This book demystifies stage movement by leading the reader through key aspects of the author's own movement syllabus, working to connect Pure Movement (technical classes) with Expressive Movement (imagination and application) and enabling them to apply those principles to their own theatre-making practice.
Movement teachers, from outliers to pioneers, have changed theatre and physical expression for ever.
In recognition of the movement pioneers, this book is part-memoir and part-historical research as author Shona Morris traces the roots of her own pedagogy for movement training in drama schools from these radical beginnings. She acknowledges some of the shadows, which affected her own practice, the provenance of Laban in particular, and the current need for discourse to review these approaches, through practice-based research.
The book includes exercises and approaches developed by the author in the classroom and the studio that illustrate how actors can link their physicality to the craft of transformation and interpretation. The exercises accessibly cover both technical and expressive work, and offer principles for transformation through animal study, mask work, and character work.
The book also includes numerous practical examples, interviews and cases studies of how to teach and apply movement to theatre making. It also offers ways to facilitate your own vision and actor's movement course in response to the present moment.
Lively, imaginative, critical and investigative, this book mirrors Morris's classes and her approach to theatre. It is an essential read for anyone interested in how actors are trained in movement and how theatre is made.
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This book demystifies stage movement by leading the reader through key aspects of the author's own movement syllabus, working to connect Pure Movement (technical classes) with Expressive Movement (imagination and application) and enabling them to apply those principles to their own theatre-making practice.
PART 1 ORIGINS
1 Introduction
Why write about Actors Movement? A synopsis of what Actors Movement is, and
its provenance, and how recent compelling events have forced a re-appraisal.
A guide to how to use this book.
2 First Steps
Memories and stories of how the writer first encountered Actors Movement,
through the theatre and her family, from the 1950s. Reflections on the
history of Actors Movement, and descriptions of the writers first
encounters with its practice and pedagogy
3 Transformation
Acting is transformation, movement is transformation, transformation as part
of social change. How Drama Schools changed to reflect the social changes- or
didnt. The role of women in the development of movement training and
theatre, and its relationship (or not) to feminism.
4 The need for a system and how to place that system in a contemporary
context: The traces that matter.
Legacy and provenance, can we ignore its political context? The traces of
political ideology in some accepted movement practices. Examining Litz Pisk's
artistic legacy and questioning that of FM Alexander and Rudolf Laban.
Linking this to the present day and students needs as learners and artists,
and the need to re-frame teaching in response to this. The perils of saying
yes. Reflecting on how some of the traces have affected the writers
practice, forcing her to change and question its terminology.
PART 2- THE BODY AS PLAY TEXT
5 Trish Arnold and her legacy
Reflections on the pedagogy of Trish Arnold, and the development of Pure
Movement as a progressive and expressive pedagogy. Pure Movement for Actors
connection to Sigurd Leeder and Jacques Lecoq, and its community of
practice, whose teachers in Drama Schools innovated it and developed if for
Acting. Pure Movement and Expressive Movement as distinct subjects. The
Gravity Swing as central to the teaching of Pure Movement.
6 First Classes
How to introduce Pure Movement in Drama Schools and teach the first classes
in a positive learning environment. Trish Arnolds Tenets of Pure Movement.
From Feet to Spine- inaugural exercises described, including ice-breakers to
create an ensemble and a collective and collaborative use of the space.
Reasons to work collectively, and the challenges currently facing students
and teachers to work as a group.
7 Working in Three Dimensions
Working with the body and the spine in space- is working in three dimensions.
The swings as the basis of all dynamic movement, which open expression and
emotional connection. Part One specific exercises for the dynamic and
expressive movement of the spine, described in detail. Part Two- a selection
of Gravity Swings and how to introduce their journeys in space through the
rib stretches. Specific exercises, including The Arrow Swing, Tree Topple,
Swing in Wide and the Leg Swing, described in detail.
8 In praise of play: Pure and Expressive Movement in praise of play
We re-enact the world through play through mimesis. Play as essential to
theatre and to acting. How to play stage directions, and their contribution
to story and meaning. How stage directions need actors to have bodies. How
movement is not theoretical, but practical, alive and communicative. Some
reflections on the relevance of post-modernism (or not) to training and
theatre.
PART 3- MOVEMENT IN THE WORLD
9 Chameleon
The drama and surprise of Animal Study. The origins of Animal Study in Drama
Schools, as part of the development of body-based training after the Second
World War. How to use real life as material for theatre and for acting. The
perils of training for a theatre that doesnt exist. The work of Michel Saint
Denis, Jacques Copeau and Jacques Lecoq French practitioners and their
influence on British Actors training. Reflections on how to teach Animal
Study and Animal into Character in Drama Schools. Examples of how Animal
Study is an acting exercise.
10 Animal Studies
Exercises specific to the actors craft. Animal Study- how the actor chooses
an animal and learns to break down and study how it moves. Animal Into
Character- how to take the essence of the animal to create a believable and
sustainable characterisation. Detailed warm-ups and exercises for Animal
Study classes, including how to approach physically embodying their different
ways of moving. Examples of how to lead and embed animal transformation
through class teaching. A day in the life of your animal. Animal into
character improvisations.
11 Mask Work
Neutral Mask work: What is it. Is it still relevant? Can it be taught?
Neutral mask is the actor unadorned. How the neutral mask is an effective
teaching tool for the physical expression of dramatic action. Character Mask
work as a development from Neutral Mask. Examples of Character Mask for
improvisation and emotional connection. The lineage of Neutral Mask from Noh
Theatre, to Jacques Copeau to Jacques Lecoq, and its place in Drama Schools.
12 Neutral Mask and Chorus
How to teach Neutral Mask in Drama Schools and its connection to Chorus work,
Particularly Greek Tragedy. The exercises for Neutral Mask as developed for a
text-based Drama School training. Including exercises on Chorus Work and The
Elements. The importance of Greek Chorus in theatre training, and how to
develop Chorus dramatically.
13 Actors and play and end notes
Concluding comments and reflections on the importance of movement training in
Drama Schools. Some concluding exercises on The Elements. An example of a
movement class. Conclusions on how to keep searching, and a recognition of
the outliers and women who developed the practice.
Shona Morris is a movement teacher, movement director and actor. She has held positions at RADA (Lead Movement Tutor), Drama Centre London (Course Leader BA Acting) and Rose Bruford (Head of Movement), and taught at many other schools, including Manchester School of Theatre, Mountview and LAMDA. From 2003 to 2015, she was Head of Movement and visiting artist at the Stratford Festival Theatre, Ontario, Canada. She has taught movement, neutral mask and chorus work nationally and internationally, and has worked as a movement director on many productions, as well as creating her own work as a writer and director. She trained at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and worked as an actor for 20 years, before training with Trish Arnold for 13 years.
