Physical theatre: Steven Berkoff (Research pack)

Steven Berkoff

D.O.B- 3^rd August 1937 (75)

Active since: 1959

Occupation : Actor, Writer, Director, Practitioner 

Steven Berkoff was the practitioner explored by Mel, Shane and Jade; unfortunately I only managed to engage in the last 10 minutes of this seminar. In which Shane was describing the mimetic techniques that Berkoff uses in his plays.

Berkoffs opinion towards props is ‘why use props when you can achieve the same effect in a more imaginative way by using mime?’ This feeling and his heavy use of mime comes from his early apprenticeship at the LeCop School in Paris. I learnt that during the seminar that “mime can be taken as far is physically possible”(Shane Horton) so long as the actor and the audience can find it believable. One of the best examples of mime, used by Berkoff, is in his 1981 play Decadence later 1994 film; which he directs and acts as the lead alongside Joan Collins. In which they mime riding a horse I would say there is also a huge amount of physical expressionism in this piece.

During my research at home these are techniques that I've found out that he uses/manipulates:

Alienation of the audience seems to be the most widely used technique in Berkoffs plays he does this by:

I have learnt through my research that Berkoffs works can be shocking, grotesque and graphic; a full on onslaught to the human senses and this is no less for the actor and the audience. In future 

     physical theatre sessions or work I could incorporate techniques such as alienation and physical 

    expression; alienation to distance my audience because I don't want them to connect with the character,

     I  want them to analyse the behavior or actions that have lead them to a given circumstance.

     Or simply because I wish to make them uncomfortable.

      And physical expression appeals to me as a  young professional in ways I could make a set redundant  and morph my body.


References/ Bibliography

Research notes by J.A , Steven Berkoff, 24th Nov 1991
Mel, Shane, Jades seminar.

http://www.stevenberkoff.com/filmd.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Berkoff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ewnwElPwuA

Trestle theatre (seminar/compilation of research)

Trestle theatre presntation from Lexia Tomlinson

Areas of Research: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-20856525 http://www.trestle.org.uk/about-trestle/support-us/ http://www.trestle.org.uk/mask-shop/ http://www.trestle.org.uk/about-trestle/

Movement for the actor - My lesson plan (Physical theatre)

Movement for the Actor – Lesson Plan:

Basic Human anatomy, why is it significant to the actor?

Hello, I am Lexia Tomlinson and welcome to my seminar: my focus will be on joints, physical theatre and the practitioners Moshe Feldenkrais and Lester Horton.

As I am doing joints I will only be focusing on the skeletal structure of the human body. Can anyone tell me how many bones there are in the human adult body?  (206) However when we were infants there were as up to 300-350 at birth, this then dwindled down to 270, can anyone tell me why there is now a reduction in the amount of bones as we get older?  (As we grow older our bones fuse together, the most obvious our Skull bones, sacrum and hip bone.)

The main bones of the human skeleton are:

• The Skull - Cranium, Mandible and Maxilla

• Shoulder girdle - clavicle and scapula

• Arm - humerus, radius and ulna

• Hand - Carpals, Metacarpals and Phalanges

• Chest - Sternum and Ribs

• Spine - Cervical area (top 7 vertibrae), Thoracic (next 12), Lumbar (bottom 5 vertebrae), Sacrum (5 fused or stuck together bones) and Coccyx (the tiny bit at the bottom of the spine).

• Pelvic girdle - Ilium, Pubis and Ischium.

• Leg - Femur, Tibia and Fibula

• Ankle - Talus and calcaneus (not shown above)

• Foot - Tarsals, Metatarsals and Phalanges.

Synovial (diarthrosis): Synovial joints are by far the most common classification of joint within the human body. They are highly moveable and all have a synovial capsule (collagenous structure) surrounding the entire joint, a synovial membrane (the inner layer of the capsule) which secretes synovial fluid (a lubricating liquid) and cartilage known as hyaline cartilage which pads the ends of the articulating bones. There are 6 types of synovial joints which are classified by the shape of the joint and the movement available.

oint Type	Movement at joint	Examples	Structure
Hinge	Flexion/Extension	Elbow/Knee	Hinge joint
Pivot	Rotation of one bone around another	Top of the neck (atlas and axis bones)	Pivot Joint
Ball and Socket	Flexion/Extension/Adduction/ Abduction/Internal & External Rotation	Shoulder/Hip	Ball and socket joint
Saddle	Flexion/Extension/Adduction/ Abduction/Circumduction	CMC joint of the thumb	Saddle joint
Condyloid	Flexion/Extension/Adduction/ Abduction/Circumduction	Wrist/MCP & MTP joints	Condyloid joint
Gliding	Gliding movements	Intercarpal joints	Gliding joint

Why do you think knowing about your basic human anatomy is relevant as an actor?

