'Pretending' to do Research: a transformational actor-researcher’s heuristic collaboration with character via costume and makeup
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LaMontagne-Schenck, Benjamin. 2022. 'Pretending' to do Research: a transformational actor-researcher’s heuristic collaboration with character via costume and makeup. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London [Thesis]
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Text ('Pretending' to do Research: a transformational actor-researcher’s heuristic collaboration with character via costume and makeup)
THE_thesis_LaMontagne-SchenckB_2022.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract or Description
This PhD questions what transformational acting is and how it might be situated within a practice-asresearch context. This thesis also asks how emphasizing costume and makeup, in ways very much similar to a sophisticated version of playing pretend, provides the actor material tools which they may manipulate to alter their means of perception. A combined reading of modern neuroscientific theory and feminist theory asserts that such perceptual alterations afforded by costume and makeup may result in a fundamental shift in the performer’s identity, facilitating a lived experience of the character’s identity. These theories are placed in dialogue with notable practitioners, such as Stanislavski, Chekhov, Demidov and even Brecht, to recognize an established canon of transformational techniques. Costume and makeup, examined both individually and then together, enhance the perceptual changes necessary in stimulating transformation. The subsequent shift in identity between actor and character places the actor‐researcher in active collaboration with a character outside of themselves. This relationship has the potential to lead to new-found insight within a research setting. Using a group of characters of particular interest to me as a case study to test my hypothesis, complex and intricate discoveries and further questions arise from the actor using costume and makeup to become an other.
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Item Type: |
Thesis (Doctoral) |
| Identification Number (DOI): |
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| Keywords: |
Acting, costume, makeup, actor-researcher, practice-based research, heuristic inquiry, enaction, transformational acting |
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| Date: |
30 June 2022 |
| Item ID: |
31971 |
| Date Deposited: |
04 Jul 2022 14:17 |
| Last Modified: |
07 Sep 2022 17:19 |
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URI: |
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