Physical Theatre

Physical Theatre is a major part of performance, it can be involved in the making of a character discovering the way they move, walk and look physically or it can be in incorporating a piece of dance or movement within the piece as a different devise to try and get a message, emotion, expression or bit of information across to the audience.
As an introduction the Physical Theatre we discussed various physical theatre companies and practitioners in which we created a timeline for.

1. Japanese Noh Theatre
2. Jacque le Coque
3. Steven Berkoff
4. Pina Bausch
5. Knee High theatre company
6. Grotowski
7. Complicite
8. Cirque du Soleil
9. DV8
10. Frantic Assembly
11. Jasmin Vardimon
12. Fabulous Beast
13. Push theatre company

We all had to choose one a research it, I chose Cirque du Soleil a company known world wide for its imagination and amazing human circus performances.

Cirque du Soleil

Cirque du Soleil is a Quebec based company founded in 1984 by Guy Laliberte and is known for its “High quality, artistic entertainment”.  Their aim is to produce work filled with imagination and creativity, to evoke emotions in a world where “impossible” does not exist. They are the largest theatrical producer in the world and specialise on the talents of the people involved (actors, contortionists, acrobatics, areal artists and countless more circus acts).

History: during the early 1980s in the town of “Baie-saint-Paul” near Quebec in Canada there was a theatre group called The Stilt walkers of Baie-Saint-Paul founded by Gilles Ste-Croix and included the Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte. They were mainly street performers and used stilts, juggled fire breathed etc. During the 450^th anniversary of the discovery of Canada in 1984, Cirque du Soleil was formed as part of the festivities and was only intended to be set up and tour for that year. The company has expanded massively since the 1990s, going from 1 show to 19 in over 271 cities on every continent except Antarctica.

Guy Laliberte:

·         born in 1959 in Quebec

·         He was the first to orchestrate the marriage of cultures and artistic and acrobatic disciplines.

·         Since the start of Cirque du Soleil he has participated in the creation and direction of all the shows.  

Their Approach- Built on a foundation of audacity, creativity, imagination and ensuring limitless possibilities. Each show is a synthesis of circus styles from around the world and from different cultures. Their philosophy is “to take adventure further… to offer its artists the necessary freedom to imagine their most incredible dreams and bring them to life.” 

Today over 4,000 people work with cirque du Soleil (more than 1,300 performing artists and over 100 different types of occupation). The circus has not received any form of funding private or public since 1992 and so are completely self-funded.  They tour regularly with different shows either in other venues or under a big circus tent and even have several shows in resident homes across America.

Some shows :

·         Alegría- a departure from the bright circus atmosphere with a heavy and dark undertone.

·         Dralion- the circuses top grossing show, it combines elements of traditional Chinese circus with Western contemporary circus.

·         Varekai- using the base of mythological stories.

·         Zumantity- a resident show in new York based around adult themed cabaret performances.

·         Kà- using inspiration from martial arts and is more of a linear story then other shows as it centres around two twins who are separated and go on a journey of self-discovery.

·         Ovo- (egg in Portuguese) a show about insects and their daily life until a mysterious egg appears, the show was created by Brazilian choreographer Deborah Colker and relies heavily on Brazilian music.

·         Joya- the newest Cirque du Soleil production set in a jungle where a teenage girl finds herself in her grandfather’s world of half animal and human beings.