This essay is a re-submission of information that I had to deliver in a presentation with Chloe Smith regarding 2 physical theatre practitioners. I will be covering "Commedia Dell'arte" and "Frantic Assembly".
Physical thetare:
Physical theatre itself is a type of theatre that has a huge focus on expressing stories, characters, motivations and ideologies through movement rather than expository dialogue. A practitioner of this style would put a greater emphasis on how the characters/actors move rather than how they talk although with people such as Steven Berkoff that may also be considered. It can involve dance like sequences or sureal movements to help convey a sense of scale, a status in the scene or someones emotional state or anything along these lines. Since theatre is a mostly visual form of media I think this style is great and can be quite effective when done correctly.
Commedia Dell'arte:
This a style that started in the 1600's in Italy. It is primarily a comedic style, its translated name can either be "Art Comedy" or "The Art of Comedy". It has a series of archetype characters that have fixed personalities and traits that can represent anyone in society. The all have a different status and attitude so for example a Brighella and a Zanni could be a representation/play on of a any worker and there employer. A Brighella is a high servant with a superiority complex who moves confidently and politely wants everything to go to plan and if it doesn't they get annoyed and a Zanni is the lowest type of servant who is birdlike in movement, not very intelligent and usually very willing to help and very submissive. The actors for it would generally have to train to be one archetype character for their enbtire career since it was easier for them to slip into and easier to train.
Commedia has influenced practically all of modern theatre in some way and even other media. Characters in sitcoms are comparable. Blackadder and Baldrick fom "Blackadder" or Basil and Manuel from "Fawlty Towers" are good examples of a Brighella and Zanni relationship. One is quite manipulative and wants everything to go his way while the other is just a faithful and willing servant who lacks intelligence. Even a character such as Father Dougal McGuire from "Father Ted" has traits of a Harlequin since he's quite unintelligent, energetic (Though not acrobatic) often hungry but actually quite happy and lovable despite his stupidity. Even "The old gits" played by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are very reminiscent of two Pantolones due to the vinegary tones, looks and their physicality. Go through any comedy be it play, film or TV show and you should easily recognise that the characters have traits that fit the criteria of Commedia archetypes. The emphasis on the use of masks to force the actor to use their body to convey something rather than their face has made other companies over the years realise this and has massively influenced the art of mime and practitioners such as Jacques Lecoq. The importance of using the body to express something has been recognised and experimented with over the years but has evolved and expanded so that it's not primarily for the purposes of comedy. It can be used to tell other types of stories such as dramatic and serious work too (Not the style, physical story telling as it's evolved) although can still convey subtext like the political satire that commedia often took part in when touring. It's political side has also influenced modern companies such as DV8. This is a company that believes in discussing human ethics, politics, and social issues. This is somewhat different. Commedia would mock a politician or member of power for humorous reasons where as DV8 would talk about issues of common people or society in general but be very serious about it. Even lazzis that they used to perform (Which were moments they'd randomly perform when the audience was getting bored) have stemmed into their own genre somewhat. It's almost the birth of improv but the only difference is that a lazzi is a set moment but never has a set time to do it where as this is making up the situations on the spot as well and that has stemmed into it's own form of comedy and even into the methods of other companies such as frantic assembly who improvise their movements in rehearsals to see what can come naturally although they do not focus on comedy. So the style has evolved and shaped/inspired other people and the industry over the centuries especially to do with showing the importance of physicality and how it can be more engaging to watch when done correctly.
Frantic Assembly:
These guys are a company inspired by volcano theatre and DV8, two other modern physical theatre practitioners although one is more focused on site specific plots and the other is about social/human issues. Frantic tend to focus on personal stories and have a less political or philosophical approach to their narratives. Their style can be described as interpretive dance combined with naturalistic acting although never performed at the same time, generally in segments that still connect narratively usually to represent something on a mental or metaphorical level.
Their methods to help devise their productions are listening to contemporary music to help get ideas and inspirations from as well as helping them realise what works and what doesn't during rehearsals, Using building blocks which are a series of simple movements that you can improvise and add context or depth to such as emotional connections, implied stories between the characters interacting or anything that can help the story move forward. They do not like movement for padding, tnhey like evry movement to have relevance and importance. The building blocks are called "Round by Through", "Hymns Hands" and "Chair duets". The look of their plays can vary for example "Lovesong" has a more calm, comforting vibe/look where as "Peepshow" has a more flashy and hectic look, especially with the lighting. This is because the former is about a couples relationship into old age and the latter was inspired by the company being big fans of music videos and the way they look. They generally have a look that fits and provides the right tone especially in "Lovesongs" case. They do like wait for the right time to do their pieces such as their piece "Hymns" was about a group of men feeling unable to express their emotions and this was put on the shelf until one of them saw a documentary about male suicide and had lost some friends for similar reasons so he thought bit was the right time to finish and perform the piece.
Frantic (As well as other modern companies) do actually show how far things have come and how diverse the genre of physical theatre actually is. Frantic have contributed to helping to make this the case. They firmly wanted their own style when starting out and that they didn't want to be derivative or too reminiscent of other companies. Their style is very different to any other practitioner. They're very different to DV8, Volcano theatre, Steven Berkoff or Gecko. Where as those companies can focus on delivering a more site specific and authentic experience or being more edgy, political and surreal or having a focus on exaggerated movement for status purposes or exaggerated speech. These guys have a focus on more personal stories with the intention of thrilling people rather than challenging their ideologies or anything like that. Also frantic have became such well regarded and influential practitioners of the art that they were hired to be the movement choreographers for "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time". They have established themselves as unique enough so that other companies feel they need them and to help make their plays as smooth and as engaging as possible. The building blocks they have developed are also used commonly to help with devising pieces from other groups, I myself have used them frequently because they are quite useful and somewhat easy to add context and depth to and they are quite fun. The variety of sub styles of physical theatre that have spawned since other forms such as commedia dell'arte is quite impressive. It has developed into a wide genre that has grown from being comical to any gene it wishes, it's more free and open for the practitioners to experiment with what they want. Frantic have offered a new interesting style of movement that obviously appeals to people so they are helping to shape other productions and are helping to keep the variation in the style and the raw power of their own performances which themselves stand out.
Links:
Commedia:
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/video/a-brief-history-of-commedia
http://www.volcanotheatre.co.uk/sites/volcano/files/Physical%20Theatre.pdf
Frantic Assembly:
http://www.franticassembly.co.uk/media/media/downloads/Frantic_Assembly_Resource_Pack_2012.pdf
talk about how change in style could be a contemporary development
