Department of Drama

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Browsing Department of Drama by Subject "Acting theory"

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    Intellek en impuls : ’n studie van die akteur se intellektuele fakulteite
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-12) Steyn, Louisa; Prigge-Pienaar, Samantha; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Dept. of Drama.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Acting is not normal behaviour: during everyday life, man is relatively unaware of the functioning of his organism. The art of acting, however, requires the actor to reorganise his being to produce seemingly spontaneous behaviour, in spite of his awareness of the character’s experiences and his knowledge of the outcome of the character’s story. This paradox is especially challenging for the actor that relies on his intellectual faculty whilst acting. The calculating and analytical intellect attempts to control the actor’s interaction with his fellow-performer and the given circumstances of the play. This usually leads to the production of clinical or mechanical acting, which cannot capture the spontaneous passion or exuberance of impulsive interaction. As a result of this occurrence, the intellect is seen as an obstacle in acting theory and intellectual actors are often met with a sense of impatience or even regarded as less talented. Actors are advised to “stop thinking”. When we regard acting as a holistic art form, where the actor is required to utilize his entire being, the intellect must also play a significant role in the creative process of acting. In this study I therefore suggest that the intellect is not an inhibiting faculty in acting, but that it is rather the actor’s over-dependency on his intellect that inhibits spontaneous acting. From personal experience as an intellectual actor, I investigate the interactive functioning of the actor’s body-mind to identify the potential role of the intellect during acting. This knowledge is utilized to develop exercises with the goal to guide the intellectual actor and to balance the functioning of his organism as a whole. An attempt is made to align the thoughts of the actor, so that he knows not to “stop thinking”, and to learn “what to think” during acting. The actor’s focus should be on the immediate experience of the character’s situation, rather than an analysis of the character. This study investigates the role of the intellect during creative creation of a logical framework within which spontaneous behaviour can be produced. The abovementioned abilities of the actor’s intellectual faculties are evaluated practically in the form of exercises applied in practice.