Lecoq never thought of the body as in any way separate from the context in which it existed. Jacques Lecoq. This text offers a concise guide to the teaching and philosophy of one of the most significant figures in twentieth century actor training. A key string to the actor's bow is a malleable body, capable of adapting and transforming as the situation requires, says RADA head of movement Jackie Snow, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, RADA foundation class in movement/dance. Throughout a performance, tension states can change, and one can play with the dynamics and transitions from one state to the next. Jacques said he saw it as the process of accretion you find in the meander of a river, the slow layering of successive deposits of silt. For this special feature in memory of Jacques Lecoq, who died in January, Total Theatre asked a selection of his ex-students, colleagues and friends to share some personal reminiscences of the master. We also do some dance and stage fighting, which encourages actors to develop their use of space, rhythm and style, as well as giving them some practical tools for the future. This was a separate department within the school which looked at architecture, scenography and stage design and its links to movement. The school was eventually relocated to Le Central in 1976. Lecoq on Clown 1:10. Kenneth Rea adds: In theatre, Lecoq was one of the great inspirations of our age. He taught there from 1956 until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999. Jacques Lecoq was a French actor and acting coach who developed a unique approach to acting based on movement and physical expression principles. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window). Now let your body slowly open out: your pelvis, your spine, your arms slowly floating outwards so that your spine and ribcage are flexed forwards and your knees are bent. John Martin writes: At the end of two years inspiring, frustrating, gruelling and visionary years at his school, Jacques Lecoq gathered us together to say: I have prepared you for a theatre which does not exist. In that brief time he opened up for me new ways of working that influenced my Decroux-based work profoundly. By putting on a bland, totally expressionless mask, the actor was forced to use his whole body to express a given emotion. It would be pretentious of us to assume a knowledge of what lay at the heart of his theories on performance, but to hazard a guess, it could be that he saw the actor above all as the creator and not just as an interpreter. And if a machine couldn't stop him, what chance had an open fly? (By continuing to use the site without making a selection well assume you are OK with our use of cookies at present), Spotlight, 7 Leicester Place, London, WC2H 7RJ. Jacques Lecoq's father, or mother (I prefer to think it was the father) had bequeathed to his son a sensational conk of a nose, which got better and better over the years. Jacques Lecoq. Tempo and rhythm can allow us to play with unpredictability in performance, to keep an audience engaged to see how the performance progresses. Firstly, as Lecoq himself stated, when no words have been spoken, one is in a state of modesty which allows words to be born out of silence. (Lecoq, 1997:29) It is vital to remember not to speak when wearing a mask. On the walls masks, old photos and a variety of statues and images of roosters. September 1998, on the phone. Indecision. Let your arms swing behind your legs and then swing back up. They include the British teacher Trish Arnold; Rudolph Laban, who devised eukinetics (a theoretical system of movement), and the extremely influential Viennese-born Litz Pisk. eBook ISBN 9780203703212 ABSTRACT This chapter aims to provide a distillation of some of the key principles of Jacques Lecoq's approach to teaching theatre and acting. One game may be a foot tap, another may be an exhale of a breath. Jacques Lecoq. Thank you Jacques Lecoq, and rest in peace. Dont be concerned about remembering the exact terminology for the seven tensions. Carolina Valdes writes: The loss of Jacques Lecoq is the loss of a Master. Jacques Lecoq (15 December 1921 19 January 1999) was a French stage actor and acting movement coach. In a time that continually values what is external to the human being. It is the state of tension before something happens. Help us to improve our website by telling us what you think, We appreciate your feedback and helping us to improve Spotlight.com. Start off with some rib stretches. In the presence of Lecoq you felt foolish, overawed, inspired and excited. Beneath me the warm boards spread out like a beach beneath bare feet. While theres no strict method to doing Lecoq correctly, he did have a few ideas about how to loosen the body in order to facilitate more play! But there we saw the master and the work. When Jacques Lecoq started to teach or to explain something it was just impossible to stop him. One may travel around the stage in beats of four counts, and then stop, once this rule becomes established with an audience, it is possible to then surprise them, by travelling on a beat of five counts perhaps. Once done, you can continue to the main exercises. Similarly to Jerzy Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq heavily focused on "the human body in movement and a commitment to investigating and encouraging the athleticism, agility and physical awareness of the creative actor" (Evan, 2012, 164). While Lecoq still continued to teach physical education for several years, he soon found himself acting as a member of the Comediens de Grenoble. Start to breathe in, right down inside your ribcage, let your weight go on to your left leg and start lifting your left arm up, keeping your arm relaxed, and feeling your ribcage opening on that side as you do. He was certainly a man of vision and truly awesome as a teacher. Jacques Lecoq method uses a mix of mime, mask work, and other movement techniques to develop creativity and freedom of expression. After the class started, we had small research time about Jacques Lecoq. Please, do not stop writing! What he offered in his school was, in a word, preparation of the body, of the voice, of the art of collaboration (which the theatre is the most extreme artistic representative of), and of the imagination. But the most important element, which we forget at our peril, is that he was constantly changing, developing, researching, trying out new directions and setting new goals. But about Nijinski, having never seen him dance, I don't know. Lecoq believed that actors should use their bodies to express emotions and ideas, rather than relying on words alone. However, the two practitioners differ in their approach to the . Franco Cordelli writes: If you look at two parallel stories Lecoq's and his contemporary Marcel Marceaus it is striking how their different approaches were in fact responses to the same question. These movements are designed to help actors develop a strong physical presence on stage and to express themselves through their bodies. This neutral mask is symmetrical, the brows are soft, and the mouth is made to look ready to perform any action. Like a poet, he made us listen to individual words, before we even formed them into sentences, let alone plays. I see