International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology

The International Promotion Agency of Culture Technology (국제문화기술진흥원)
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An Exploration of a Way for Contemporary Actor Training/Acting: A Perspective from Denis Diderot and Tadashi Suzuki's Concepts

  • Received : 2021.01.31
  • Accepted : 2021.02.15
  • Published : 2021.03.31
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Abstract

This research aims to reconsider the necessity of an alternative way(s) for contemporary actor training and acting in discussing and articulating Diderot and Suzuki's concepts and approaches for acting/training. First of all, the physical body, assumed and conceptualized by Diderot is beyond our control by means of a type of radical body/mind dualism, and is based on the concept that body and mind are separate. In contrast, Suzuki's notion of acting/training is raised by his concern about the role of an actor's body in the constitution of an actor's bodily experience against the imitation of the West-oriented theatre/acting/training. The descriptions of the two theatre artists' notion of acting/training gives us insight into the place and role of contemporary theatre as a practical root to encounter and communicate between a doer and a spectator where an actor's body must appropriately be attuned and cultivated towards the cultivation of bodily attributes which are foundation but usually neglected by actors/directors/practitioners particularly in Korea. Especially, misunderstanding of a specific training sources/approaches, namely 'scientific system' and the 'method' have taken us away from the potential possibilities of the lived oneness. Here, the 'possibility' refers to the primary bodily functions within a specific context or being in the here and now rather than attempting to copying, imitating and/or adapting a specific cultural source(s)/approaches/techniques as we have faced with through the previous century. We reconsider and argue that a potential way to correspond the nature of theatre/acting/training is that how to meet the demand of contemporary spectators which in turn intensifies an actor's stability, sustainability and hopefully professional identity in this contemporary era.

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References

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