Talk:Physical theatre

UK-centric

physical theatre is a excellent way to express the story that is being told. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.210.220.211 (talk) 23:52, 28 May 2009 (UTC) i think this is a great article, meaning that a lot of drama performance students who do study theatrical physical theatre will study and will find this site it useful as i do too.

I think this article is a little UK-centric.

e.g. "A good place to see excellent eastern-european physical theatre companies without travelling to Eastern Europe is at the Edinburgh Fringe - particularly at Aurora Nova@St Stephen’s, a fringe venue found in St Stephens church."

So where would be a good place to see UK-style physical theatre without travelling to Western Europe? And is this church a generally renowned physical theatre venue, or is this an individual POV? this is a very good and descriptive article!:)

In answer

The Edinburgh international festival is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) arts festivals in the world. During the festival theatre venues spring up all over the city in any place big enough to hold an audience (and quite a few places that aren't) and the Aurora Nova@St Stephen's is very well renowned within the theatre profession as an excellent place to see this sort of work. Given that Edinburgh is known globally amongst artists as one of the few truly international arts festivals I don't think referencing it makes this uk-centric. However, I can see other ways in which the article has been written from a UK-centred perspective, but then the term "physical theatre" was first used widespreadly in the theatre profession within the UK.

Reverted Text

I reverted the addition by 84.92.156.9, not because it was bad, but because the page had recently been vandalised prior to it. Please could they read what the page says now, and see where their addition might best be applied. I've reproduced it below.

Please note, if recontributed, that the article shouldn't be written in first person (i.e. "Our", "I") and shouldn't concentrate on personal views, experiences and thoughts. Wikipedia needs cited additions.

What is Physical Theatre? Physical Theatre is a crossover between dance and drama where many forms of performance take shape. Many physical styles of theatre such as mime, Commedia dell'Arte, slap-stick, clowning etc can be categorised as physical theatre. Any movement-driven theatre can also be called Physical Theatre. Our take on Physical Theatre 4DR's Physical Theatre is very much dance and comedy based. We explore many issues, stimuli and ideas to create our work. We also use observation and human reaction to fuel our creativity. We've made pieces based on simple ideas such as being physically stuck to someone else and at the other end of the scale we've created work based on personal issues and insecurities. As a company we are very physical, our work includes a lot of lifts and jumps and we also use a lot of choreography. You can find pictures demonstrating some of these lifts in the Gallery. These pictures are taken from rehearsals and creative sessions. it is not just about people Dancing The big question, for which this site hopes to help find an answer. Physical theatre is a growing art form worldwide. In Europe, especially, physical theatre is a known and recognized form, seen most prominently at festivals such as the London International Mime Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Companies such as Complicite, Theatre du Soleil, and La Fura del Baus have been creating exciting and innovative productions of physical theatre for decades, winning awards, and traveling the globe. Over the past few years, New York City has seen a growth spurt of artists and companies creating physical theatre. This site hopes to chronicle this growth spurt and bring these artists together under a single umbrella. A simple definition (to be expanded/revised/thrown out/begun again): Physical theatre: goes beyond verbal narrative, incorporating physical and visual elements on a level at least equal to verbal elements is more than simply abstract movement – it includes some element of character, narrative, relationships, and interaction between the performers, not necessarily linear or obvious includes a wide variety of styles, approaches, aesthetics – can include dance-theatre, movement theatre, clown, puppetry, mime, mask, vaudeville, and circus Some helpful quotes: "Audiences today want a real experience in their live performance, because they can get great script based entertainment at home, through various new media sources. Traditional theatre, which appeals on a mental, and hopefully also emotional level, has not been enough to compete with other media, and audiences have been declining. Physical theatre, by contrast, appeals to the audience on a physical and emotional level, providing a much more immediate experience than traditional theatre, and audiences here have been growing. Today physical theatre is a broad term which covers the range of circus theatre forms, clown, mime, mask, commedia, visual theatre, and dance theatre." - from www.artmedia.com.au - a physical theatre website from Australia "It is NOT that the body says what the voice is saying. I start with what it is not because I find that most people (even folks in the biz) think it IS that you can say with your body what the voice is saying and I think that is redundant. Physical theatre allows the voice to explain the details and the body to control the atmosphere and changes in the metaphysical temperature of the space. In so doing the body (and body is not simply the actor's body but all the physical bodies that the theatre creator controls the shape of: ie her/his own, the stage space, the sound scap, etc.) creates the perpendicular. This perpendicular creates the intersection of the anecdote and the event. The anecdote coming usually from the text and the event coming from all that surrounds the anecdote (all those bodies)." - from Daniel Stein of Dell'Arte, via network member Kali Quinn "Theatre is a physical and visual medium, but the play's not always the thing. There is a strand of theatre - the physical and the visual - that speaks a completely different language from the traditional well made play and spans theatre, puppetry, dance and visual arts. This work uses the language of gesture, an area of theatre that in the past was dubbed mime and thought of as entirely silent. Nowadays such pieces frequently include spoken text, but the body speaks as eloquently as the voice, and one of the great strengths of this form is that it can often mine the emotions that fall into the silences between words. Much of this work is devised not scripted, and although many of the UK companies working in this area have been influenced by European traditions, increasing numbers of young companies are developing their own distinct and excitingly high voltage styles." - Lyn Gardner, the Guardian (UK) We look forward to adding a quote from an eloquent and passionate theatre writer from New York City in the very near future...

