Stamatiou, E. (2022) Pierre Bourdieu and actor training: Towards decolonising and decentering actor training pedagogies. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training. pp. 96-114. ISSN 1944-3927
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Abstract
In response to issues with the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of marginalised communities in the texts used for actor training, actor trainers and scholars have theorised and brought to the studio race, gender, crip, or class critical theories to evaluate the social representations that the actors create with their body, voice, and imagination. Such interventions narrow their scope for valid reasons, but problematise actor training studios that involve trainees with multiple and intersecting identities, both dominant and marginalised. This essay argues that Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social power can sustain a holistic and comparative exploration of how actors can mobilise the positive representation of communities with multiple and intersecting marginalised identities. The first part of the essay brings Bourdieu’s concepts habitus, capital, and field to text-based training thinking and constructs a critical framework to assess actor training practices. The second part of the essay uses the framework to theorise the potential of Bertolt Brecht’s Marx-inspired pedagogy of the gestical actor to decolonise and decenter contemporary actor training. The essay finishes with positioning the Bourdieu-inspired framework among contemporary pedagogies that address social inequalities. It invites actor trainers to utilise theoretical models to mobilise social dynamics in training and explore the actors’ unconscious biases.
Publication Type: | Articles |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | actor training; Bourdieu; gestus; representation; decolonise |
Subjects: | N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1560 Performing arts. Show business P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1600 Drama P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1600 Drama > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The theater |
Divisions: | Academic Areas > Institute of Arts and Humanities > Theatre Research Entities > Centre for Acting, Theatre and Performance: Artist, Community and Environment |
Related URLs: | |
Depositing User: | Evi Stamatiou |
Date Deposited: | 06 Apr 2022 10:10 |
Last Modified: | 12 Jul 2024 15:09 |
URI: | https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/6219 |