An ethno-phenomenological study of actors’ experiences of performing in theatre

This thesis contains an ethno-phenomenological study of actors’ experiences of performing in theatre. The methodology of the investigation was developed from the traditions of phenomenology and ethnography, with particular attention given to phenomenological reduction as espoused by Husserl. There are two distinct threads of inquiry that are juxtaposed with each other in order to understand actors’ experiences and the contingencies that accompany such experiences. First, there is a ‘wide’ examination of factors that impinge on or foster experience for actors. Second, there is a ‘deep’ and ‘narrow’ examination of the performance experiences themselves, gathered from a small selection of actors. Both threads, while different in approach, are complementary and are necessarily positioned together. The study also examines the sedimentation that undergirds such experiences, including actor training, with ‘sedimentation’ conceived to be a set of accumulated memories and practices embodied in an actor that are often linked to training. The research is structured around a set of claims related to actors’ experiences within the context of performance in theatre productions, claims which have accumulated abductively from the researcher’s theatre praxis and reading of the research literature. These claims are tested against the testimonies of actors gathered through transcripts of interviews and written journals from a small selection of case studies. In order to assess the extent of influence of training on how actors experience performance, actors are grouped in the study according to whether they are in training programs or post-training. Further comparison is made through reference to interviews with actor educators, especially in regard to actors deemed to be in training. In order to analyse and evaluate textual materials, selected aspects of the philosophical ideas of Merleau-Ponty, Levinas and Whitehead are deployed to provide distinct lenses on experience. Merleau-Ponty is utilised to focus discussion on embodiment, Levinas to draw attention to relational aspects of experience and Whitehead to suggest the nature of creative constitution as it is linked to experience. Moreover, a set of discrete ontological categories is introduced to enable labelling and categorizing of experience. Throughout the thesis, concept maps are used to represent phenomena and depict the ontological characteristics of phenomena. The study concludes that the experiences of actors during performing within theatre contexts are more diverse and complex than is often believed, and suggests that such experiences play a greater role in the constitution of performance than is commonly thought. In addition, it is likely that sedimentation plays a critical role in the constitution of experience for actors. Among a number of recommendations for further research, it is suggested that the internality of actors in performance needs greater consideration.