Devising with Butoh, Viewpoints and Suzuki

Recently my class has been carrying out research into Butoh, Viewpoints and Suzuki to be able to prepare for a workshop with an ex member of the Australian based devising company Zen Zen Zo.

Zen Zen Zo in performance

Here is the link to Zen Zen Zo’s website.  Zen Zen Zo It is worth checking for previous performances and how they have applied the varying techniques in their process or performance.

Through our research and meeting a member of the company we discovered the following:

Suzuki is used for physical training

Butoh is used for physical, imaginative and character training

Viewpoints is used for the devising

In our own devising work we worked through the following key points:

1. The type of starting point
2. Going on a journey with physical theatre
3. Developing a meaning and point to our work. What do we want to say?
4. How can I add: silence, tension, dialogue, tableau, suspended energy, conflict, contrast, changes of pace and focus
5. What structure will I give it: 3 days, 2 locations, a moment of slapstick, a series of frozen images, a loud start, a quiet ending, music?
6. What space will I use?
7. Where will actors be on stage – will there be symmetry, extreme proximity, extreme distance, asymmetry etc?
8. Will there be text? Will there be subtext?
9. How will the scenes progress? Will there be something linear, a linear, cyclic?

Below are a few resources my students found, which I hope you will find of use:

Suzuki method