An overview
Philosophical and theatrical approach
Lecoq did not set out to create a complete system of acting and he rejected the idea that his techniques were a 'method'. However, his life's work has focused on what his books called 'the moving body' and 'theatre of movement and gesture'. (Burton, 2011).
Jacques Lecoq was involved in the process of social, political and cultural renewal after World War 11. He wanted to rethink the nature of text based theatre and to create a theatre for the future; a theatre that was universal. He worked on body centred training in an attempt to explore the physical, cognitive and emotional states which directly related to the operations and functions of motion, rhythm, shape, balance and counter balance. This acting approach explores the artistic impulse within muscle memory and the capacity for the individual to express an idea through attuned sensory receptors of the body.
His school L 'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in France became a place for him to develop new ways of working with the actor. The Lecoq actor training lasts for two years. The first year is devoted to observation of the world and of the movements in it such as exploring the natural elements, animals, words, sound and colour as well as in-depth exploration of the neutral mask, and moves from silent exercises to a point where the student actor can build a character. The second year is devoted to creating work which explores dramatic territory such as Melodrama, Tragedy, The Chorus, Commedia dell 'arte and the art of the Clown.
Approaches to acting
Jacque Lecoq:
- saw the body and how it moved through space as crucial to the generation of meaning in 20th century theatre. He wanted to shift conventional word based theatre to a body centred theatre by exploring the relationship between movement and acting.
- explored the circularity of the body to implant new physical circuits into the actor's body. His exercises were focussed on playfulness and spontaneity.
- believed in the notion of 'play' within theatre. To play allowed the actor to shift the rules of word based theatre and helped them to understand the rhythm, tempo and space in a performance.
- used the metaphor of The Journey as a fundamental base for his performance themes. He believed metaphor transformed an actor's imaginative and creative energies.
- used the imagery in the language of The Journey and Gardening to invoke growth and development in his actors' training.
- believed the actor's journey of discovery was crucial to opening up possibilities for future creative development.
- believed acting methods should be based on ambiguity and opposites. His actors explored the push and pull, struggle and stability, certainty and uncertainty of life.
- believed his actors had to ask the questions and try and find the answers. He would say 'Don't do what I do: Do what you want to do' (Murray, 2003, p.45).
- believed in collaborative work to create a dynamic acting ensemble
- Auto-cours were fundamental to his approach to acting. An auto-cours is where his student actors prepared a short devised performance to present to the whole school.
- believed that actors should train from neutrality to characterisation.
- believed that actors should not directly associate with the role they were playing .
- wanted his actors to understand the dynamics of space and how this affected their characterisation.
- believed that actors had to engage the audience who should find pleasure in the performance.
- believed that imagery for the audience should have a universal appeal.
- explored what kind of relationships were possible between performers and the audience,
The dramatic forms he used were:
- Neutral mask
- Tragedy
- Greek Chorus
- Commedia dell 'arte
- Melodrama
- Scripts
- Clowning
Each one of these forms had foundational acting techniques for an actor to express themselves through movement.