Fine Arts and Music Collected Works - Theses
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ItemPhysical Acting: Words Made Flesh( 2022)This doctorate synthesizes the conceptual and theoretical aspects of the Pulse improvisation approach with a practical framework for practitioners to use Pulse as an applied process in training performers, developing original material, and rehearsing a dramatic script. The book project Physical Acting – Words Made Flesh represents thirty years of practice-led research and contributes knowledge in terms of praxis to the development of contemporary theatre practice. The book project is a trilogy – three separate yet interconnected parts. Two of the three parts are practical workbooks for performance practitioners; the third part provides complementary material to assist in the understanding of those workbooks. This dissertation begins with a Contextual Framing Statement focusing upon influences and key turning points in the evolution of Pulse and looks at its position within contemporary performance practice. The Training Workbook outlines the Pulse Canvas framework, supplying a practical, step by step guide through the eight phases of the training. It offers a way to teach structured improvisation through ensemble practice leading to the execution of Performance Improvisations. The Directing Workbook describes in detail how to apply Pulse improvisation to the rehearsal of a scripted text. Part One outlines the four phases of the rehearsal process: Intuitive Investigation, Immersion, Mapping and Rendering. It builds on the shared ‘language’ of process and skills developed by an ensemble and a trainer/director through the Pulse training. Part Two demonstrates how to apply the process outlined in Part One. Using case studies of productions that I have directed, both classical and contemporary, I describe how each of the rehearsal layers were used by offering detailed examples of potential rehearsal outcomes. The productions focused on are The Mill on the Floss, Pericles Punished, Five Kinds of Silence, Stage Beauty and Manbeth: Macbeth Amplified. The last part of the trilogy, In Conversation with Practitioners consists of edited extracts from interviews with former students and theatre artists who use Pulse. With my accompanying commentary, these extracts serve to give voice to the perspectives of others and to put a frame around the experienced outcomes of the Pulse work.