Gesture in the theatre: Addressing issues with modern pedagogy by bridging empirical studies and theatrical training Ellen Gillooly-Kress, University of Oregon The Problem in Western Realism • In Western Realism, actors are expected to work from an Impoverished communication signal, the script. • Actors are taught that words from the script and speech are the source of emotion and meaning. • There is an implicit expectation of transformation of this signal into a full and rich communicative experience. • As an audience, we expect to see “real and spontaneous behavior on stage,” including spontaneous gesticulation. 1 • However, most training in acting does not address the non- verbal aspect of communication, e.g. Stanislavski/Meisner. 8 9 • It is Implicit in training; the assumption is that “gesture will take of itself in acting” 10 What happens to an actor’s gestural system when acting in Western Realism? The Pilot Study This pilot study measures the behaviors that people will exhibit while recalling memorized language. This pilot does not aim to imitate any kind of acting approach, but offers a way to simulate the emphasis on the words that must be memorized as part of the acting process. Procedure • 9 Participants speaking to Experimenter • Experiment in 2 sessions •1 st week: spontaneously produce material: • Narrative task: 3 rd person, Sylvester and Tweety point of view with Canary Row cartoon 11 • Creative environment task: imaginary objects pareopteryx, had shad and blueblepip 12 •2 nd week: memorized from provided audio clips 25-40 secs. from each activity: 1) their own words and 2) another’s words from the same activities. Coding • Representational: any aspect of meaning captured (iconic, mimetic, and emblematic gesture combined) 13 • Beat: gesture with no obvious connection to meaning Results The results from representational and beat gesture counts are shown by individual task. The charts are organized by spontaneous condition (1 st week), and the two memorized conditions (2 nd week). Narrative Task Creative Environment Task Summary of Results KENDON’S GESTURAL CONTINUUM VS. PROPOSED THEATRICAL CONTINUUM Spontaneous Ges>cula>on Aux. Sign Language Emblems Pantomime References References and example table of 3 participants’ individual variation are available on the back of handout. Thank you to Eric Pederson, Melissa Baese-Berk, the Gesture work group, and Cognitive Linguistics work group at University of Oregon for feedback and support. Spontaneous Memorized OWN Memorized OTHER (Words held constant) (Ac>vity held constant) Representa)onal More Conven)onalized Less Conven)onalized Presenta)onal Western Realism Mime and Neutral Mask Work Conven>onalized Gesture Dance, Highly Ritualized theatre • Dance 5 • Noh theatre 6 • Chinese Opera 7 • Kathakali 4 • Classical Greek theatre 7 • Brechtian Gestus: “a single aspect of an attitude is revealed through conventional means” 3 • Mudras 4 • French Mime (ex. Marcel Marceau) • Lecoq school of mime • Clowning 2 • Psychological realism • Literary tradition, work from scripts • The goal is to invent/ discover “real and spontaneous” behavior on stage 1 21 8 5 41 25 19 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 3rd Person (n=7) Sylvester POV (n=9) Tweety POV (n=8) Beat Representa>onal 68 46 21 36 21 15 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 3rd person (n=7) Sylvester POV (n=9) Tweety POV (n=8) Beat Representa>onal 10 7 6 18 17 11 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 3rd Person (n=7) Sylvester POV (n=9) Tweety POV (n=8) Beat Representa>onal 32 27 35 19 32 27 0 20 40 60 80 100 Pareopteryx (n=9) Had Shad (n=8) Blueblepip (n=9) Beat Representa>onal 14 10 10 15 31 18 0 20 40 60 80 100 Pareopteryx (n=9) Had Shad (n=8) Blueblepip (n=9) Beat Representa>onal 1 12 4 13 19 19 0 20 40 60 80 100 Pareopteryx (n=9) Had Shad (n=8) Blueblepip (n=9) Beat Representa>onal Spontaneous Memorized OWN Memorized OTHER (Words held constant) (Ac>vity held constant) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 3rd person (n=7) Sylvester POV (n=9) Tweety POV (n=8) Pareopteryx (n=9) Had Shad (n=8) Blueblepip (n=9) Beat Representa>onal 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 3rd Person (n=7) Sylvester POV (n=9) Tweety POV (n=8) Pareopteryx (n=9) Had Shad (n=8) Blueblepip (n=9) Beat Representa>onal Spontaneous Memorized OTHER ISGS 7 Paris, France 18V22 July 2016 Discussion • Research suggests that spontaneous gesture is ubiquitous, automatic and hard to suppress. 14 • Representational gesture: there is little production of representational gesture in memorized contexts. Yet, This may be the type of gesture an audience perceives as meaningful in performance. • Beat gesture: they appear in the same numbers regardless of condition. Gesture as a rhythmic or pacing tool in articulatory planning still exists in memorized production. Conclusion • Representational gesture seems to be produced only with spontaneous production rather than memorized/scripted language. • If Western Realism’s goal is spontaneous behavior on stage, training needs to recognize the unnaturalness of gesture production while reciting memorized language. Future Directions • Intonation differences in all three conditions will be explored and compared to gesture production. 15 • Ultimate study will contrast this population with professional actors. • Different approaches to acting may lead to different gesture profiles. 1, 8 • How can acting pedagogy be modified to train young actors to achieve this kind of “natural” behavior?