Gecko (theatre Company) - The Process

The Process

Gecko’s influence was not solely from Lecoq, but from Lahav and Nedjari’s work with the David Glass Ensemble. Along with Steven Berkoff, a longtime collaborator of Lahav and Nedjari, Glass trained under Lecoq. A major idea with the David Glass Ensemble that can be seen in the Gecko Theatre Company is the importance of participatory activities. Where Gecko breaks off from the David Glass Ensemble and Lecoq’s philosophies is that “they have not, so far, used an existing story or text as a starting point,”. Instead, Gecko Theatre Company focuses on their personal experiences, relationships, and emotional responses to the world for inspiration. However, Gecko attempted to follow Glass’s ideal methodology for creative development, which included five steps: Preparation, Creative origination, Creative organization, Manifestation/presentation, and Reflection and renewal. As with most devised work theatre companies, they never consider any of their productions to be completely finished. These five steps were crucial in Gecko’s process of creating one of their major productions, The Arab and the Jew.