Towards a 20th Century History of Relationships between Theatre and Neuroscience

Abstract

-Towards a 20 th Century History of Relationships between Theatre and Neuroscience1 -This article considers some preliminary reflections in view of a 20 th century theatre-and-neuroscience history. Up to now, the history of the 20 th century theatre has been too fragmentary and irregular, missing out on the subterranean links which, either directly or indirectly, bound different experiences. The article aims to put in evidence the recurrent problems of these encounters. The hypothesis of the essay concerns the possibility of gathering and grouping a great part of the relationships between theatre and neuroscience around four trajectories: the physiology of action, the physiology of emotions, ethology, and studies on the spectator's perception. Keywords: Theatre History. Neuroscience. Physiology. Ethology. Spectator. RÉSUMÉ -Vers une Histoire des Relations entre Théâtre et Neurosciences au XXeSiècle -L'objectif de l'article est de poser des hypothèses de départ et des réflexions en vue d'une histoire du théâtre et des neurosciences au XX e siècle. L'historiographie du théâtre du XX e siècle a considéré jusqu'ici que ces relations étaient trop fragmentées et hétérogènes et n'a pas su voir les liens souterrains, directs et indirects entre ces diverses expériences. Le but de l'article est de mettre en évidence les problèmes récurrents de ces rencontres. L'article réfléchit donc sur la possibilité de rassembler la plus part des rencontre entre théâtre and neurosciences autour de quatre thèmes principales: la physiologies de l'action, la physiologie des émotions, l'éthologie et les études sur la perception du spectateur. Mots-clés: Histoire du Théâtre. Neurosciences. Physiologie. Éthologie. Spectateur. RESUMO -Por uma História das Relações entre Teatro e Neurociência no SéculoXX -Este artigo aborda algumas reflexões preliminares referentes à história do teatro e da neurociência no século XX. Até agora, a história do teatro no século XX era demasiadamente fragmentada e irregular, perdendo-se nas conexões subterrâneas que, direta ou indiretamente, ligavam diferentes experiências. O artigo pretende colocar em evidência os problemas recorrentes desses encontros. A hipótese do ensaio refere-se à possibilidade de reunir e agrupar grande parte das relações entre teatro e neurociência em torno de quatro trajetórias: a fisiologia da ação, a fisiologia das emoções, a etologia e os estudos sobre a percepção do espectador. Palavras-chave: História do Teatro. Neurociência. Fisiologia. Etologia. Espectador.

Embodied Cognition in Performance: The Impact of Michael Chekhov’s Acting Exercises on Affect and Height Perception

“…Acting in general remains an underexplored area for psychology, compared to music and visual arts (Goldstein, 2009). This relative scarcity of scientific studies is surprising, given the fact that many prominent 20th-century directors, whose work stands at the foundation of contemporary theater, have explicitly drawn on various trends of psychological and neurophysiological research (Roach, 1985; Pitches, 2005; Sofia, 2014; Sirotkina and Smith, 2017). Recent scientific studies have considered professional performance longitudinally, from the point of view of personal psychology in its developmental and social dimensions.…”

“…Like many early 20th-century theorists of performance, Chekhov conceived of human behavior in terms of the dichotomy between willful and subconscious processes, and emphasized movement and posture exercises as a way of initiating autonomous psychophysiological responses that are not subject to the immediate willful command (Sofia, 2014; Lutterbie, 2015). To help actors temporarily merge with the characters they sought to portray, Chekhov laid emphasis on gesture and pose as a foundational stepping stone for developing the contour of the role.…”