Abstract
This chapter explores ‘presence’ in performance as a quality that is both aesthetic and morally relevant. The claim is that ‘presence’ is an important element in relating to others and relevant to relating ethically. Drawing on ‘the enactive process’ from perceptual and cognitive studies, ethics is conceived of as a process in which we humans ‘enact’ both the world, and ourselves as moral beings. Zarrilli applies this approach in working with actors to train them to bring an embodied sense and their full attention to their performance task. He relates this to ‘presence’ as it is experienced by the audience (although not as a quality that an actor should strive for). In parallel, ethics is conceived of as practices that involve bringing attention, acumen and skill to an interaction with another person. A review of a performance by Martina Abramović is discussed as an example of a (potentially) transformative and ethically relevant power of ‘presence’ as so enacted. Also discussed is the place of affect in relation to ‘presence’ and the importance of affect in ethics. Woven together these threads present a conception of ethics as creative and retaining the aliveness of performance. It is an approach that opens to enacting moral ideals in life as contrasted with a more minimal approach of fulfilling one’s moral obligations.
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Notes
- 1.
Francisco Varela was a practising Tibetan Buddhist, and in writing The Embodied Mind all three authors were strongly influenced by, and discuss, “the nonfoundationalist understanding [of] the Madhyamika school of Mahayana Buddhism” [23, p. xx].
- 2.
“Valera first thought of the name ‘the enactive approach’ in the summer of 1986 in Paris when he and Thompson began writing The Embodied Mind” [21, p. 14 note 9].
- 3.
Macn: This is similar to Grotowski’s advice to his trainees to act without looking for a result, although he acknowledged that this is a paradox in that “you can’t ignore the result because… the deciding factor in art is the result” [8, p. 200].
- 4.
Although Grotowski was strongly influenced by Stanislavsky, it is acknowledged that Grotowski’s Actors’ Laboratory work was very different from Stanislavsky’s more traditional theatre approach.
- 5.
Grotowski adds that, “You may call it ethical, but personally I prefer to treat it as part of the technique because that way there is no sense of being sweet or hypocritical” [8, p. 200].
- 6.
A reference again to Tanner [20].
- 7.
There are parallels here with the approach of Levinas to the ‘Other’ as a mystery. The difference however is that, by treating the ‘Other’ as mystery, Levinas reifies the ‘Other.’ This approach is to recognise that we ‘enact’ one another, without giving either “oneself” or the “Other” any substantive—albeit mysterious—being.
- 8.
James Thompson describes a re-direction from effecting change through applied theatre (which for him has been in theatres of war, disaster zones, and in prisons) toward recognising the value of affect in ethical transformation [22].
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Acknowledgements
I am grateful to Professor Phillip Zarrilli (see Contributors), Dr Paul Rae, