Tragedy

Jacques Lecoq believed that the dramatic form of tragedy helped his actors to deepen their understanding of body centred theatre as well as to develop an understanding of how to devise their own theatre from issues of personal or political concern.

Simon Murray suggests in his text book that the first physical preparation to understand the dynamics of tragedy is where students pair up to become the puppeteer and the puppet. The puppeteer provokes movement in the puppet by touching him/her on different parts of the body. The puppet must accept the rhythm offered, but always returning the moved body back to the point of departure.

Read pages 140-142 of your set text about the physical physical quality of the material and the way is transposes into a dramatic or emotional quality. Answer the questions below in your logbook.

• From these exercises what are the dynamics of tragedy?
• How can a character develop through exploring the technique of Chorus?
• What does the choral body say to an audience that an individual body cannot?
• How does the Chorus express the emotion of the text through its collective bodies?

Watch the video below and discuss with your classmates online the use of the Chorus. Compare and contrast the ideas seen in the video to the characteristics seen in a Greek Tragedy Chorus.