amy jane stephenson

Some images from the recent inspiring workshop in Latvia. Photos courtesy of Global Theatre Experience.

Recently I attended a physical theatre workshop in Malpils, Latvia with the Global Theatre Experience. Russian director, Sergei Ostrenko took us through many fantastic techniques, most of which were from Meyerhold, Stanislavski and Chekhov. Each morning we would do an hour of adapted Thai Chi which was a gentle way to awaken the inner and outer body.

We were always racking our brains to remember the tasks of the day and scribble them down into our books for future use. Above is an extract from my journal with some of the movements from Meyerhold’s Throwing the Stone étude.

Ostrenko talked about one of the keys to biomechanics being the counter-movement or the spring in the body. Before any movement, the body goes in the reverse direction in preparation before carrying out the action. For example when you throw a ball, you draw your arm backwards before you throw it forwards. This is a simplistic example, but this technique can be applied to every single action, even drinking a cup of tea!

After learning this technique I’ve noticed how much more ‘full’ an action is and also the increased awareness of the performer. Plus it can be applied to everyday life, the counter-movement of buying a t-shirt is to work for the money first.