Le Coq with Jo Turner

A practical and open discussion workshop exploring some of the principles of great theatre teacher Jacques Lecoq. Jo will demonstrate exercises, ask you to participate in others and provide any answers to questions you may have about the school, the process and creative career outcomes. The Lecoq school has been operating in Paris since the 1950’s. Despite the death in 1999 of its founder and chief pedagog Jacques Lecoq, it still flourishes today in its atmospheric location, Le Central (a beautiful old boxing gym), in the very un-touristy 10^th Arrondisement of Paris. The school prioritises the physical over the psychological as an approach to performance and theatre making. By understanding the feeling of moving in a particular way, you learn to create emotion in the actor, a scene and ultimately the audience. Emotion, says Lecoq, is internalised motion. Start in movement, end with feeling. It’s a two-year course and both years are distinct and different. The first year is for actors, writers, directors, devisers, designers, storytellers of all kinds. Beginning in silence (to understand why people move and speak), you explore mask, the great movements of nature and the mimo-dynamics of materials, animals, light, colours and words, to understand how things move. This leads to the creation of character and scene from a physical perspective. The second year is for actors – especially those who want to create new work – but not uniquely so. It covers several major domains of theatre in a wonderfully structured journey of self-discovery. From Melodrama (what makes us cry), to Tragedy (what makes us weep), via Bouffon (what makes us laugh at the world), the journey culminates in Clown (what makes the world laugh at us.) Lecoq told us not to focus on ourselves but to pay attention to the world around us. This is the way to create truth that resonates beyond your personal experience. We can tell powerful stories when we pay attention, when we see the world with precision and most importantly with awe. Observe more. See more, listen more, live more deliberately. Lecoq also told us to play with the curiosity and complexity of the child. To do, to act, to explore, to wonder, but above all to create.  Please note: This livestream will take place at 12pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time. 2pm NZ Time. You will be sent a Zoom link prior to the event.