Lloyd Newson Physical Theatre Analysis

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“Physical theatre requires no specific dance style from its performers – it is the freedom to express emotion in performance whilst integrating various acting and dance techniques.”(Quench, 2013) Physical theatre can be described as a freedom of expression That has less rules and restrictions than Dance. DV8 is a widely known physical theatre company that was founded by Lloyd Newson in 1986. Newson attended the London Contemporary School of Dance where he gained a full scholarship. Based on this fantastic opportunity, Newson was then able to start his own physical theatre company: ‘DV8’. it is clear that Newson puts his company under the label of physical theatre instead of a dance company as he feels there are “less Restrictions”(Newson, …show more content…

However by labeling the company as physical theatre the constraints and limitations of dance are torn apart and can have layers of elements such as speech that can add context. This will show a more in detail picture for the audience and they will receive a more indepth context to the piece. He implies that dance isn’t enough to portray hard hitting subjects such as mental and physical difficulties, he attempts to cover with the layers of elements he includes in his pieces, the layers that are worked into the pieces allows Newson to invent the pieces in an interesting ways instead of just choreographing them. He believes with just movement choreography the dance could have a division with the audience themselves and the subject. In an interview for a promotional video for DV8 which was made in 2015 he describes this idea that he feels even if the dancers are exceptional in movement he felt he was “conning audiences about the depth of the pieces he was …show more content…

‘Can we Talk About This’ a piece created by Lloyd Newson which toured in 2011 and 2012 . This piece was initiated in 2010 “'Can We Talk About This?' boils down thousands of hours of testimony to ask questions about Islam in the west and in the world, focusing particularly on censorship, tolerance and human rights.”(McGinn, 2012) Newson set up an interview process with 50 different applicants; these consisted of politicians and different people and leaders that represented a certain community or culture. Every person who was interviewed had been associated with either Islam, different cultural divides or freedom of speech. Each interview was recorded and documented until some were chosen for the piece. These Interviews were then used as a script in the work. Through improvisation and different movement tasks the dancers found movement to fit and relate to the text through their bodies. This interview process inspiring the movement, may have created a deeper context behind the piece by having the context to the piece not just be an underlying element but is pushed into the faces of the audience and is something you can not ignore. From this description of the piece from ‘Time Out London’ it describes the work as “But DV8's show is no ordinary piece of theatre, being a verbatim dance piece whose words come from the verbal and

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