Combined Arts Combined Arts Unit 4 LO 1
Combined Arts
Combined Arts – Unit 4 LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance LO 3: Be able to rehearse and perform in a combined arts performance LO 4: Be able to evaluate combined arts
Combined Arts • Combined arts is where different artforms interact and create something new and exciting across outdoor arts, carnival, festivals, spectacle, interdisciplinary work, live art and participatory and social art practice. It takes place in a diverse range of venues from established theatres and galleries to communal settings, crossartform venues and arts centres, pop-up spaces and outdoor sites.
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance LESSON OBJECTIVE - TO IDENTIFY, EXPLORE AND EMPLOY THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF JACQUES LECOQ
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined Complicite • Complicite was founded in 1983 by Annabel Arden, Marcello Magni and Simon Mc. Burney and is now led by Mc. Burney who travelled to Paris to study under Jacques Lecoq, the legendary physical theatre actor and mime artist. • The company’s work ranges from devised pieces to adaptations and revivals of classic texts. • Past productions have includes The Master and Margarita, Shun. Kin, A Disappearing Number, The Elephant Vanishes, Mnemonic, The Street of Crocodiles and A Minute Too Late.
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined Complicite • Lecoq’s method of physical theatre training has impacted on Complicite’s style, with its constant use of movement and physical theatre. • The performances always have a strong narrative running through them and are often based around complex stories. It is the visual images they conjure that define Complicite’s style. • Complicite are pioneers of technology. They use a mix of multimedia techniques, alongside more traditional methods of storytelling and were one of the first companies to integrate physical theatre styles, puppetry, devised work and, more recently, multimedia. • The company works across genres. • Complicite have stretched the boundaries of theatre.
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined Example of Complicite’s work https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=uba-qzb. Zs. V 8
LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance Jacques Lecoq • Jacques Lecoq was born in Paris, and was a French actor, mime and acting instructor. • He is most famous for his methods on physical theatre, movement, and mime that he taught at the school he founded in Paris, L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq from 1956 until his death in 1999 • Lecoq developed an approach to acting using Seven levels of tension His influence can be seen in many theatre companies including Frantic assembly, Complicite, DV 8, Kneehigh, punchdrunk
• As a teen Lecoq was a sportsman. Including track, swimming, and gymnastics. However, Lecoq was particularly drawn to gymnastics. • Lecoq described the movement of the body through space as required by gymnastics to be purely abstract. • In 1937 Lecoq began to study sports and physical education at Bagatelle college just outside of Paris. • In 1941, Lecoq attended a physical theatre college where he met Jean Marie Conty, a basketball player of international caliber, Conty's interest in the link between sport and theatre had come out of a friendship with Antonin Artaud and Jean-Louis Barrault, both well-known actors and directors • While Lecoq was a part of this company he learned a great deal about Jacques Copeau's techniques in training. One of these techniques that really influenced Lecoq's work was the concept of natural gymnastics. • This company and his work with Commedia dell'arte in Italy introduced him to ideas surrounding mime, masks and the physicality of performance. During this time he also performed with the actor, playwright, and clown, Dario Fo. [2]
Game • In pairs, ‘A’ shows their partner a simple movement. • ‘B’ must compliment their partner, “That is very clever. Is there more? ” • The answer is always, “Yes”. Continue to develop the exercise and then swap over.
LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance Lecoq’s 20 movements • In pairs practice the moves on the right until you are secure • On your own move from one to the other slowly. Do not use facial expression • This known as the neutral mask Lecoq believed you had to conquer the Neutral Mask before you progressed further. Once you had done this you could move into the Expressive https: //vimeo. com/250220163 mask.
LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance Seven Levels of Tension 1. Exhausted or catatonic. The Jellyfish. There is no tension in the body at all. 2. Laid back – the “Californian”. Many people live at this level of tension. Everything you say is cool, relaxed, probably lacking 3. Neutral. It is what it is. There is nothing more, nothing less. The right amount. No past or future. You are totally present and 4. Alert or Curious (farce). Look at things. Sit down. Stand up. Indecision. Think M. Hulot (Jacques Tati) or Mr Bean. Levels 1 – 5. Suspense or the Reactive (19 th century melodrama). Is there a bomb in the room? The crisis is about to happen. All the 6. Passionate (opera). There is a bomb in the room. The tension has exploded out of the body. Anger, fear, hilarity, despair. It’s 7. Tragic (end of King Lear when Lear is holding Cordelia in his arms). The bomb is about to go off! Body can’t move. Petrified. Begin in a complete state of relaxation. If you have to move or speak, it is a real effort. See what happens when you try to speak. in credibility. The casual throw-away line – “I think I’ll go to bed now”. aware. It is the state of tension before something happens. Think of a cat sitting comfortably on a wall, ready to leap up if a bird comes near. You move with no story behind your movement. 4 are our everyday states. tension is in the body, concentrated between the eyes. An in breath. There’s a delay to your reaction. The body reacts. John Cleese. difficult to control. You walk into a room and there is a lion sitting there. There is a snake in the shower. The body is solid tension.
LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance Seven Levels of Tension • In pairs choose two different levels of tension • Create a short scene that shows how different levels of tension allows an actor to communicate meaning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
As mentioned earlier, Complicite are heavily influenced by the principal skills that Lecoq encouraged in his students: • ‘Le jeu’ (playfulness) • ‘Disponsibilité’ (openness) • ‘Complicité’ (togetherness) • Lecoq focused predominantly on the ability to ‘play’. Complicite play many games during rehearsals. Playing games builds team spirit and creates ‘complicite’ throughout the group.
