Читать книгу First Aid for the Artist's Soul - Christina Barandun - Страница 11

What is the work task of the artist, and what challenges does it entail? The greatest challenge an actor is exposed to is the fact that he is his own work tool; not a work of art made from stone, steel or wood stands on the stage, but a human being with charisma, a personality, a body and a psyche. The character he plays is represented by his own self, so it is hardly surprising that the private personality flows into the role. Experiences from private life are commonly employed on the stage as raw working material.

From a neurobiological point of view, an emotion is an emotion, even if it is only pretended. Embodiment theory (which examines the interaction of body and psyche) has shown that a play-acted good mood, even the artificial grimace of a smile, can trigger corresponding positive feelings; in the same way, the physical presentation of negative thoughts can trigger negative feelings –emotions on the stage and real emotions cannot be separated. In Asian drama traditions, the actor’s body acts as a projection surface for the audience – but even here, with the focus is on physicality, emotions are provoked.²

When an actor is not fully committed to his performance – that is, when his character is feeling something contrary to his own emotions – or is having to display negative emotions repeatedly and accurately during a long run of a play, the work can be both mentally and physically stressful.

This highly emotional use of the psyche is a basic work tool of artists, but a healthy, self-protecting way to deal with the strain this can put on an actor is seldom even discussed at schools or theatres, let alone treated as a subject for study. Quite the contrary: The focus is often on “baring” one’s soul, underpinned by the idea that a transgression of boundaries is necessary for an artist. At this point, I’d like to make a comparison with the Japanese martial arts form Aikido, which I have been practising and teaching for many years now. Many actors likely know Aikido’s physical exercises. In the martial arts, which focus just as much on how to deal with emotions – albeit only with negative ones, e.g. fears, uncertainty and aggression – dealing with the psyche is again and again addressed during training. In my lessons, I attach great importance to a precise self-assessment, as well as the perception of one’s own mental state and how to deal with it. This is because it can be highly dangerous to lose a grip on your own psyche. In no time at all, a shoulder might be broken, an arm dislocated, your neck twisted. In its extreme situation, the training of Aikido has shown me how much we can harm ourselves and others when we don’t deal with our emotions consciously; at the same time, it showed me the enormous energy potential opening up when we have a grip on our emotions, or at least are able to acknowledge them.

While the training of one’s own psyche is one aspect of martial arts, the challenge for an actor is even greater: He has to separate his psyche from the psyche of his role, but keep the barrier between them permeable for cross-fertilisation. If this enormous mental achievement has not been practised and developed over the years, given changing challenges and experience, it’s of no surprise when a wavering and patchy self-esteem ensues. When I internalise the character and it gets me down, I’ll take this negative mood with me into my private life. If the role is successful for one night, I’m euphoric. If it bombs, it depresses me, even if it was probably not the fault of the role but more to do with the subjective attitude of the audience – and if I completely identify with my role, my self-esteem is just as wounded as if it were a slight upon me, myself.

Separating the work tool from the person is difficult in the context of art because the work tool is the person. It is vital, then, for artists to master a skilled way of dealing with their psyche – especially considering the segregated nature of current working structures within theatre.