Where meaning begins in the body
Physical acting
Physical acting is more than movement. It is the ability to sense what you are doing and let the body carry intention, rhythm and meaning — long before words are spoken. It is not the same as physical theatre, though it is essential to it. And it matters for any actor, in any style.
All acting is physical, whether we think of it that way or not. The audience reads the body before they understand the text. Skilled actors are present in their body: their choices show up in posture, hands, attitude, breath, tension and silence.
Physical acting takes this seriously.
It treats the body not as something to relax, but as something that creates.
Why physical acting matters
The body is the first thing the audience understands. Before emotion, before character, before story, there is physical clarity — or the lack of it. Physical acting trains you to create meaning through action rather than explanation.
For improvisers, this matters even more. Without physical clarity, improvisation collapses into verbal invention or habits. With it, the imagination has something real to respond to.
Physical acting is the bridge between attention, action and expression.
It makes your choices readable — and therefore meaningful.
How Impro Supreme approaches this
In my work, physical acting begins with attention: noticing what you are doing and how it reads. From there, training develops clarity through posture, attitude, gesture, rhythm, stillness and the use of space.
The goal is not virtuosity.
The goal is readability — a body that supports the imagination and makes expression visible.
Hands, for example, reveal more than most performers realise. How they rest, move, hesitate or decide is often the difference between nervousness and intention. Details like these are central to physical acting, and central to how I teach it.
For a deeper overview of how these principles fit into training, see the Impro Supreme Method.
Articles and writings
(This section will list future articles on physical acting.)
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