Exploring Physical Theatre

The aim of Dr Mitra’s workshop was to encourage the students to think more critically about how their personal values can be applied to physical theatre practice. During the session the girls were asked to create a movement sequence based on the theme of anxiety, made up of seven gestures and using the “clap” method. This meant there could be absolutely no talking - once the individual girl had created their gesture, they clapped their hands to inform the group. That girl then repeated her gesture three times so that the rest of the group could replicate it. The next individual girl then clapped her hands to show she had created a separate gesture and once the group had learned it, this was added on to the sequence. This was repeated until all the girls had learned every gesture and the sequence was completed with seven gestures.  

The group then performed this sequence over and over and experimented with stopping at various intervals and then picking up the sequence again. The exercise really encouraged the girls to think about how theme and meaning can be communicated to an audience purely through physical action, as opposed to spoken language. 

It was a hugely interesting experience for the girls to look at physical theatre in a new way and will really help them to develop their responses to the devising element of their A Level course.