How Movement Brings Oz to Life: An Interview with Stuart Bowden

With a career spanning work with The Royal Opera House, Punchdrunk, the National Theatre and National Dance Company Wales, Stuart’s approach is rooted in a lifelong fascination with physicality, identity and the expressive power of the body.

For Stuart, movement in this production is “fun, silly, dynamic… a play between physical storytelling and the textures of the actors and the skills they bring.” It’s a foundation not only for visual excitement, but also for deepening our connection with Dorothy’s journey and the extraordinary characters she meets along the yellow brick road.

“Movement adds a different texture to a show… it opens up the story in ways words alone can’t.”

Why movement matters

Stuart believes physical storytelling offers something that spoken text alone cannot. Some audience members connect more strongly to sound, some to visuals, and others to embodied expression. Movement allows the show to reach all of them. He describes it as adding “a different texture to a show… physical play, physical storytelling, dance and movement” that unlock a wider emotional and sensory experience.

“Each character discovers their own physical language — that’s where they truly come alive.”

Building character through physicality

A character’s movement vocabulary is created collaboratively: “It’s a combination of the actor’s skill and physical awareness, and the movement work we develop together. That process establishes a physicality that defines how each character expresses themselves during the show.”

Through this, the Scarecrow’s looseness, the Tin Woman’s rigidity, the Lion’s expressive bursts of energy and Dorothy’s grounded emotional journey all take on layered physical lives that support the story.

Crafting the physical worlds of Oz

One of Stuart’s greatest joys has been shaping the physical identity of each land Dorothy visits. “We travel through so many different worlds,” he explains. “A dry, arid land where the Scarecrow lives… a cold, industrial world for the Tin Woman… and an enchanted forest for the Lion. Each place invites a different approach to physicality, and that helps bring the world alive.”

These shifting landscapes don’t just give the ensemble new physical languages to play with, they influence how characters respond, move and feel within them.

“Movement can help us understand how young minds navigate big emotions, especially grief.”

What he hopes audiences take away

Stuart hopes audiences leave feeling “a sense of belonging, hope, happiness and joy,” but also with a deeper understanding of how young people navigate big emotions, especially grief. Movement, for him, is a powerful way to externalise inner states and help audiences of all ages connect.

A life shaped by movement

Stuart’s journey began at Contact Youth Theatre in Manchester before he was introduced to youth dance training. He went on to perform professionally for many years, nationally and internationally, and his experiences as a young queer performer fuelled his fascination with the interplay between masculine and feminine physicalities.

Being “immensely dyslexic,” he explains, made him gravitate toward hands-on creativity, where storytelling through the body came naturally. “The fusion of physicality, storytelling and dance is what inspires me… and I love exploring that with other people.”

He now channels that passion into empowering young people through workshops on confidence, physical awareness and expressive movement, hoping to inspire the next generation of movement directors.

“I want to inspire the next generation to explore physical play and discover confidence through movement.”

Favourite moments from Oz

Stuart holds a soft spot for the Scarecrow’s scene, which blends dance, physicality and puppetry. He also loves the witch sequences, especially moments involving cloakwork and physical theatre. But a standout is the striking Gatekeepers movement sequence performed with illuminated sticks: “I visualised it while making it, but on press night, with the lighting, sound design and all the beautiful elements, it looked incredibly eye-catching and modern.

“Seeing the illuminated movement sequence come alive with sound, light and choreography was breathtaking.”