Jacques Lecoq and the pedagogy of movement, including the neutral mask, mime and gesture, the seven levels of tension, play and complicite, the via negativa of stripping back, and ensemble physical storytelling.

What this dot point is asking

AQA lists Jacques Lecoq as a prescribed practitioner. The board wants you to understand his movement-based training and its key tools, so you can explain his approach and apply it practically when devising or interpreting physical work in Component 2 or Component 3.

A pedagogy of movement

Lecoq was primarily a teacher; his legacy is a way of training performers rather than a fixed style. At his Paris school he developed actors who could create their own physical, devised theatre. The emphasis is on the body as the source of expression and meaning, on observation of the world, and on the performer's capacity to play and respond in the moment. The result is a poetic, imaginative theatre built from movement, mime and ensemble invention.

Key tools

• The neutral mask. Removes facial habit and forces the whole body to express, building economy and awareness.
• The via negativa. Working by taking away, stripping out unnecessary tension and habit, rather than adding effects, so movement becomes clean and truthful.
• The seven levels of tension. A scale from exhausted and collapsed up to rigid and held, used to give each character a precise physical energy the audience reads instantly.
• Mime and gesture. Telling story and creating objects and environments through precise physical action rather than words.
• Play and complicite. Performing should be playful and alive, and complicite is the silent, instinctive connection within an ensemble that lets them respond and create together.

The seven levels of tension

A particularly usable tool is the levels of tension. Roughly, level one is exhausted or catatonic, level two is laid-back, level three is neutral or alert, level four is curious or alert with purpose, level five is suspense or the reactive level, level six is passionate and at the edge of control, and level seven is rigid, frozen tension. By choosing a level, a performer fixes a character's physical energy precisely and can shift it to signal change, giving the audience a clear, readable body.

Applying Lecoq in practice

When working in his manner, train through the neutral mask and via negativa to find economical movement, assign each character a level of tension, build the story through mime and gesture, and devise as an ensemble through play and complicite so the body, not the script, carries the meaning.