MDEE 26 Workshop Notes - Devising Physical Theatre
- Theatre Workout
- Feb 20
- 3 min read
It was great to see so many familiar faces, and plenty of new ones, at our CPD workshop on Devising Physical Theatre at the Music & Drama Education Expo on 13 February. Thank you also to those of you who said they came because you've done our previous workshops, and said how beneficial they've been for you.
I'm an actor at heart, so comments like that are like a round of applause - thank you!
As promised, here are some notes on what we did, and a few techniques to help you use these exercises in the classroom.
As the session was only 45 minutes, there was a limit as to what we could cover, but here are the basics:
Starting with Tableaux, I find these to be a short-cut to creating characters, and building student's confidence in using their bodies expressively. We started from a neutral stance, before creating a series of images inspired by different emotions - happy, sad, anger, love, etc. Once you've done these, you can explore more complex emotions like jealousy, fear, ambition, etc.
I will often then explore stock characters with the same process, ideally referring to characters found in the text you're working with.
Tip: Count them in with a "3, 2, 1, Go", with the group creating their images on "Go". This will help them leap to an image all together, avoiding copying what others have done around them.
Tip: Use your voice to lead the group. E.g. full of energy when doing a "happy" tableaux, decending into deeper tones for a "sad" tableaux.
These techniques work very well for groups of all levels of ability. See for yourself by booking a workshop with Theatre Workout in your school, or in one of our West End studios as part of a theatre trip.
Introducing a stimuli, such as a piece of music, poem, or image, discuss the stimuli as a group, shouting out words the group associate with it.
When we started this activity, I wasn't able to play music, so we picked a song we thought everyone would know - Defying Gravity from Wicked (only 1 person didn't know it). Words called out included confident, revolution, bravery, stength, risk.
We then individually created a series of tableaux for these images, before linking them togther through movement, creating a looped movement sequence.
In groups, we shared our work, and combined images with those in our group to create a new sequence.
Continuing in groups, we explored ways of performing these. Each group seemed to choose a different approach, with some working in the round, some sharing movements among them, some performing everything all at once together.
We then added an additional dimension of sound, exploring the conservative use of verbal and non-verbal sounds into the sequence, and the impact this had on the work.
Finally, we explored ways of starting and ending the sequence, looking at how we enter and leave the space, and how to build this into the sequence.
In reality, this whole process would take longer than we had available, with opportunities to observe, discuss and add direction to each group as you go.
Q&A:
How do you lead into this work with aprehensive students?
I suggested starting with improvisation activities, to enstil the notion of saying "yes, and..." so they are open to new ideas, etc.
Additionally, you can explore more movement techniques, such as guiding partners around the space, or mirroring in pairs.
Tip If you introduce mirroring for the first time, students will talk about it, laugh, comment. Let them. Swap who leads a few times, each time asking them to focus, not to talk, until they do it in silence. When we talk or laugh about things like this (which is completely normal, because it is a bit weird), we're distancing ourselves from it. It's protective, but it means we judge, dismiss, and criticise what we're doing, so we don't invest fully into it. They have to discover this themselves. Once they do it properly, you will feel the focus and creativity flow - reward that!
Theatre Workout creates bespoke workshops tailored to your group, and your chosen stimuli - be that a West End show or coursework project.
We also organise entire school trips, with theatre trips being our forte. Check out our sample trip itinerary for a one-day or two-day theatre trip, and learn more about how we can manage all your trip admin for you here.
Special Offer
Book this Devising Physical Theatre workshop for your school and SAVE 10% - book by 1 May 2026, for a workshop on any date before 30 July 2026. Valid on outreach and studio workshops in London or Stratford-Upon-Avon. Usual terms and conditions apply. Quote "MDEE26" when booking.
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