The course introduces students to the fundamental techniques, concepts, and processes of the actor’s physical training within an experiential workshop setting. It focuses on developing bodily awareness and organic performance through established physical acting methodologies, drawing on 20th-century European theatre traditions that place the body at the centre of performance (e.g. M. Chekhov, J. Grotowski) as well as major schools of physical theatre (e.g. E. Decroux, J. Lecoq). Short theoretical inputs accompany each session in order to link practice with conceptual understanding. Students are encouraged to explore their expressive physical abilities through exercises, improvisation, imagination, and disciplined creative work, culminating in the application of these skills to a devised adaptation of a theatrical text. Assessment is based on practical performance, participation, rehearsal work, and a brief reflective written assignment.

After the successful completion of the course, students will be expected to:

• develop and interpret knowledge, skills, and competencies in physical theatre techniques as a specialisation of acting;
• apply these skills in individual and group rehearsals, testing and refining their experiential practice;
• give and receive informed feedback in order to critically and creatively revise their artistic work;
• design, synthesize, and implement their learning in a final assessment through the creation of an original performance piece;
• analyse the main theoretical and historical principles that underpin embodied theatrical performance.