Open to question and answer.

My answer:

The reason knowing about your anatomy is important is because our body is our ‘tool’ and we need to know how it works, so that we can look after it and manipulate it to physicalise the characters that we are playing.

When I say manipulation I mean an awareness, to know where you start and the character begins. For example I was in a LAMDA Acting exam, I was fully aware of my torso and arms, I’d planned that out to fit with my character but I’d forgotten about my feet and did what is known as “dancing feet”. This resulted in a marking down. As an actor can you think of a think when you weren’t fully aware or planned out what you would be doing with a particular body part for your time on stage or film?

Understanding our anatomy is also vital for movement, can anyone tell me how many planes of motion there are? (Answer 3)

And what those planes are of motion are called? 

Sagittal Plane

The Sagittal plane passes through the body front to back, so dividing it into left and right. Movements in this plane are the up and down movements of flexion and extension

Frontal Plane

The frontal plane divides the body into front and back. Movements in this plane are sideways movements, called abduction and adduction

Transverse Plane

This plane divides the body into top and bottom. Movements in this plane are rotational in nature, such as internal and external rotation, pronation and supination

Has anyone ever come across the neutral passion when acting?

• Standing upright
• Legs together and knee straight
• Toes pointing straight forwards
• Arms by the side
• Palms facing straight down

The Feldenkrais Method:

The Feldenkrais Method was developed by Moshe Feldenkrais, Feldenkrais was a scientist and well respected Judo instructor, in his youth an injury threatened to leave him severely disabled in his later years, his doctors suggested surgery. However he refused it, instead he used his knowledge of “anatomy, physiology, psychology and engineering, as well as his mastery of martial arts, to healing his own knee.
During the process he realised the vital importance of working with the whole body and indeed the whole self in order to achieve lasting, radical change”

Activities:

1.Could you all go lie in separate spaces of the room please, lay how you feel comfortable not how you think you should.  (Wonder amongst the group observing how they lay)

2. Could you all lay flat on your stomach, stretched out, now turn your head to the right, then lift your right hand , see how your pelvic bone lifts with that movement, now lift your left leg so it rest on the other . Repeat movement another 4 times please. Now switch to your left. Try that movement without looking at the hand. How does it feel now?

3. Could you lay on your back and left your legs so the sole of your feet is flat on the ground, now very slowly and gently let your knees tilt a little bit to the right and a little bit to the left; don’t go so slow that your legs feel heavy and that you’re having to be strong to carry out the movement.

A variant on this movement is bring one leg over the other, could you all go with your right, tilt to the right then back to the centre, do that twice more then switch to your left leg and do the same movement.

Could you lay back flat on your back, slowly roll onto your stomach draw your arms up gently push up onto your knees so you’re in a “doggy” position bring your leg of choice through your arms slowly push up until standing into the neutral position. 

Lester Horton was a major artistic contribution to the modern American dance movement, Horton studied ballet and choreographed for stage and film. What makes Horton’s techniques special is that fact that he moved away from the clean lines of ballet  “ It was not fashioned on his body, nor was it made to fit the straitjacket of any philosophical or physical concepts; it was a technique developed to serve the art of dance through group participation.”

What he wanted to focus on was new ways of doing things e.g “New ways were developed to go up, to go down, to use one leg, to use both legs, and to see how long a balance could be held in what seemed an impossible position.” 

Speaking of impossible, we shall try some of his warm ups. 

Activities:

1.       Can you stand in neutral then do a body roll out to the floor, whilst on the floor extend arms forward and bend knee joints whilst trying to keep feet flat on the floor, once you are comfortable and know you won’t harm yourself do that quicker.

2.    The next position is for you to be in a parallel, back leg straight whilst front leg is pointed horizontally,  drop your torso and abdomen whilst keeping arms out straight, now drop down like so.

Bibliography

Author/s	Year	Title	Edition (if not 1st)	Location Where published	publisher
Smart, Ted.       (2001)              Human Body.          London (UK):         Dorling Kindersley limited. Peragola, Mara Della. (2003)   The Feldankrais Journal No. 16. (Online). (Accessed: 14th Nov 2012). http://feldenkraisinstitute.com/images/uploads/WrkingWithActors_artcl.pdf                                                                                      Available from here:

http://www.innerbody.com/anatomy/skeletal-male (14th Nov 2012)

http://www.teachpe.com/anatomy/skeleton.php

http://www.teachpe.com/anatomy/movements.php

http://www.feldenkrais.co.uk/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6NnVWeJ-nY&feature=share&list=ULy6NnVWeJ-nY

http://www.dancespotlight.com/lester_horton.html

http://youtu.be/dnquDBX2TYA

Exploring given circumstances in depth