Combined Arts
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance LESSON OBJECTIVE - TO IDENTIFY, EXPLORE AND EMPLOY THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF STEVEN BERKOFF ‘If I have a trademark style, I suppose it’s about physicality, a simplicity of communication both orally and physically. That’s very important’ Steven Berkoff.
Ten seconds objects • An archway • A tree • A mountain • A caterpillar • A butterfly
Steven Berkoff • Berkoff is a British practitioner whose career began in 1965 • Steven Berkoff was born in Stepney, London in 1937 • He is an actor, playwright and director. • Berkoff trained as an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy in London and studied movement at the Ecole Internationale de Theatre de Jaques Lecoq in Paris. These two disciplines are key to his creative work. • In 1968, Berkoff formed the London Theatre Group and like another influential actor/director, Laurence Olivier, proceeded to write, direct and perform with his own company. • The 1970 s were a time of rapid change. With the end of censorship, a new writing culture permeated British theatre. • His plays include East, West, Dog, Brighton Beach Scumbags, Metamorphosis, and The Fall of the House of Usher
Steven Berkoff • Berkoff created Total Theatre – where the actor/audience relationship is immediate, and physicality and expressive stage picture coupled with economic dialogue are the norm • Social and political change in Britain in the 1980 s saw more companies experimenting with a physical type of theatre. They wanted to get away from the restraints of realistic and naturalistic drama. • Large scale exaggerated mime and the juxtaposition of this with sparse dialogue and sounds • The replacement of props and furniture with what can be created by the actors bodies • Scenery is significant by its absence, firstly, both the audience and actor are made aware of the acting space and of the creativity of the performance both on the part of the actor and of his audience. • Berkoff’s style relies heavily upon the actors skills of mime and upon the audience’s ability to recognise and understand the signs in order to create the world on stage.
Steven Berkoff • As an actor, director and playwright and general non-conformist, Berkoff wanted to shake naturalistic theatre and encourage experiment using the idea of 'Total Theatre'. • ‘Total theatre is a use of the imagination. Actors express the genius of the body. Express the story without a set’. • ‘Art should be limitless. The deepest core of our being. We need to expose the demons and we may find something unexpected. Illuminate. Offend. Learn something. ’ https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=JHn_c 1 niz. Mc
Berkoff’s work is influenced by Greek theatre, Japanese Noh and Kabuki, Shakespeare, East End music hall and his Jewish heritage, as well as using the techniques of practitioners like Artaud and Brecht. His own actor training would have included Stanislavski and the techniques used by Lecoq. The use of mime, stylized movement, exaggerated vocal work, direct asides and improvisations within an ensemble environment are all key features.
Total theatre • ‘To make the actors a fundamental part of their environment, to use every actor on that stage to the maximum of their ability and to express something to the utmost of its potential - sometimes literally, sometimes symbolically - so you can go no further with it. If anything, that’s what they’d call the Berkovian Style. ’
The morning routine • In groups assign one person to be the person getting ready. • The other members of the group are going to create the objects around them as they move about the house. • You must show the person using each of the objects, stopping the alarm, opening doors, turning on the shower, opening the wardrobe. • Group members should form the objects and you can also use sounds • Add personality to you objects. • How might they respond if they had a voice?
Ensemble and Kabuki • Berkoff’s early work is based on classical Greek texts and contemporary modern day verse in an ensemble environment. Berkoff often uses the chorus in a stylised sequence of movement, usually heightened both vocally and physically. Just like a traditional Greek chorus they reflect the mood of the story and express what the main characters cannot say. He uses bouffon as well as chorus. • The Kabuki concept of jo-ha-kyo is common in Berkoff’s work. Scenes are done at a certain pace; the action is slow, speeds up and ends quickly. This Japanese concept governs actions of actors, structures of plays and scenes. To break it down further - jo is a slow and auspicious beginning (the way Berkoff often introduces character and plot) - ha speeds events up (Berkoff often uses this and culminates the story with a moment of tragedy) - ku is a short, satisfying conclusion. Many of Berkoff’s characters move on quickly after tragedy.
The morning routine • Select an activity you do in the morning to get ready. EG, Brush your teeth, wash your face, get dressed, pack your bag, eat your breakfast. • In your group create a 30 second mime of the activity. • Now apply Kabuki, repeat the movement and change the speed of the performance.
Influence on other Practitioners • East is often cited as the main influence for the 1990 s style of 'in-yer-face' theatre, such as Harry Gibbson's stage adaptation of Irvine Walsh's book Trainspotting, and Northern Stages production of A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. John Godber was influenced by Berkoff, particularly with his play Bouncers. Most performers that have trained in Lecoq will recognise the influence Berkoff has had on their theatre making, or recognise him as a significant energy coming from that discipline. • Companies such as Theatre de Complicite applied their style to the reworking of classic texts and created new work in collaboration with writers. In the 1990 s young experimental companies such as Volcano and Frantic Assembly developed their now trade mark style, fusing physical theatre, choreography and text. The cross-over between dance and theatre was also explored by dance companies such as DV 8 whose work bares resemblance to that of Pina Bausch. • Contemporary companies such as Idle Motion are great examples of young ensembles using physical storytelling for this generation. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=9 EHJ_Bwcet. Y
Combined Arts
LO 1: Understand the ways in which different art forms and styles have been combined LO 2: Be able to develop skills for a combined arts performance LESSON OBJECTIVE - TO IDENTIFY, EXPLORE AND EMPLOY THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF BERTOLT BRECHT
Links • https: //www. slideshare. net/Crooked 49/bertolt-brecht-epic-theatre • https: //www. slideshare. net/garethhil/bertolt-brecht-workshop
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