The Actor, Image, and Action: Acting and Cognitive Neuroscience

by Rhonda Blair

Overview

The Actor, Image and Action is a 'new generation' approach to the craft of acting; the first full-length study of actor training using the insights of cognitive neuroscience. In a brilliant reassessment of both the practice and theory of acting, Rhonda Blair examines the physiological relationship between bodily action and emotional experience. In doing so she provides the latest step in Stanislavsky's attempts to help the actor 'reach the unconscious by conscious means'.

Recent developments in scientific thinking about the connections between biology and cognition require new ways of understanding many elements of human activity, including:

• imagination
• emotion
• memory
• physicality
• reason.

The Actor, Image and Action looks at how these are in fact inseparable in the brain's structure and function, and their crucial importance to an actor’s engagement with a role. The book vastly improves our understanding of the actor's process and is a must for any actor or student of acting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781135976231
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/30/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	281 KB

About the Author

Rhonda Blair

Table of Contents

Preface 1. Acting, History, and Science 2. The Twentieth Century Heritage 3. A Way of Thinking about Acting 4. Applications Afterword Appendix: Translation: Image, Action, and Chekhov’s The Seagull

Editorial Reviews

'A valuable and provocative insight in an area of thinking that is still relatively new to the field of theatre ... Rhonda Blair's work has the potential to lead toward new techniques in actor training.' – Sharon Carnicke, University of Southern California, USA

'Actors of the 21st Century should read and ponder the implications of this book.' – Sharon Carnicke, University of Southern California

From the Publisher