Moving Body

Appearing in English for the first time, this book sets out Jacques Lecoq's approach to the stage, built on improvisation, movement and gesture. It explains how the body can be trained to express meaning before a word is spoken.

Lecoq walks readers through the practical tools he developed. These include the neutral mask, character masks and counter-masks, the bouffon tradition, acrobatics and the commedia dell'arte, each presented as part of a single working method for performers.

Lecoq was a French theatre teacher and director who founded the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, a school known for physical theatre training. The book grew out of that teaching and reflects decades of work with students.