An Introduction to Theatre, Performance and the Cognitive Sciences

by John Lutterbie, Amy Cook (Editor), Nicola Shaughnessy (Editor)

Overview

This is the first textbook designed for students, practitioners and scholars of the performing arts who are curious about the power of the cognitive sciences to throw light on the processes of performance. It equips readers with a clear understanding of how research in cognitive neuroscience has illuminated and expanded traditional approaches to thinking about topics such as the performer, the spectator, space and time, culture, and the text. Each chapter considers four layers of performance: conventional forms of theatre, performance art, and everyday life, offering an expansive vision of the impact of the cognitive sciences on performance in the widest sense.

Written in an approachable style, An Introduction to Theatre, Performance and the Cognitive Sciences weaves together case studies of a wide range of performances with scientific evidence and post-structural theory. Artists such as Robert Wilson, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Ariane Mnouchkine, Bertolt Brecht, and Antonin Artaud are brought into conversation with theories of Gilles Deleuze, Shaun Gallagher, Alva Noë, Tim Ingold and the science of V. S. Ramachandran, Vittorio Gallese, and Antonio Damasio. John Lutterbie offers a complex understanding of not only the act of performing but the forces that mark the place of theatre in contemporary society.

In drawing on a variety of scientific articles, Lutterbie provides readers with an accessible account of significant research in areas in the field and reveals how the sciences can help us understand the experience of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474257046
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	09/05/2019
Series:	Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.48(w) x 8.44(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

John Lutterbie was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Theatre Arts and the Department of Art at Stony Brook University, USA. He was the director of the International Network for Cognition, Theatre and Performance and with Nicola Shaughnessy was the series editor of the Performance and Science: Interdisciplinary Dialogues series.

Amy Cook, Associate Professor of Theatre Arts and English at Stony Brook University, New York, USA, is the author of Shakespearean Neuroplay: Reinvigorating the Study of Dramatic Texts and Performance through Cognitive Science, (2010) and essays in, among others, Theatre Journal, TDR, SubStance, the Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, Oxford Handbook of Dance and Theatre, the Oxford Handbook of 4E Cognition (forthcoming). She was the co-chair of the Working Group in Cognitive Science and Performance for American Society for Theatre Research from 2010-2014.

Nicola Shaughnessy is Professor of Performance at the University of Kent. She is Director of the Research Centre for Cognition, Kinesthetics and Performance and is leading the AHRC funded project 'Imagining Autism.'
She is the author of Applying Performance (2012), Gertrude Stein (2007) and co-editor of Margaret Woffington (2008).

Table of Contents

List of Figures viii

Introduction: Intersections 1

1 Landscapes 13

2 Culture and the Petri Dish 45

3 The Worlds of Performance 69

4 Temporality 103

5 The Text 129

6 Aesthetics 157

Epilogue 177

References 182

Further Reading 190

Index 194

Editorial Reviews

Practical exercises throughout the book … highlight intersections between the body and its environment and present an array of sensory investigations and means to develop a fuller consciousness of inner and outer spaces.” —Drama Research

From the Publisher