ACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS Stockholm Studies in Sociology New series 45 Rehearsing Emotions The Process of Creating a Role for the Stage Stina Bergman Blix ©Stina Bergman Blix and Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, Stockholm 2010 ISSN 0491-0885 ISBN 978-91-86071-41-7 Printed in Sweden by Universitetsservice US-AB, Stockholm 2010 Distributor: eddy.se ab, Visby, Sweden Front cover photos: To the left: An actor displaying grief by G.B. Duchenne, taken from “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals” by Charles Darwin (1872), reproduced by Jens Östman. To the right: An actor displaying grief © Stina Bergman Blix. In memory of my beloved sister Clara Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................... xi Introduction ..................................................................................................1 1. Stage Actors, Roles and Emotions......................................................7 Dramaturgical Theory .................................................................................................7 Playing and Playing at ...........................................................................................8 The Relationship between Actor and Character ............................................10 Emotion Work in Role Playing............................................................................12 Double Agency ......................................................................................................19 Emotion Theory..........................................................................................................23 The Emotion Process ...........................................................................................24 Readiness to Act...................................................................................................27 Nature and Nurture..............................................................................................29 Moving Out of Emotions......................................................................................31 Emotional Labour.......................................................................................................32 Emotion Regulation and Activation ..................................................................33 Surface Acting.......................................................................................................35 Deep Acting ...........................................................................................................37 The Effect of and Coping with Emotional Labour ..........................................39 Non-Reflective Emotion Activation and Regulation ......................................41 An Interactional Emotion Process ..........................................................................43 The Variety of Emotional Expression and Experience..................................44 2. Methodological Considerations and Data ........................................48 Ethnographic Research from Two Perspectives ..................................................48 Emotions in the Field...........................................................................................50 Fieldwork .....................................................................................................................55 My Role as an Observer......................................................................................56 Observations and Interviews .............................................................................58 Emotional Participation .......................................................................................61 Data and Analysis ......................................................................................................66 3. Emotion Work in the Rehearsal Process..........................................71 From First Reading to Performance .......................................................................72 Reading the Script................................................................................................75 Blocking ..................................................................................................................77 Co-actors................................................................................................................78 To Prepare..............................................................................................................80 Repetition...............................................................................................................82 Emotion Work in the Rehearsal Process...............................................................83 The First Phase: Start Up and Creating a Work Climate...................................84 Insecurity and Shame .........................................................................................89 The Second Phase—Creativity without Pressure ................................................94 The Third and Fourth Phase—From Crisis to Performance...............................97 The Relation between Director and Actors.........................................................102 The Affirmative Actor.........................................................................................107 4. The Interplay of Experience and Expression of Emotion ...........114 Deep Acting...............................................................................................................115 To Be Grounded..................................................................................................117 Surface Acting Going Deep....................................................................................119 Thought and Imagination.......................................................................................123 Body and Blocking ...................................................................................................127 Body Memory ......................................................................................................130 Joy, Sadness, Anger and Fear ..............................................................................132 Joy and Laughter................................................................................................133 Sadness and Crying ...........................................................................................135 Anger.....................................................................................................................137 Fear .......................................................................................................................139 Double Agency..........................................................................................................142 Surface and Depth: Two Time Perspectives ......................................................145 From Novice to Veteran ....................................................................................145 From Rehearsal to Performance......................................................................150 Being in the Moment...............................................................................................154 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................157 Decoupling ...........................................................................................................158 The Surface and Deep Interplay.....................................................................160 Habituation ..........................................................................................................161 5. The Professional – Private Interface...............................................164 Private and Professional Emotions during Rehearsals.....................................165 Thematic and Open Conversations.................................................................166 Specific and Hidden Connections....................................................................169 Professionalization of Emotions ............................................................................173 Moving in and out of Emotions........................................................................173 Emotional Precision and Emotion Spill ..........................................................175 Allowing Emotions to Run Their Course ........................................................177 Private Implications of Working with Emotions ................................................179 Short Range Implications .................................................................................179 Play Specific Implications .................................................................................183 Long Range Implications ..................................................................................187 Summing up..............................................................................................................193 6. Discussion ............................................................................................197 Surface and Deep Acting........................................................................................200 Situational versus Memory-Based Emotions................................................202 Distance and Proximity .....................................................................................204 The Audience.......................................................................................................205