Zen Zen Zo workshop

When you pay for an expert to come in for a day it’s hard to always know how much benefit your students will get from it.

So I asked and these are some of the responses from Drama students:

‘It was fun!’

‘It taught us lots’

‘It was informative and inspirational’

It was tiring in a good way’

‘It made us move our bodies more and use that in our pieces’

So job done.

But what is a Physical Theatre workshop? How does it differ from ordinary drama workshops and what relevance does this have to our students?

The term physical theatre refers to theatre that focuses more on actors working and moving as an ensemble. There are fewer sets and props used. The action is more fluid and deals in the world of symbol and metaphor. Music is a component as well as projection. It is this focus on the actors' bodies that makes it so helpful to a drama educator.

To be able to move as an ensemble, students have to become aware of others, share ideas, give up their own ideas for the good of the group. Learn to trust and be trustworthy, which means working in an honest way not just on the surface ‘niceness’. Be flexible to accept all the changes, be resilient to keep on going and perform publicly and develop patience, lots and lots of patience!

Was it worth it? You betcha!