Melbourne Physical Theatre School
June workshops are dropping!
This is a simple website to connect you to intense physical theatre training. Join the family of Melbourne performers who want to get gritty with their theatre.
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Upcoming workshops...
Larval Mask:
Playfulness, articulation and naivety
Lead teacher: Beth Twentyman
Co-teacher: Daryl Pellizzer
Produced by Melbourne Physical Theatre School
Come and play in the larval mask world! A 3-day introductory workshop for people interested in mask characters and the poetic space they live in.
What is a Larval Mask?
Larval masks, derived from Basel carnival traditions, were adopted by Jacques Lecoq for actor training. They are simplified, unpainted white masks used to explore physical and emotional expression in the body calling for gestures before words. In the Lecoq pedagogy of mask, mime and movement theatre, these masks are central to making the students aware of physical expression and embodiment of character. They are a silent mask therefore the need for physicality is heightened.
How to play in Larval Mask?
Larval masks create a space of sensitivity and deep naivety. Beth Twentyman will guide participants through breath, movement and play exercises to activate subtle communication skills and gestural language. Through the amplification of movement the Larval mask will introduce participants to a world where characters really come to life. Students will see ‘the beginning’ of character expression, gesture and emotion. Inside all of this the group will learn techniques of playing masks eg. fixed point, mime, projecting space, action + reaction and sensitivity to the audience. Larval masks both tragic and comic, thus have an incredible power for storytelling.
Who is it for?
Performers, artists, physical theatre and movement practitioners. It is open to people with a little or a lot of theatre experience. Adults of all abilities are welcome. If you are a human interested in humanity you will probably like this work a lot!
The work will cover:- Grounding into the body, space, the mask
- Cultivating a balanced and energised physical movement preparation
- Movement analysis - how does each mask move?
- Creating characters through movement/embodiment
- Mask playing techniques
- Improvisational mime
- Play/spontaneity in theatrical space
- Non-verbal communication/action based theatre
- Getting out of the head and into the body!
When:
Fri, Sat, Sun
9.30am - 5.00pm
June 27th, 28th, 29th
**It is compulsory to attend all classes as this is a strict learning continuum aka one class leads into the next. Students will not be allowed to arrive late or leave early.
Where:
Donkey Wheelhouse, 673 Bourke St, Melbourne CBD, VIC, 3000
PricesSuper Early Bird Price (Full payment due by June 6th): $300.00
Normal Price: $375.00
Late Bird Price (If paid after June 23rd): $450.00
**The fee contains a non-refundable deposit of $150.00 which is required within 3 days of being accepted into the course. The deposit secures your position in the course.
Minimum participants: 8
Maximum participants: 20
**Minimum number of participants must be enrolled by June 13th for the workshop to go ahead.
Beth Twentyman - Lead Teacher
Beth is a mask-maker, movement teacher and performance artist based in Melbourne. Physical communication skills, body language, creativity and play are foundational blocks that shape Beth’s work. Discovering Giovanni Fusetti’s approach to theatre and the therapeutic benefits of play, led her to study at Helikos International School of Theatre Creation, Italy in 2013. Alongside a rigorous training in physical theatre, movement and devising, she trained in mask-making with Matteo Destro and then Advanced Pedagogic Theatrical movement with Giovanni Fusetti and has continued to hone this craft ever since.
Darryl Pellizer - Co-teacher
Daryl is a performer of drama, dance and has trained in Ideokinesis and Aikido both of which he continues to incorporate into his work today. He has worked performing and creating theatre within Australia and toured internationally. As a teacher Daryl has worked in Australian primary and secondary schools, tertiary colleges and universities and in various community and arts contexts. His Interest in storytelling and physical theatre led him to workshops with Monika Pagneux and Phillippe Gaulier. In 2011 he intensified this training by enrolling in Helikos, International School of Theatre Creation with Giovanni Fusetti. He graduated in 2014 and continues the work with his colleague, Beth Twentyman.
What’s in a Wig?
A Character Devising Workshop
Melbourne Physical Theatre School X PO PO MO CO
Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
A fun, short workshop where we will create characters from wigs!
