Investigating the self in performance : tradition, transition, creation

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the manifestation of the self in the milieu of performance. It attempts to observe objectively and extensively, thus not presenting a concrete and a 'one-framed' theory, of the work and attitude of the performer. It poses importance on three key words and discusses them in detail, i.e.: Tradition, Transition and Creation. It will not only discuss them but also attempt to set them in a framework of 'encounters' and eliminate certain barriers which are formed by society and by culture. As a starting point, the opus of critics and theatre-pedagogues will be discussed as to see the different attitudes of modernism towards the self. Within this approach, several questions will arise for which this dissertation will not respond or attempt to understand (scientifically or historically). Rather it will portray them and see the phenomena appearing through the 'performative' act. Moreover it will also analyze the various approaches to the self of different theatre forms and/or traditions. It posits that through performance, the presence of the self is 'put at stake' (Artaud) and thus becoming a new dynamic not form. Thus this dissertation is an effort to appreciate the very nature of the self in this process or in this condition. Here lies the motivation for choosing these three themes, since: a 'self' is found in time and space, through encounters, with the work and with the spectator. Three different points will emerge from this discussion, namely: 1. the relation between mind and body of the 'do-er' (Grotowski), 2. The numerous ways of approaching the self and their outcomes, and 3. The new effects that this approach has towards the human being as a person.