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Embodied Acting: Cognitive Foundations of Performance

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Embodied Acting: Cognitive Foundations of Performance EMBODIED ACTING: COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS OF PERFORMANCE by Richard J. Kemp B. A. Hon.s, in English Literature, New College, Oxford University, 1980 M. A. in English Literature, New College, Oxford University, 1990 M. F. A. in Performance Pedagogy, University of Pittsburgh, 2005 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The School of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD in Theatre Arts University of Pittsburgh 2010 i UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Richard J. Kemp It was defended on June 16th, 2010 and approved by Attilio Favorini, PhD, Department of Theater Arts Kathleen George, PhD, Department of Theater Arts John Lutterbie, PhD, Department of Theater Arts, Stony Brook University Dissertation Advisor: Bruce McConachie, PhD, Department of Theater Arts ii Copyright © by Richard J. Kemp 2010 iii EMBODIED ACTING: COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS OF PERFORMANCE Richard J. Kemp, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2010 This dissertation applies current thinking in cognitive science to elements of the actor’s process of preparing and performing a role. Findings in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, and linguistics radically challenge the dualistic concepts that have dominated acting theory since the early twentieth century, and suggest more holistic models of the actor’s cognitive and expressive activities. Chapter 1 suggests how a vocabulary for nonverbal communication (nvc) drawn from social psychology can be used to analyze and describe actors’ communicative behavior. Chapter 2 examines the relationship of thought, language and gesture by considering Lakoff and Johnson’s (L & J) analysis of how conceptual thought is metaphorically shaped by the body’s experiences in the physical world. This assessment is combined with David McNeill’s theory that gestures are key ingredients in an “imagery-language dialectic” that fuels both speech and thought. Elements of both analyses are applied to Jacques Lecoq’s actor training exercises. Chapter 3 investigates the actor’s concepts of self and of character. This is supported by L & J’s analysis of the metaphorical construction of self and of different selves, a description of the connectionist view of mind, Merlin Donald’s proposition that mimesis is central to cognition, and Fauconnier and Turner’s theory of conceptual blending. Aspects of Michael Chekhov’s approach to character are considered in the light of theses findings and theories. Chapter 4 addresses the actor’s sense of identification with a character. I refer to work on proprioception, LeDoux’s exploration of the neural foundations of self, and Gallese and others’ work on “mirror iv mechanisms” in the brain that provide an experiential dimension to action and emotion understanding. I suggest that these findings validate the effectiveness of Stanislavski’s Method of Physical Actions. Chapter 5 describes the findings of Antonio Damasio, Joseph LeDoux and psychologist Paul Ekman on emotion, and applies them to exercises created by Stanislavski, Strasberg, Jerzy Grotowski, Jacques Lecoq, and Susana Bloch. The Conclusion proposes a model of the theatrical act, and suggests ways in which actor training can be remodeled in the light of the information described. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................................................. I ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... VIII 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................................... 12 1.2 EMBODIED ACTING ...................................................................................... 18 1.3 WHY SHOULD THEATRE PEOPLE BE INTERESTED IN COGNITIVE STUDIES? ........................................................................................................................... 20 1.4 CHAPTER OVERVIEW .................................................................................. 24 1.4.1 2.0 How does the actor communicate meaning non-verbally? .................. 24 1.4.2 3.0 What is the relationship between thought, physical action and language? .................................................................................................................... 25 1.4.3 4.0 How does the actor create a character? ................................................. 26 1.4.4 5.0 How does the actor identify with the character? .................................. 27 1.4.5 6.0 How does the actor embody emotion in fictional circumstances?....... 28 1.4.6 7.0 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 29 vi 2.0 HOW DOES THE ACTOR COMMUNICATE MEANING NON-VERBALLY?.. ...................................................................................................................................... 30 3.0 WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THOUGHT, PHYSICAL ACTION, AND LANGUAGE? .................................................................................................. 53 4.0 HOW DOES THE ACTOR CREATE A CHARACTER? .................................... 80 5.0 HOW DOES THE ACTOR IDENTIFY WITH THE CHARACTER? .............. 113 6.0 HOW DOES THE ACTOR EMBODY EMOTION IN FICTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES? ............................................................................................................... 145 7.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 192 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Categories for defining nvc ............................................................................................. 39 Table 2. Analysis of nvc in "Earnest" ........................................................................................... 41 Table 3. Laban Efforts as behavioral actions ................................................................................ 51 Table 4. Lecoq’s Seven Levels of Tension ................................................................................. 172 viii 1.0 INTRODUCTION … imagination bodies forth / The form of things unknown … A Midsummer Night’s Dream, V 1 14 Our sense of what is real begins with and depends crucially on our bodies … George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, Philosophy in the Flesh It all happens at once. It has to. The impulse, the breath, the speech, the gesture, the walk, the awareness of the guy in the fifth row who’s nodding off, so I punch the end of the line that bit harder. And because I punched harder, my partner is surprised and jolted into her response with that extra calorie of spontaneity, which crackles the air, and the audience almost imperceptibly sits up, drawn in, more alert. It all happens at once. And then it’s gone. It’s the nature of live performance. Beautiful, ugly, embodied, ephemeral, frustrating, blissful, gone… but living in people’s memories (when we’ve done our jobs well). And we hope that the memories are strong enough to get us the next job. Naturally, we want to do the best we can, but even more perplexing than the nature of performance itself is the question of training for it. How on earth does one train in a process that simultaneously combines all the features of living real life? Even thought? The obvious answer would be to live life, but the vast majority of 1 people placed in front of an audience and asked to “be themselves” have the utmost difficulty in behaving naturally. They stammer and mumble, their muscles stiffen, they move awkwardly. Clearly, the ability to perform is a specialized one, incorporating features beyond those used to live everyday life. What is the relationship of acting to real life? What features do they share? What distinguishes them from one another? I’m going to attempt to answer these questions through combining my own professional experience as an actor and director with insights gained from the field of cognitive studies. The germ of the idea for this dissertation appeared when I was studying English Literature at Oxford. At that time in England, training in acting was considered a vocational activity, and didn’t merit a degree of any sort. Inspired by Peter Brook’s The Ik, and Tadesuz Kantor’s Wielopol Wielopol, The Marx Brothers, Max Wall, and Morecambe and Wise, I was sure at that point that my future lay in theatre, but I had been persuaded by my teachers and parents to take up my Oxford place instead of going to drama school. Oxford didn’t have a theatre program (and still doesn’t), and the study of drama was considered a component of Literature. The prevailing attitude towards live performance was that it offered an interesting perspective on a written text, but wasn’t worthy of study in its own right. Although I was heavily involved in university ‘dramatic societies,’ performing and directing both contemporary and classic plays, I felt dissatisfied with my studies, and didn’t really know why. I had a sort of
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