical theatre performance. Essentially we were to utilize these stimuli whilst using the various different rolls, routes to the floor, and lifts we have learnt over the past few weeks, in order to create our piece of work.

Overall I was very pleased with our performance, and although a lift did go wrong at one point early on in our piece, other than that, as an active performer in the piece I cannot fault our performance in any other way. I am sure many observers had a wide varied selection of different opinions and interpretations of our work, and I am certain that some people loved it, and some hated it, however as one of the creators of our piece I was deeply pleased and proud of our final performance.

As we had been advised, my group tried very hard to devise our piece organically, in a way that was not just a series of different lifts and rolls with no narrative or storyline. In rehearsal we had simply explored each other’s bodies using our hands, arms, feet and legs, and we had also had a rule that restricted us from talking during this exercise, so that none of our movement was decided upon, or rehearsed and intellectual in any way. This definitely helped me to loosen up and to become more in tune with my own body, and I became more comfortable with the exploration of other peoples bodies as well.

The overall theme of our physical theatre piece was consumerism, and the natural instinct of competition amongst humans that in a way dehumanizes us, and makes us have animalistic tendencies. We used this to inspire our work, and also to use as a narrative storyline for our piece so that it was not only enticing to our audience, but also engaging. Also, one of our main objectives throughout the piece is ‘To grab’ which I interpreted to be that we were each consumerists trying to find happiness, as if it were a literal, tangible and palpable object that could be reached for and physically held.

In our piece we began with all three members of my group sitting on the floor with our knees pulled up to our chest, our ankles crossed, and our arms wrapped around our legs. We stay in this position, until at a specific moment in the backing music, a series of movements are triggered to begin our piece. The specific movements were a series of animated scratches of the head and foot and also reaching out and grabbing something, however all three of us are doing this at different times, and in different orders to communicate chaos to our audience.

We then grew frantic with our grabbing until me and Phoebe came into a kneeling position in front of each other, and then we proceeded to lift our upstage knee so that they were touching and to create a stable physical place for our other partner, Molly to use for a lift. In rehearsals we had spent some time experimenting with various different lifts, such as the shoulder lift, the pencil lift, and also the knee lift at this section of our piece, to be utilized as an aesthetically pleasing transition into our next sequence of movement. However when it came to our actual performance of our piece, this lift went slightly wrong in execution and unfortunately did not have the desired effect accordingly. I must say though, our one saving grace for this was that we did not let this phase us or distract us from our objectives in anyway, and we all continued on with the performance as if the lift had gone perfectly well, in a professional and totally committed manner. I can only comment on behalf of myself for this part, but I genuinely believe the reason that we were able to carry on with a steady flow and pace to our movements after a lift going wrong so very early on in our piece was because we, as actors, were completely engaged with our stimulus and I think that Phoebe and Molly would both agree that our minds were completely focused and literally immersed in our physical theatre piece. 

From here both I and Phoebe fell backwards and reached for something far behind us.  And then from here we both notice that Molly has been reaching for something very high up above her head whilst we were both thrown down to the floor. Once we have both observed and then interpreted Molly’s movements and physicality, we then simultaneously respond by trying to frantically reach for the same thing that molly is reaching for. Then there is an evident shift or transition in our piece, which is not only signified by a shift in the movement of our bodies and our proximity to each other on stage, but also by a shift in the backing music we used. We created some significant imagery on stage at the point, as we symbolically changed the proxemics of our bodies on stage from being very close together, touching and interacting with one another, to being pulled away from one another by some invisible

cord in various different directions. This was intended to represent that consumerism can hold you back and restrict you from living life the way you should, however I am sure many observers in the audience had different opinions and interpretations of what this movement actually meant.

Once we were in the formation of an upstage pointing open triangle, we then each individually performed a specific sequence of 3 separate movements, repeated 3 times, and gaining speed and franticness with each repetition of the sequence. My specific sequence was to first of all stand very strong and tall, with my feet shoulder width apart and to place both of my hands at the back of my head. I then froze in this position until I continued onto my next significant movement, which was to then reach for something to my far right with both of my hands, imagining that it was very heavy, and then throw it directly to my left after completing a 180 degree turn. My next movement was to hang my torso over the rest of my body and to let my arms and hands go limp, as well as my head. I then repeated these 3 separate movements, starting off slowly and then increasing the pace of my movements as each of us individually grew to be more frenzied and deranged.

From here we then slowly came back towards the centre of the room where I and Molly then performed a pencil lift, after which I aggressively spun her around so that she was facing the audience, where we performed 3 more lifts one after the other, however they were not normal lifts. Each time I lift her off of the ground she would use both of her arms to reach for something violently and use her legs to thrash out in the same way. The thrashing out of her arms and legs did make it very difficult for me to restrain her and to keep my balance, however after much rehearsal on this section of our piece I became much more confident in the lift and comfortable with the physicality of it.

Once we had completed the 3 lifts I then threw Molly to the floor directly to the right hand side of me. Whilst we had been performing these lifts, phoebe had continued to perform her specific sequence of 3 separate movements repeatedly, until the point at which I had thrown Molly to the ground. I then went over towards Phoebe and interrupted her sequence of movements to do a pencil lift, followed by the same 3 frantic and aggressive 3 lifts that Molly and I had just performed, and then also through phoebe to the ground but in the opposite direction. In a way it could have been described as a delayed mirror image – first Molly and I performed these movements, and then I and phoebe mirrored them in cannon moments later. Because there were only 3 members in my group we had no option but to perform these lifts in cannon, however I believe that this added to the overall effectiveness of these movements, and the affect that it had on our audience.

I then also threw myself to the ground in the centre of our stage, as a dividing line between phoebe and Molly, at which point we then all slowly started crawling across the floor, each of us reaching for something at an invisible focal point situated centre, downstage. When doing this we lifted our bodies slightly then fell back to the ground, evidently portraying exhaustion and fatigue. It was a very evident ending to our piece, and tied in quiet nicely with the narrative of our piece. The overall tone to this final section of our piece was desperation, which was conveyed to the audience not only through our physicality and proxemics on stage, but also through our facial expressions, and declining pace of movements.

When crawling across the floor, and literally dragging my body along with just my hands and arms, I found that in rehearsal this strengthens your abdominal muscles, your biceps, and also the muscles in your lower back. In my experience of this exercise I did find it slightly hard, and very tiring after frequent rehearsal of this section of our piece, as my core muscles are not as strong as they could be, and also it requires a lot of effort for this if you are committing 100% to the movements.

Overall I was very happy with our performance, and although a lift did go wrong at one point early on in our piece, I am certain that we did redeem ourselves by being completely committed to our performance and by being engrossed in every other section of our piece, both physically and mentally.

As one of the active performers of our piece I was very proud of our final performance, and felt like I had achieved something amazing once the performance was over.