The Philosophical Actor
A Practical Meditation for Practicing Theatre Artists
Distributed for Intellect Ltd
228 pages
|
3 halftones, 4 tables
|
7 x 9
|
© 2010
- Contents
Table of Contents

Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Playing philosophy
The discontents of the acting studio
Chapter 1: Am I ACTING?
True for who(m)?
Beyond boring relativism
What is acting?
The ‘working’ actor
Art and craft
The abstract thing beyond technique
The beautiful actor
Summary
Chapter 2: What Was I Thinking?
‘Conscious’ performance
The actor and the ‘swing thought’
Who am I anyway?
Monkeys, mirrors, peanuts…
Getting the trope/thought right
Summary
Chapter 3: How Am I Feeling
The neutral walk
Emotion and imagination
Like the town of Brigadoon. . .
Duse was a woman
‘Mindblindness’
From ‘embodied thinking’ to ‘display’
From primary to social
Summary
Chapter 4: What Were YOU Thinking?
Getting out of our heads…
The psychological toy box
So many psychologies
Where do we start?
Psychology and survival
Rational actors
Summary
Chapter 5: Where Am I?
Actors are not green
So you want to be a selective quasi-amnesiac?
The Orient(al) Express(iveness)
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
Playing philosophy
The discontents of the acting studio
Chapter 1: Am I ACTING?
True for who(m)?
Beyond boring relativism
What is acting?
The ‘working’ actor
Art and craft
The abstract thing beyond technique
The beautiful actor
Summary
Chapter 2: What Was I Thinking?
‘Conscious’ performance
The actor and the ‘swing thought’
Who am I anyway?
Monkeys, mirrors, peanuts…
Getting the trope/thought right
Summary
Chapter 3: How Am I Feeling
The neutral walk
Emotion and imagination
Like the town of Brigadoon. . .
Duse was a woman
‘Mindblindness’
From ‘embodied thinking’ to ‘display’
From primary to social
Summary
Chapter 4: What Were YOU Thinking?
Getting out of our heads…
The psychological toy box
So many psychologies
Where do we start?
Psychology and survival
Rational actors
Summary
Chapter 5: Where Am I?
Actors are not green
So you want to be a selective quasi-amnesiac?
The Orient(al) Express(iveness)
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
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