We can create characters from so many inspiration points. This workshop will use wigs as the starting point. Bring your own wig or use one of the many wigs from my collection. That wig of your choice will have a certain dynamic, a particular way of moving. We will do movement analysis of the wig and see how we can transform that dynamic into a heightened character or masked state.
Participants will focus on:
- Physical theatre and physical comedy through the Lecoq pedagogy of Mask, Mime and Movement theatre
- Movement analysis aka Mimo Dynamiques
- Humanizing abstract movement patterns into characters
- Being consistent in a character
- Performance skills and presence
Date: June 10th
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Pascoe Vale South Uniting Church, 10 Cumberland Road, Pascoe Vale, 3044
Cost: Prices start at $55.00
*There must be a minimum of 10 participants enrolled by 1 week prior for this to go ahead
Slow Down/Play Fast:
Learn how to improvise with each other
Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
It’s really, really easy to play together if we are working towards the same thing.
This day-long workshop will share a whole bunch of 101’s on how to improvise together through the lens of physical comedy. We will draw on classic techniques and exercises that support people to drop in to play very quickly with each other. The work will be grounded in physical theatre and physical comedy through the Lecoq pedagogy of Mask, Mime and Movement theatre. The Lecoq pedagogy is a highly embodied method of devising for the Actor-Creator.
Students will learn about:
- Physicalizing a ‘yes’ energy
- Performance skills that allow you to focus on the present
- What to notice when working with a partner
- Technique on crescendo aka developing a game/theme
- Working emergently aka what is happening now rather than controlling or driving a scene
- The roles present in us that can hijack our capacity to improvise
Date: June 17th
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Pascoe Vale South Uniting Church, 10 Cumberland Road, Pascoe Vale, 3044
Cost: Prices start at $55.00
*There must be a minimum of 10 participants enrolled by 1 week prior for this to go ahead
Silent Comedy:
No words, big funnies
Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
SPEAKING IS BANNED!
What happens when we ban spoken text from our improvising and our games? Most of the time we get seriously good physical comedy!
This one day workshop will be a dive into physical comedy in all its purity. The participants are invited to not speak during the games and improvisations. During the day the teacher will speak to explain the exercises but once the participants are in they will play in silence.This workshop will be great for beginners who want an introduction to physical comedy and also great for experienced performers who want to return and refine the practice of playing non-verbally. Also, it will be great fun for any people interested in how humans can connect and play non-verbally.
Participants will focus on:
- Physical theatre and physical comedy through the Lecoq pedagogy of Mask, Mime and Movement theatre
- Mime, gesture and clearly articulating the body
- Projecting dramatic space
- Finding ‘themes’ to play without words
- Games and improvisations
- Micro devising tasks both solo and ensemble
- Presence and connection to stage partner and audience
Date: June 24th
Time: 10:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Pascoe Vale South Uniting Church, 10 Cumberland Road, Pascoe Vale, 3044
Cost: Prices start at $55.00
*There must be a minimum of 10 participants enrolled by 1 week prior for this to go ahead
Gallery
Clown and Bouffon training in 2024. Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
Past Workshops
Autumn 2025
Bouffon: Studies in Mockery, Satire and Grotesque (8 weeks) - by Kimberley Twiner
Shakespeare's Voice (4 weeks) - by Rob Meldrum
Summer 2024
Pedagogic Supervision Group (2 days) - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Greenhouse of Fools (5 days) - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Politics of The Fool (5 days) - by Giovanni Fusetti
Conversations with The Fool (5 days) - by Giovanni Fusetti
Winter 2024
Bouffon: Play Fuels the Fire (5 days) - by Kimberley Twiner
A Clown is Born (5 days) - by Kimberley Twiner
Summer 2023/24
Australia Dell'Arte (2 weeks) - by Giovanni Fusetti
Clowns Life (2 weeks) - by Giovanni Fusetti
Winter 2023
