Quick questions on Physical theatre: HSC Drama elective

Physical theatre is the contemporary umbrella term for performance work that foregrounds the body as the primary means of communication. The term has been used since the 1980s; the practices it describes go back to the early twentieth century.

Three figures shape modern physical theatre.

Physical theatre as a self-conscious contemporary form develops in Britain, mainland Europe and Australia from the 1980s.

Legs on the Wall (Sydney), founded 1984. The most established Australian physical theatre company. Combines circus, dance and acting. Works include Flying Blind (1992), Honour Bound (with Nigel Jamieson, 2006, on David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay), and projects that often integrate aerial work.

The ensemble. Companies have permanent or semi-permanent troupes whose members have trained together for years. The collective body is part of the artistic resource.

Section II essays on physical theatre typically ask candidates to discuss the form's conventions, analyse specific productions, or evaluate the contribution of one or more companies. Strong essays cite specific productions with dates, name techniques precisely, and analyse the choices the company has made.

The Studies in Drama and Theatre elective is examined in writing, but in practice this elective is also a good fit with Group Performance and Individual Project pathways that explore physical work. Many schools that prescribe physical theatre also use the studio time to develop devised physical work for the Group Performance. The boundary between studied theory and practical investigation is porous.

French mime artist. Developed "corporeal mime" as a serious dramatic form distinct from the comic pantomime tradition. Decroux's school in Paris (from 1940) trained Jean-Louis Barrault and Marcel Marceau.

French actor and director. Trained with Decroux, then with the Italian commedia dell'arte tradition. Founded the Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris in 1956.

Polish director. Developed "Poor Theatre" at the Theatre Laboratorium in Wroclaw and Opole (1959 to 1969). Grotowski stripped theatre of all elements except the actor's body in the presence of the audience.

Founded by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, Marcello Magni and Fiona Gordon, all Lecoq graduates. The Street of Crocodiles (1992, based on Bruno Schulz's stories), Mnemonic (1999), A Disappearing Number (2007). Complicite's work is text-rich but built through devising; the visual and physical staging is integral to meaning.

The most overtly political of the British physical theatre companies. Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men (1988, on the murder of gay men by Dennis Nilsen), Enter Achilles (1995, on masculinity), Can We Talk About This? (2011, on free speech and Islam in Europe).

The most established Australian physical theatre company. Combines circus, dance and acting. Works include Flying Blind (1992), Honour Bound (with Nigel Jamieson, 2006, on David Hicks at Guantanamo Bay), and projects that often integrate aerial work.

Contemporary dance with strong theatrical elements. Mortal Engine (2008, with Frieder Weiss) integrated live performance with real-time projection.

Dance-theatre with strong narrative drive. Already Elsewhere (2014, on bereavement).