Perspectives on Physical Theatre

The process of physical theatre as I see it  is more about the body. The body being the focal point of the whole process. In my own understanding of physical theatre, it is a journey of  body exploration, an adventure on the flexibility of the body. During the session, rehearsals for the play 'Nomankosi' written by Patrick Miller, I experienced the real meaning of physical theatre.

The question that always pops out in my mind is "how physical is physical theatre." During the warm up process, I have discovered the degree of 'physicality' in physical theatre and the challenge that it puts before hand to the actors who want to pursue the art. The training session was very hyperactive , energetic, and challenging to such an extent that I concluded that one of the key factors to consider in physical theatre is the fitness of the actor. The body, mind and spirit should connect the psychological  with the physical ,in a way that prepares the actor for action . The kind of warm up exercise that the director, Lloyd Nyikadzino made us do leaves you with this adrenaline rush feeling that activates the desire to use more energy. The anaerobic exercises require a lot of endurance on the part of the actor as the process is a continuous system. Thus the actor has to consider wellness, body fitness, muscular endurance and muscular tautness as he or she trains for a physical theatre piece. The warm up process opened the door to the relaxation of the actor as it is crucial for actors to be relaxed during rehearsals without showing any signs of muscular tension during the creative process. Therefore I feel that physical theatre actors should be very energetic at the same time relaxed and comfortable.

The process of creation also triggered a lot of interest on my part as I questioned the director's methods in the creative improvisational process. I used to think that since the play 'Nomankosi' was already scripted, we were going to go straight into the characters, play our roles and develop the story. However, the director's methods were different from what I expected. He gave us room to propose our ideas, even the reflection on the themes of the play. At the end of the day, all our ideas had to be expressed using the body which is sought of a challenge to those actors who are used to dialogue based plays. All of our suggestions were taken into consideration by the director.

After the session, I realized that physical theatre has a highly improvisatory nature and the approach is quite similar to Augusto Boal's body oriented approach to applied theatre. In physical theatre there is less talking more movement. I also discovered through the process that even if you put dialogue in a physical theatre play it becomes less important given the high energy levels involved. In my own point of view the process of creation and rehearsal is more exciting than the final piece, actual production even though the premiere  is still yet to be staged.