Leading from Parts of the Body

This term we are doing a play called The Devil in Drag. This play is a physical theatre comedy piece. In the play we use our bodies as much as our vocals to play our characters. In preparation for this, we did some physical activities. The first was 'Fishing' where in pairs we would reel our partners in by different parts of the body like the bum, crotch and heel of foot. This helped me to use more of my body to lead me and less of my vocal ability.


We where then told top walk around the room. We where given a part of our body to lead from. First was the knees, in which you walked with a bend in your knees which gave off a character who was slightly strange, next was to use our chest, the character created was very strong and brave Then we used our bums to lead us, this gave the impression of an older person with back problems or a supermodel whose hips and bum controlled her. Finally was nose and chin, both of these gave off a snobby, rude character who thought they where better than everyone. This exercise showed me how a character can be lead by the parts of body and how it can define a character. I didn't know this till we did this exercise










Dario Fo