Jacques Lecoq believed in movement-based training for actors that would equip them to be playful, spontaneous and creative. His training also holds that the generation of ensemble is crucial to a working process that is collaborative. His emphasis is on the actor-as creator rather than an interpreter of text. Lecoq work is somatic and openly connected to the spectator. It is through this visceral connection that events occur that can only happen in the medium of live theatre. This workshop will focus on “actor-centered theatre” – with the actor-as-creator and collaborator; by practicing the exercises and group explorations somatically; and, finally, by maintaining an open and direct relationship with the audience.

Solo exercises and small group work include:

• Exploration into the 4 principle elements – water, fire, wind and earth with use of the neutral mask
  
  
• Neutral mask encounters with unlikely elements
  
  
• “Gestural Language”, silent and vocal, including figurative or transformational mime
  
  
• “Profound Mimage” in connection with the genre, style and text of the summer intensive, for example, finding the inner gestures of primary Edwardian characters