Theatre of Movement and Gesture

The Theatre of Movement and Gesture is the first English-language translation of the classic work, Le Theatre du Geste, by Jacques Lecoq--one of the most influential theorists and teachers of what is now known as physical theatre. Departing from the Stanislavski school of acting, Lecoq emphasized physical movement, mime and non-text-based acting. His teaching was enormously influential on a number of well-known actors, directors and theatre practitioners, including Ariane Mnouchkine, Robert Wilson, Julie Taymor, and Peter Stein. This well-illustrated volume collects a number of his writings--along with contributions from some of his disciples--and presents a precious testimony to Lecoq's special vision of the art of acting and of its close relationship with the history of mime and of masked performance. Despite his death in 1999, Lecoq's school in Paris is still a thriving institution, with students from all over the world who make the pilgrimage there to learn aboutclowning, mime, maskwork, and other forms of non-text-based theatre. Lecoq left only a handful of published texts, one of which David Bradby translated as The Moving Body, published by Methuen and Routledge Inc in paperback in 2002.

Jacques Lecoq founded l'Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in 1956