Melbourne Physical Theatre School
May workshops have dropped!
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...
Moving Text Series:
Sounds in the Mouth w/ Rob Meldrum
As physical theatre practitioners coming from the Lecoq angle we are interested in 'the mask' of the text. If we are working from text as a starting point then we must find how that text moves and then how it moves us. To strip it right back, to stay before our interpretation, we have to notice and play the sounds present in the text. Our mouth comes with our own unique habitual shapes and patterns so we have to re-train it to meet the sounds and shapes within the text. To keep practicing the muscularity of the sounds of the 'A's, the 'B's and the 'C's and the 'oo' and the 'ee' etcetcetc is like taking your mouth to a weekly gym session.
Speaking on stage is a dramatic act, it is never ordinary, speaking on stage is mask work. When text becomes movement in space we can make compelling theatre... and all theatre is physical.
Location: Brudi, 420 Victoria St, Brunswick
6 weeks on Sundays, 2pm - 4pm
April 27thMay 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
June 1st
Attendance at all sessions is compulsory.Sliding scale pricing.
Booking details here.Please direct any questions or queries to Kimberley at ktwiner@gmail.com
Neutral Mask:
The Wilderness of the Body
Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
In the Lecoq lineage of Mask, Mime and Movement Theatre the Neutral Mask comes first. We learn that it is the mask that trains all the other masks. What emerges is the purity of the body as movement in space. When we take the character of the face away the human body can be seen in its fullness. The body becomes the story.
This series of workshops will contain a suite of classic movement exercises and tasks that accompany the Neutral Mask. This work brings the performer's habits or somatic patterns into awareness. We will learn to play something other than ourself.
Another beautiful thing about this training is the silence. It is a pre-verbal form so we learn a lot about the poetry and potential of silence. We learn about silence that can be very loud. How can we give a huge dramatic projection in silence, or even stillness? Sometimes the performer is moving or doing a lot, but nothing is actually happening? Neutral Mask attunes us to ‘the space’. Seeing the space, playing with space and noticing the space-in-between is central to the Lecoq methodology.
Creating a larger-than-life space, becoming non-ordinary is the job of the actor. The actor, with one look, has the ability to create a vast horizon even if they are performing in a tiny room. Neutral Mask invites the player to imagine and create very big exciting theatrical territories. No props, no costumes, no text is required. It is a bold and generous state. Neutral Mask challenges us to leave our character off for a while. It trains an expensive and highly aware stage performer.
The training will cover:
- Somatic movement analysis - moving us towards our neutral body
- Creating, playing in and projecting ‘imagined space’
- Breath and stage existence
- Articulation, fixed point
- Action, gesture, mime
- Tempo, timing
- Playing many rhythms
- Learning how to attack
- Confidence in silence, stillness
- Embodied engagement
Fridays
9.30am - 2.30pm
May
2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th
**It is compulsory to attend all classes as this is a strict learning continuum aka one class leads into the next.
Venue: Temple Park Senior Citizens Centre, 24 Gray St, Brunswick
PricesSuper Early Bird Price (Full payment due by April 11th): $350.00
Normal Price: $450.00
Late Bird Price (If paid after April 28th): $500.00
**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: 12
Minimum number of participants must be enrolled by April 15th for the workshop to go ahead.
There are no pre-requisites for this workshop, it will be great for beginners, practicing performers and experienced performers.
Please direct any questions to Kimberley Twiner ktwiner@gmail.com or call on 0468664466.
Red Nose Clown:
The Somatic Clown Journey
Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
Typically held across 5 days I am running the Somatic Clown Journey across 5 weeks!
The Somatic Clown Journey is a clown process created by Giovanni Fusetti. It is one that I wholeheartedly love to teach! So welcome welcome welcome! We will find your clown state by working with… YOU. Your body is already wonderfully stupid and we will go hunting to find what is already there to amplify your natural stupidity. This amplification of stupidity will lay the bones of play for your ‘clown form’ or ‘clown mask’.
Our clown journey will be a process of awareness building and attunement of play. There are two key processes of learning in this course 1) discovering your clown form to make comic work and 2) physical theatre skills training from the Fusetti-Lecoq lineage.Across the five days/five weeks we will cover the fundamentals of performing in the clown state:
- The performers eyes, breath and body engagement
- The technique of the red mask
- Relationship with the audience, full eye contact
- Personal movement analysis
- Embodied amplification as your clown mask emerges
- Finding voice
- Finding costume
- Techniques of improvising with solo
- Techniques of improvising in duos
- The body-logic and comic-logic of how the clown forms play together
- How to return to improvised work and do it again
- Performers will receive feedback throughout the process
Clown work is mask work. Mask work is embodied play underpinned by a clear foundation of technique. Humans have been putting on masks and telling stories for a very long time. These 5 days will invite you to find a clown form. It will be a very clear and urgent mask for comedy, storytelling and anything else it dreams up!
This course is in line with ‘The Somatic Clown Journey’ a pedagogic process devised and refined by Giovanni Fusetti. Giovanni has been my main teacher since 2017. As a performer I have studied many theatrical territories under his tutelage. I am one of three Australians to have completed ‘An Advanced Training in the Pedagogy of Movement Theatre’ with him in 2019. Since then I have accumulated 500+ hours in the role of pedagogic assistant with Giovanni Fusetti. My practice has been concretized in the Lecoq lineage of mask, mime and movement theatre.
Tuesdays
9.30am - 4.30pm
April 29th, May 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th
**It is compulsory to attend all classes as this is a strict learning continuum aka one class leads into the next.
Venue: Temple Park Senior Citizens Centre, 24 Gray St, Brunswick
PricesSuper Early Bird Price (Full payment due by April 8th): $500.00
Normal Price: $600.00
Late Bird Price (If paid after April 22nd): $700.00
**The fee contains a non-refundable deposit of $200.00 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: 12
**Minimum number of participants must be enrolled by April 15th for the workshop to go ahead.
APPLICATION PROCESS
To apply please send a letter of motivation to Kimberley Twiner. Please do not use AI to generate your letter, this is not a job application, it is not about you ‘looking good’ it is about you expressing your drives, motivations, urgencies and poetry.
In your letter please address:- Your existing physical theatre practice
- Why clown? Why now?
- Any other driving provocations or inspirations that pull you towards this work.
Please forward applications and questions to Kimberley Twiner ktwiner@gmail.com or call on 0468664466.
Gallery
Clown and Bouffon training in 2024. Lead teacher: Kimberley Twiner
Past Workshops
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.
