Published in France in 1987, this is the book in which Lecoq first set out his philosophy of human movement, and the way it takes expressive form in a wide range of different performance traditions. He traces the history of pantomime, sets out his definition of the components of the art of mime, and discusses the explosion of physical theatre in the second half of the twentieth century. Interviews with major theatre practitioners Ariane Mnouchkine and Jean-Louis Barrault by Jean Perret, together with chapters by Perret on Etienne Decroux and Marcel Marceau, fill out the historical material...

'"In life, I want students to be alive and on stage I want them to be artists"' Jacques Lecoq

Jacques Lecoq was one of the most inspirational theatre teachers of our age. In "The Moving Bod"y, Lecoq shares with us first-hand his unique philosophy of performance, improvisation, masks, movement and gesture, which together form one of the greatest influences on contemporary theatre.

Neutral mask, character mask and counter masks, "bouffons," acrobatics, "commedia," clowns and complicity: all the famous Lecoq techniques are covered in this book - techniques that have made their way into...