Actor and the Character

<p>Transformative acting remains the aspiration of many an emerging actor, and constitutes the achievement of some of the most acclaimed performances of our age: Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln<i>, </i>Meryl Streep as<em> </em>Mrs Thatcher, Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter – the list is extensive, and we all have our favourites. But what are the physical and psychological processes which enable actors to create characters so different from themselves? To understand this unique phenomenon, Vladimir Mirodan provides both a historical overview of the evolution of notions of 'character' in Western theatre and a stunning contemporary analysis of the theoretical implications of transformative acting. <i>The Actor and the Character</i>:</p><ul> <p> </p> <li>Surveys the main debates surrounding the concept of dramatic character and – contrary to recent trends – explains why transformative actors conceive their characters <i>as ‘independent’ of their own personalities</i>.</li> <p> </p> <li>Describes some important techniques used by actors to construct their characters by <i>physical means</i>: work on objects, neutral and character masks, Laban movement analysis, Viewpoints, etc.</li> <p> </p> <li>Examines the psychology behind transformative acting from the perspectives of <i>both psychoanalysis and scientific psychology </i>and, based on recent developments in psychology, asks whether transformation is not just acting folklore but may actually entail temporary changes to the brain structures of the actors.</li> </ul><p>The Actor and the Character speaks not only to academics and students studying actor training and acting theory, but contributes to current lively academic debates around character. This is a compelling and original exploration of the limits of acting theory and practice, psychology, and creative work, in which Mirodan boldly re-examines some of the fundamental assumptions of actor training and some basic tenets of theatre practice to ask: What happens when one of us ‘becomes somebody else’?</p> <p>Acknowledgements</p><p>A Note on Terminology</p><p>Chapter One – Introduction</p><p>PART ONE – The Idea of Character</p><p>Chapter Two An Independent Character</p><p>Chapter Three A Brief History of … Type</p><p>Chapter Four Friends for Life: Character and Literary Criticism</p><p>Chapter Five The Drama of No Character</p><p>PART TWO – Transformations in Body and Mind</p><p>Chapter Six Constructing the Character </p><p>Chapter Seven Psychologies: I – Trait, Type and Temperament</p><p>Chapter Eight Psychologies: II – Conflict and Energy</p><p>Chapter Nine Psychologies: III – Character on the Couch</p><p>PART THREE – The Melding of Actor and Character</p><p>Chapter Ten Imagining the Character</p><p>Chapter Eleven Experiencing the Character</p><p>Chapter Twelve Deception, Self-Deception and the Transformative Actor</p><p>Index</p>