Thursday, March 6, 2014

So What Was He Talking About? L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq


So by now many Richard Armitage fans, if not all, have watched Part 2 of the Marvelous Anglophile Channel Interview with our lovely man.

In today's interview, Richard mentions that after he was in CATS he thought about attending a school in Paris because he was interested in physical theater.  So who is Lecoq and what school was Armitage talking about?



Richard says he's still interested in pursuing physical theater. So what does that mean? 

I think the school's website explains it pretty clearly:

"The aim of the school is to produce a young theatre of new work, generating performance languages which emphasize the physical playing of the actor. Creative work is constantly stimulated, largely through improvisation, which is also the first approach to playwriting. The school’s sights are set on art theatre, but theatre education is broader than the theatre itself. It is not just a matter of training actors, but of educating theatre artists of all kinds : authors, directors, scenographers as well as actors. One of the school’s unique features is to provide as broad and as durable a foundation as possible, since we know that each student will go on to make his own journey."

Just reading this paragraph and knowing what we all know about Richard, I can see him being interested as a young man in his 20's in this method, and I can see him now as a young man in his 40's still being open and interested in learning.

So who was Jacques Lecoq?   

Lecoq was a mime (there's that mime thing again), actor, theater director, and teacher. He was born in 1921 in Paris, France. He founded his school in 1951 and worked there until his death in 1999. You can read his obituary in the New York Times:


Now I grew up watching the great French mime Marcel Marceau on television and films, but until today's interview I had not heard of Jacques Lecoq. 

The training and school he founded has an emphasis in mask work. Remember that RA talked about mask work during the Popcorn Taxi interview.  It's also based on something called the "via negativa" style of teaching, never telling the student what is the right way to do something, but encouraging the student in new avenues of creative expression.  (Wikipedia)





I thought it was interesting that one of their former student's is actor Geoffrey Rush and the members of the mime group Mummenschanz.

Jacques Lecoq

I always learn something interesting from one of RA's interviews. I'm a proud student at the International School of Richard Armitage. 







16 comments:

  1. Thanks for this informative post. I'm wonder if Lecoq has short workshop courses as well as full programs, because a full program doesn't seem realistic for Richard Armitage at this point.

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    1. Hi Perry, thank you :) Looks like they do have various workshops throughout the year, in different locations: http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com/fic_bdd/accueil_en_fichier/Stages_2014_EN_1392377695.pdf
      Can see Richard going to one of these workshops. Love that he's still exploring his craft.

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    2. Oops - guess you can't post a link to a pdf document on blogger. If you go to the school link and look at the left sidebar there's a link to the workshops doc if you're interested.

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  2. Thanxxx for posting! I was wondering how many people would actually pay attention to what & who Richard was talking about! :)

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    1. Welcome! thanks for the RT on Twitter!

      I think most fans will be more interested in the watermelon story than in this, but I would be happy to be proven wrong :) I find it fascinating when he talks about his work and the process of acting.

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    2. Yes, funny stories are funny, but I love finding out the bits he strings together to create performances.

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  3. I knew of the school before I heard him mention it -- and I think it adds an interesting detail to his biography, though it also adds a strong note of tension to any description of his early career. I wonder why he didn't go, in the end. The other interesting thing here was the first independent confirmation from his side of his connection to Gillian Lynn (that had been mentioned in a newspaper article a *long* time ago). It all casts an interesting light on his relationship with dance as the art that brought him to theater.

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    1. So wonderful that he's been able to talk in this interview about his early career, his time in drama school, and now to find out this little morsel of information about him. Wish there had been time to follow up on his time working with Gillian Lynn and the fact she was a mentor for a time. Maybe he didn't go because wasn't he deciding at this time whether to continue in musical theater or go to LAMDA?

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  4. Very interesting. Thanks for providing the background here. I was delighted to read about Mummenschanz in your text - I remember their work from TV, extremely evocative stuff. Of course I never knew that they had been trained in a specific and prestigious school...

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    1. Hi guylty - I've seen Mummenschanz twice on stage, in the days when I used to go to the theater. It's been years, but I still remember and we're lucky they tour the US once in a while.

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  5. Well perhaps work interferred with going to the school but it was interesting to read about. He definitely has more than "acting" interest and this school sounds like it educates every facet of theater and not just the acting. With more time to talk one might ask why he was not able to go. Thanks for the information.

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    1. I wonder if it was because at this time I think he was trying to decide whether he wanted to continue in musical theater or follow a different road. Hasn't it been wonderful to hear about his early career, his days in school and drama school. I too wish there was time to follow up on some of what he has already said, but maybe more in interview #3.

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  6. Thanks so much for this information, Fabo. I loved hearing RA talk about his earlier career in The Anglophile Interview, Part 2. And kudos to Marlise Borland for giving him the opportunity to share it. Cheers! Grati ;->

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    1. Welcome :) it has been great, looking forward to part 3 this weekend, hope more stories about his early career.

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  7. Hey, I'm interested Fabo :)...again something worth of ( sadly only online) exploration, thanks to Richard.

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    1. So glad you are Joanna :) thanks to the internet we can look up all these interesting things RA talks about.

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