the back of Monsieur Jacques Lecoq Lecoq himself believed in the importance of freedom and creativity from his students, giving an actor the confidence to creatively express themselves, rather than being bogged down by stringent rules. Philippe Gaulier writes: Jacques Lecoq was doing his conference show, 'Toute Bouge' (Everything Moves). He taught us to cohere the elements. What he taught was niche, complex and extremely inspiring but he always, above all, desperately defended the small, simple things in life. The mirror student then imitates the animals movements and sounds as closely as possible, creating a kind of mirror image of the animal. IB student, Your email address will not be published. During dinner we puzzle over a phrase that Fay found difficult to translate: Le geste c'est le depot d'une emotion. The key word is 'depot deposit? Andrew Dawson & Jos Houben write: We last saw Jacques Lecoq in December last year. 7 TURKU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES THESIS | Forename Surname The human body can be divided roughly; feet . I was the first to go to the wings, waving my arms like a maniac, trying to explain the problem. He taught at the school he founded in Paris known ascole internationale de thtre Jacques Lecoq, from 1956 until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1999. Raise your right arm up in front of you to shoulder height, and raise your left arm behind you, then let them both swing, releasing your knees on the drop of each swing. Observation of real life as the main thrust of drama training is not original but to include all of the natural world was. This exercise can help students develop their character-building skills and their ability to use research to inform their actions. In order to avoid a flat and mono-paced performance, one must address rhythm and tempo. For example, if the actor has always stood with a displaced spine, a collapsed chest and poking neck, locked knees and drooping shoulders, it can be hard to change. Every week we prepared work from a theme he chose, which he then watched and responded to on Fridays. As a teacher he was unsurpassed. Because this nose acts as a tiny, neutral mask, this step is often the most challenging and personal for actors. Learn moreabout how we use cookies including how to remove them. as he leaves the Big Room Jacques was a man of extraordinary perspectives. 18th] The first thing that we have done when we entered the class was checking our homework about writing about what we have done in last class, just like drama journal. In this country, the London-based Theatre de Complicite is probably the best-known exponent of his ideas. Last of all, the full body swing starts with a relaxed body, which you just allow to swing forwards, down as far as it will go. I remember him trying exercises, then stepping away saying, Non, c'est pas a. Then, finding the dynamic he was looking for, he would cry, Ah, a c'est mieux. His gift was for choosing exercises which brought wonderful moments of play and discovery. When performing, a good actor will work with the overall performance and move in and out of major and minor, rather than remaining in just one or the other (unless you are performing in a solo show). depot? Look at things. Lecoq, Jacques (1997). by David Farmer | Acting, Directing and Devising, Features. But acting is not natural, and actors always have to give up some of the habits they have accumulated. (Reproduced from Corriere della Sera with translation from the Italian by Sherdan Bramwell.). He strived for sincerity and authenticity in acting and performance. These exercises were intended to help actors tap into their own physical instincts and find new ways to convey meaning through movement. To meet and work with people from all over the world, talking in made-up French with bits of English thrown-in, trying to make a short piece of theatre every week. Photograph: Jill Mead/Jill Mead. We started by identifying what these peculiarities were, so we could begin to peel them away. Jacques Lecoq was a French actor, mime artist, and theatre director. It is the fine-tuning of the body - and the voice - that enables the actor to achieve the highest level of expressiveness in their art. What we have as our duty and, I hope, our joy is to carry on his work. Dipsit Digital de la Universitat de Barcelona; Tesis Doctorals; Tesis Doctorals - Departament - Histria de l'Art His work on internal and external gesture and his work on architecture and how we are emotionally affected by space was some of the most pioneering work of the last twenty years. We then bid our farewells and went our separate ways. Perhaps Lecoq's greatest legacy is the way he freed the actor he said it was your play and the play is dead without you. [9], Lecoq wrote on the art and philosophy of mimicry and miming. Jacques Lecoq View on Animal Exercises Jacques Lecoq was a French actor, mime artist, and theatre director. Required fields are marked *. Following many of his exercise sessions, Lecoq found it important to think back on his period of exercise and the various routines that he had performed and felt that doing so bettered his mind and emotions. Lecoq believed that masks could be a powerful tool for actors. As a young physiotherapist after the Second World War, he saw how a man with paralysis could organise his body in order to walk, and taught him to do so. Bouffon (English originally from French: "farceur", "comique", "jester") is a modern French theater term that was re-coined in the early 1960s by Jacques Lecoq at his L'cole Internationale de Thtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris to describe a specific style of performance work that has a main focus in the art of mockery. It is very rare, particularly in this day and age, to find a true master and teacher someone who enables his students to see the infinite possibilities that lie before them, and to equip them with the tools to realise the incredible potential of those possibilities. Then it walks away and Let out a big breath and, as it goes, let your chest collapse inwards. I was able to rediscover the world afresh; even the simple action of walking became a meditation on the dynamics of movement. This teaching strategy basically consists of only focusing his critiques on the poorer or unacceptable aspects of a student's performance. Great actor training focuses on the whole instrument: voice, mind, heart, and body. While theres a lot more detail on this technique to explore, we hope this gives you a starting point to go and discover more. The word gave rise to the English word buffoon. You need to feel it to come to a full understanding of the way your body moves, and that can only be accomplished through getting out of your seat, following exercises, discussing the results, experimenting with your body and discovering what it is capable - or incapable - of. After all, very little about this discipline is about verbal communication or instruction. Think of a cat sitting comfortably on a wall, ready to leap up if a bird comes near. In devising work, nothing was allowed to be too complex, as the more complex the situation the less able we are to play, and communicate with clarity. practical exercises demonstrating Lecoq's distinctive approach to actor training.