Exploring Physical Theatre

Lesson Details

• Subject: Drama
• Year Group: Year 10
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Class Size: 17 students
• Curriculum Area: GCSE Drama – Component 1: Understanding Drama
• Focus: Physical Theatre & Antonin Artaud

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will:

1. Understand Antonin Artaud’s approach to theatre and the concept of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’.
2. Explore physical theatre techniques to create immersive and intense performance work.
3. Apply Artaudian principles to devised physical performance sequences.
4. Evaluate how physicality and non-verbal storytelling impact an audience.

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Lesson Structure

Starter Activity (10 minutes) – Sensory Awakening Exercise

1. Darkened Room Entry: Upon arrival, students enter silently into a dimly lit space with unsettling soundscapes playing (e.g., whispers, distorted noises).
2. Guided Physical Warm-Up:
   • Body Isolation: Students spontaneously explore shaking, tensing, and releasing parts of their body.
   • Animalistic Movement: Inspired by Artaud’s belief in primal instincts, students embody caged animals attempting to escape a confined space.

📝 Teacher’s Role: Encourage students to react instinctively and push the boundaries of ‘performing’ to ‘experiencing’ movement.

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Main Activity 1 (15 minutes) – Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ Exploration

1. Brief Discussion:

   • Who was Antonin Artaud?
   • What did he mean by ‘Theatre of Cruelty’?
   • How does physical theatre align with his theories?

2. Dynamic Experiment:

   • In small groups, students create non-verbal performances portraying an intense human emotion (e.g., fear, rage, despair). They must use exaggerated physicality, vocal work (not words), and proxemics.
   • Each performance is presented twice:
     a) With light and silence
     b) With chaotic sound and sudden lighting shifts

💡 Debrief: Students reflect on how these changes affected their experience as performers and as an audience.

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Main Activity 2 (20 minutes) – Artaudian Physical Devising Task

1. Group Task: In teams of 4–5, students devise a short sequence (1–2 minutes) inspired by ‘Theatre of Cruelty’.

   • No dialogue – communication only through movement, gesture, and sound.
   • Inspired by a given stimulus (e.g., "a trapped nightmare", "a forbidden truth", "a loss of control").

2. Rehearsal & Refinement:

   • Groups experiment with extreme physicality, distorted movement, and audience interaction.
   • Elements of ritual, repetition, and heightened emotion should be incorporated.

3. Performance:

   • Performances are presented close to the audience to create discomfort and intensity.
   • The teacher or audience can subtly disrupt performances (e.g., sudden sounds, unexpected movement) to challenge students' adaptability, mirroring Artaud’s unpredictable theatrical style.

📝 Teacher’s Role: Offer provocations to push students out of comfort zones, ensuring raw and visceral performances rather than structured scenes.

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Plenary (10 minutes) – Reflection & Feedback

1. Group Discussion:

   • How did it feel to experience drama without relying on words?
   • Did they succeed in disturbing or provoking the audience?
   • How did the physicality enhance communication?

2. Exit Ticket: Students write on a post-it:

   • One word describing how the lesson made them feel
   • One takeaway about Artaud’s methods they found most intriguing

📝 Teacher’s Role: Collect post-its, using them to track student engagement and understanding over time.

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Differentiation Strategies

• Support: Students struggling with abstract movement can begin with guided mirroring exercises or structured tableaux.
• Challenge: More confident students can experiment with audience interaction, possibly integrating blindfolds, sensory deprivation or extreme contrasts between stillness and chaotic motion.

Assessment Opportunities

• Formative: Observing students’ engagement and risk-taking in physical performance.
• Self-Assessment: Students reflect on their own development in using physicality to communicate abstract themes.
• Peer Feedback: Constructive comments on how effectively performances evoked emotion and discomfort, in line with Artaud’s principles.

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Resources Required

• Dramatic soundscapes (industrial noises, whispers, animalistic sounds)
• Adjustable lighting (torches, coloured gels where possible)
• Minimal but symbolic props (e.g., fabric, ropes, masks)

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Homework / Extension Task

• Research Task: Find an example of a contemporary theatre company that uses Artaudian principles (e.g., DV8, Frantic Assembly) and analyse how they apply physical theatre techniques.

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💡 Final Thought for the Teacher
This lesson immerses students fully in the visceral nature of Artaud’s drama, breaking conventional boundaries of performance. It should leave them feeling unsettled, yet invigorated—exactly what Theatre of Cruelty set out to achieve!