--Escape Orbit ^(Talk) 21:19, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Companies without wikilinks to their article/no WP article

ARMA theatre company, physical theatre, bouffon, clown, and interdisciplinary work, Israel, Israel —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.138.129.179 (talk) 07:13, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

• First Physical Theatre Company, Rhodes University, United States
• Tooba Physical Theatre Centre, Vancouver, Canada

• International Dell'Arte Company and School, Blue Lake CA
• MOVEO TEATRO, Barcelona, Spain
• Ake Ake Theatre Company New Zealand
• Red Mole New Zealand
• Bottlefed - physical theatre ensemble, London, England
• The Danger Ensemble
• Dynamo Theater] , Montreal, Canada
• MOVEO - Centre for Training and Creation in Corporeal Mime and Physical Theatre, Barcelona, Spain
• Hotel Obligad Physical Theatre, Philadelphia PA
• Margolis Brown ADAPTORS Company, New York
• metroccolis - next-level-mime, Berlin, Germany
• Mondo Bizarro New Orleans, LA
• Sacramento Theatre Experiment, California
• New York City Physical Theatre, New York City
• Plasticene, Chicago IL
• Precarious
• PUSH Physical Theatre, Rochester, New York
• Quarto Physical Theater, Brazil / Sweden
• Snuff Puppets Melbourne, Australia
• Subvoid Physical Theatre New Media Filmart Istanbul, Turkey
• Theater Grottesco, Santa Fe NM
• The South Wing Theatre Company, New York City
• Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre Australia

Paul foord (talk) 13:30, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Made a lot of additions - needs cleaning up but it should be useful

I made a very large contribution to this article, based largely on research I have been conducting whilst at Dartington College of Arts.

I am aware that I am good at writing stuff, I am not very good at the "Wikipediaisation" of what I write, so I invite whoever is good at that element of it, to shape what I have written to be more acceptable by that set of standards (I struggle with this part of academic writing generally). However, as this is research I have conducted academically, the information itself should be academically viable. If anyone wishes for me to share citations, bibliographies, etc. I am happy to do that.

I would love to hear people challenges and questions relating what I have written as this will help me academically too; plus I can better explain things if people ask me about them!

I hope what I have written proves useful? Sebbi (talk) 01:23, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

Where is physical theatres origin? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.43.131 (talk) 11:28, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Does this make sense

Does this article (and especially its lede) in its present version actually make any sense to anyone? Reading this article, I am completely at a loss to say what physical theatre actually is. I propose to attempt a rewrite that will better clarify. Any thoughts? WikiDan61^ChatMe!_ReadMe!! 17:47, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Heinous omission

No mention of the work of Desmond Jones either on Wikipedia or on this page. He was a member of the Monty Python crew, and the founder of one of the first (if not the first) schools of mime and physical theatre in the UK. http://www.desmondjones.co.uk/page2.html For his influence, see the extensive bibliographical mentions here: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=physical+theatre+history+uk&oq=physical+theatre+history+uk&aqs=chrome..69i57.3871j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#tbm=bks&q=desmond+jones+physical+theatre5.80.66.95 (talk) 12:33, 6 August 2016 (UTC)

Heinous omission seconded

Why isn't the work of Desmond Jones featured on the main page?!!!

2A00:23C7:C195:7E01:78FD:1FE5:BA52:E420 (talk) 13:22, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Bend and Snap, contemporary dance performance at Nazareth College Arts Center, Rochester, New York - 20090925.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 04:08, 11 March 2022 (UTC)