Devised theatre – Physical theatre

1960s: Days of Rage

May 30

Immersed in a radical social and political climate, a new wave of artists and theatre makers tired of convention began to experiment with theatrical form. They broke down the fourth wall, performed in non-traditional spaces, moved away from naturalism, created work collaboratively, experimented with audience participation, made multi-disciplinary performance and often told stories that hadn't been seen on theatre stages before. ..

"Devised theatre – frequently called collective creation – is a method of theatre-making in which the script or (if it is a predominantly physical work) performance score originates from collaborative, often improvisatory work by a performing ensemble. The ensemble is typically made up of actors, but other categories of theatre practitioners may also be central to this process of generative collaboration, such as visual artists, composers, and choreographers; indeed, in many instances, the contributions of collaborating artists may transcend professional specialization. This process is similar to that of commedia dell'arte and street theatre. It also shares some common principles with improvisational theatre; however, in devising, improvisation is typically confined to the creation process: by the time a devised piece is presented to the public, it usually has a fixed, or partly fixed form. ... Nonetheless, by the post-war period, a number of theatre practitioners and ensembles, including Bertolt Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble, Judith Malina and The Living Theatre, Joan Littlewood and Theatre Workshop, Jerzy Grotowski and the Theatre of 13 Rows, and Peter Brook, had begun actively experimenting with collaborative methods that engaged and/or trained performers as actor-creators. The period from '68 and on into the 1970s witnessed an explosion of collective creation practices in the Americas and Europe (East and West); as in the 1930s, this wave of interest in collectivism and collaboration in art was deeply influenced by contemporaneous political developments, such as the rise of the New Left. Among the many companies and theatre artists who contributed to the development of collective devising in the second half of the twentieth century, major European and North American figures include Ariane Mnouchkine and Theatre du Soleil, and Jacques Lecoq in France; Robert Lepage in Quebec; R.G. Davis and the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Joseph Chaikin and the Open Theater, Luiz Valdez and the Teatro Campesino, Ruth Maleczech, Joanne Akalaitis, Lee Breuer and the Mabou Mines; Richard Schechner and the Performance Group; and Elizabeth LeCompte and the Wooster Group in the US; the Gardzienice Center for Theatre Practices in Poland; the Work Center of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Italy; the Odin Teatret in Denmark. ..."
W - Devised theatre
W - Physical theatre
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