Overview

Actors and actresses play characters such as the embittered Medea, or the lovelorn Romeo, or the grieving and tearful Hecabe. The theatre audience holds its breath, and then sparks begin to fly. But what about the actor? Has he been affected by the emotions of the character he is playing? What's going on inside his mind? The styling of emotions in the theatre has been the subject of heated debate for centuries. In fact, Diderot in his Paradoxe sur le comedien, insisted that most brilliant actors do not feel anything onstage. This greatly resembles the detached acting style associated with Bertolt Brecht, which, in turn, stands in direct opposition to the notion of the empathy-oriented emotional reality of the actor which is most famously associated with the American actingstyle known as method acting. The book's survey of the various dominant acting styles is followed by an analysis of the current state of affairs regarding the psychology of emotions. By uniting the psychology of emotions with contemporary acting theories, the author is able to come to the conclusion that traditional acting theories are no longer valid for today's actor. Acting Emotions throws new light on the age-old issue of double consciousness, the paradox of the actor who must nightly express emotions while creating the illusion of spontaneity. In addition, the book bridges the gap between theory and practice by virtue of the author's large-scale field study of the emotions of professional actors. In Acting Emotions, the responses of Dutch and Flemish actors is further supplemented by the responses of a good number of American actors. The book offers a unique view of how actors act out emotions and how this acting out is intimately linked to the development of contemporary theatre.

Full Product Details

Author:   Elly Konijn
Publisher:   Amsterdam University Press
Imprint:   Amsterdam University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 24.00cm
Weight:   0.400kg
ISBN:  

9789053564448

ISBN 10:   9053564446
Pages:   208
Publication Date:   04 January 2000
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Adult education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Further / Higher Education
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Contents - 6[-]Acting Emotions - An American Context Preface by David Chambers - 9[-]1 Acting emotions: Introduction - 14[-]1.1 Introduction: Does Dustin Really Cry? What About Meryl? - 14[-]1.2 Editing Acting Emotions - 15[-]1.3 What This Book is About: Acting and Emotions - 16[-]1.4 What This Book is Not About: Limiting the Subject - 18[-]1.5 Acknowledgments - 20[-]2 The Paradox Considered - 22[-]2.1 Introduction: From Paradox to the Actor's Dilemma - 22[-]2.2 Diderot's Paradoxe - 23[-]2.3 A Short History of Paradoxe sur le Com�dien - 25[-]2.4 Problematic Terms - 30[-]2.5 The Actor's Dilemma - 31[-]2.6 Levels of Enactment and Emotions - 34[-]2.7 Summary - 35[-]3 Acting Styles - 37[-]3.1 Introduction: Different Views on Acting - 37[-]3.2 The Style of Involvement - 37[-]3.3 The Style of Detachment - 40[-]3.4 The Style of Self-Expression - 42[-]3.5 Solutions for the Dilemma - 46[-]3.6 Acting Tasks - 48[-]3.7 Emotions of the Actor-Craftsman - 52[-]3.8 Actor and Audience - 54[-]3.9 Summary - 55[-]4 Emotions and Acting - 57[-]4.1 Introduction: General Human Emotions - 57[-]4.2 Sadness is Contained in the Situation - 57[-]4.3 The Emotions of Characters - 59[-]4.4 Task-Emotions and Task Concerns - 62[-]4.5 Components in the Task Situation - 65[-]4.6 A Precarious Balance - 68[-]4.7 Impulses and Control Precedence - 71[-]4.8 Expressions of Task-Emotions - 73[-]4.9 Regulation by Design - 76[-]4.10 Summary - 78[-]5 Imagination and Impersonation - 80[-]5.1 Introduction: Character Representation - 80[-]5.2 Acting Character-Emotions - 81[-]5.3 Involving Oneself in Characters-Emotions - 85[-]5.4 Opposing Concerns, Components, and Impulses - 89[-]5.5 Spontaneous and Imagined Emotions - 94[-]5.6 Believability of Emotional Expressions - 97[-]5.7 Imitation and Physiological Reactions - 99[-]5.8 Double Consciousness During Acting - 102[-]5.9 Summary - 103[-]6 Actors in Practice - 105[-]6.1 Introduction: From Theory to Practice - 105[-]6.2 Overview of Field Studies with Actors - 105[-]6.3 The Questionnaire Mixed Feelings - 112[-]6.4 Hypotheses and General Expectations - 112[-]6.5 Research Method - 115[-]6.6 From Theory to Questionnaire - 117[-]6.7 Structure of the Questionnaire - 118[-]6.8 Summary - 122[-]7 Professional Actors, Emotions, and Performing Styles - 124[-]7.1 Introduction: Assimilating the Answers - 124[-]7.2 Characteristics of Responding Actors and Performances - 125[-]7.3 Emotions Pretended on Stage - 127[-]7.4 Emotions of Actors and Characters - 130[-]7.5 Acting Styles and Emotions - 132[-]7.6 Professional Actors and Task-Emotions - 135[-]7.7 Emotions, Impulses, and Physical Reactions - 138[-]7.8 Personal Acting Styles and Acting Styles of Top Actors - 141[-]7.9 Preparation, Public, and Believability - 143[-]7.10 Summary - 145[-]8 Actors Have Emotions and Act Emotions - 147[-]8.1 Introduction: Development of Theory on Acting Emotions - 147[-]8.2 Evaluation of the Research Method - 148[-]8.3 Actors Have Task-Emotions - 151[-]8.4 Actors Act Character-Emotions - 153[-]8.5 The Function of Task-Emotions - 155[-]8.6 Aspects of Acting Styles - 158[-]8.7 A Model of the Acting Process - 162[-]Notes - 165[-]References - 178[-]Appendix - 194[-]Glossary - 196[-]List of Illustrations - 202[-]Index - 204[-]About the Author - 210

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Author Information

Elly Konijn (1959) did her doctoral research at the Department of Theatre, Film, and Television Studies at the University of Utrecht, in cooperation with the Psychology Department at the University of Amsterdam. She is currently a university teacher at the University of Utrecht.

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