psychophysical acting
Workshop
by Phillip Zarrilli
We were fortunate to have Phillip Zarrilli, a renowned British theatre director and actor trainer, come to Shanghai to conduct a 2-week acting workshop, and nearly 15 participants enjoyed a first-class international acting workshop without leaving Shanghai! He was described by Eugenio Barba as "a rare academic and practical master in theatre".
There are so many great things in the world today that we don't know much about and haven't been exposed to, and one of them is definitely the Psychophysical Acting Method created by Phillip Zarilli. Whether you are a professional actor or not, if you have ever experienced the state of 'mind-body-unity' in a performance, even for a moment, you will know that this is the kind of performance that actors dream of. And that is what this workshop is all about.
The workshop lasted for 10 days, 6 hours a day. The participants were guided through the basic Psychophysical Acting Method training and rehearsed six excerpts from Beckett's work.
Phillip Zarrilli
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Phillip Zarrilli, theatre director, actor and performance training teacher, is best known for his method of guiding actors through a mind-body approach based on Asian martial arts and yoga. His performance training theory is based on hands-on experience in Tai Chi, Indian martial arts, dance and yoga, a progressive set of training principles and methods. He has taught performance studies and practice at the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter, UK.
He is the author of Acting Reconsidered (2002), Kathakali Dance-Drama (2000) and Theatre Histories: An Introduction (2006, co-author).
Eugenio Barba has described him as a rare academic and practical master of theatre.
