My Character Wouldn’t Do That: Acting, Cognitive Science and the Optimal Performance Brain

ISBN-13: 9781350230347 / Angielski / Miękka / 2022 / 176 str.

UK) Donna Soto-Morettini (Edinburgh Napier University

Opis

Starting from the idea that the main hindrance to a great acting performance is self-consciousness on the part of the performer, My Character Wouldn’t do That examines the ways in which some of our traditional and contemporary approaches to acting put us into a ‘mind space’ that can encourage self-consciousness. Examining evidence from a range of contemporary cognitive sciences, the book approaches acting and actor training in an entirely different way. Based on the latest research into brain activity and human behaviour, the book covers areas that standard acting texts do (character, emotion, memory, imagination, making active choices) but reconceives each of these elements through the lens of that contemporary research. The book is the first to look closely at what contemporary research tells us about: · personality/character and how environment shapes us · how memory works and how actors can work with (rather than against) their memory in preparing for performance · why actors must use different kinds of brain states and imagination in the various stages of preparation, rehearsal, and performance · how actors can frame active choices in a way that refocuses the source of thought and action · why actors should distinguish the stages of preparation and the kinds of thinking / imagination that works at each stage

Spis treści

Acknowledgements Introduction Acting Good And Bad What Does a Good Performance Feel Like? An Actor’s Brain Works In 3 Stages Acting Is a Holistic Process The Actor’s Brain Our Specs Battling On More Than One Front Self-Consciousness And Fear Modes Of Thinking The Right Mode at The Right Time Memory How Memory Works Text And Memory Memory And Mood Congruence The Blissful State of Automaticity Working With Memory Character Who Am I Anyway? Predicting Behaviour My Character Wouldn’t Do That Turn Your Prep on Its Head Imagination And Attention The Fragile State of Attention 2 Types of Imagination The Impulse to Speak Mindfulness As a Weapon Emotion Emotion And Feeling The WHOLE Emotional Picture: Primary, Background, And Social Emotion Learning From Sherlock Holmes Performance Anxiety Your Brain Is Not Your Friend The Power of Accepting Yourself Letting The Mental Battle Go Selected Bibliography Index