Melodrama: More is More (3 days) - by Kimberley Twiner
Character: An Embodied Way In (3 days) - by Kimberley Twiner
Physical Theatre Conditioning: Invigorating the Poetic Body - by Kimberley Twiner
Mimodynamique Training: Animal Drives - by Kimberley Twiner
Autumn 2023
Physical Theatre Conditioning: Invigorating the Poetic Body - by Kimberley Twiner
Mimodynamique Training: Animal Drives - by Kimberley Twiner
Summer 2023
Mimodynamique of The Colours - by Kimberley Twiner
Bouffon (5 Days) - by Kimberley Twiner
Summer 2022
The 20 Movements - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Red Nose Journey - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Neutral Mask in Nature - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Spirit of Commedia dell'Arte - by Giovanni Fusetti
Winter 2021
Abbotsford Convent Pivot Residency Project - by Kimberley Twiner
Autumn 2021
Bouffon 2 Day Workshop - by Kimberley Twiner
Clown Play 2 Day Workshop - by Kimberley Twiner
Flock Fit in the Park Series - by Kimberley Twiner
Winter 2020
Outdoor Physical Theatre Conditioning Series - by Kimberley Twiner
Summer 2020
From the Neutral Mask to Red Nose - by Giovanni Fusetti
The Pedagogy of Bouffon - by Giovanni Fusetti
Bouffon and the Ecstasy of Mocking - by Giovanni Fusetti
Spring 2020
Drag 101: Performing Skills - by Kimberley Twiner
Character Charge Up - by Kimberley Twiner
The Blog
Thoughts, musings and ruminations.
January 21, 2025 · Bouffon,Lecoq,Physical Theatre,MockeryBouffon is a satyrical, grotesque physical comedy grounded in mockery. As a formalized style of theatre, Bouffon can be traced to the Lecoq school of mask, mime and movement theatre in Paris. In the 1970s the pedagogic director, Jacques Lecoq, started to explore a core performance dynamic...June 14, 2024As promised here is the article. HEREThe movement doesn’t mean something, it is something. Mimo Dynamique training is a type of theatre training that is grounded in one key principle: observe the world then imitate it. It is a pillar of the Lecoq pedagogy of Mask, Mime and Movement Theatre and can create a really liberating state...Creative Food
Resources for the eyes and ears that capture something about the incapturable.
Books
Copeau: Texts on Theatre by Jacques Copeau
The Archetypal Artist by Mary Antonia Wood
A History of the Dance by Curt Sachs
Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord
The Dance Cure by Dr Peter Lovatt
Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy by Barbara Ehrenreich
The Poetic Body (also known as The Moving Body) by Jacques Lecoq
Women Who Run With The Wolves by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The Empty Space by Peter Brook
Why Is That So Funny? by John Wright
True and False by David Mamet
Every Little Movement by Ted Shawn
Listenings
Myths of the Family by James Hillman
The Creative Fire by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes
The Politics of Feeling by James Hillman
Pagan Psychology by James Hillman
Pink Madness by James Hillman
Mailing List
Follow the impulse. Get in touch.
About
Here's the background...
Melbourne Physical Theatre School was officially started by Kimberley Twiner in 2019. It is a place for high quality training in the Lecoq lineage, taught by local, national and international maestros. Kimberley's main collaborating teacher is Giovanni Fusetti.
Kimberley is a Melbourne based performer, director and teacher. She is a Fusetti, Bolton and Gaulier trained performer. In 2019 she studied THE PEDAGOGIC JOURNEY: An Advanced Training in Movement Theatre under the tutelage of Giovanni Fusetti. This was a study into teaching the within the Lecoq lineage of mime and movement training.
Kimberley is obsessed with many aspects of theatre training and believes that technical training and play-based training hold hands with each other. Play without technique doesn't work, and technique without play doesn't work. Kimberley seeks to train people in a non-personal way, because theatre trangresses the personal, a performer must go beyond their own private experience. Mask, mime and movement training is her core passions to move towards a dynamic theatre.
Kimberley's expertise is found in devised physical comedy, clown, bouffon and character comedy. Her practice is ensemble powered, devised and deeply collaborative. Her current working ensembles are PO PO MO CO, The Beaks, Fish & Twiner's Bait Shop, The Bouffonery, The Wholesome Hour and Brunswick East Entertainment Festival.
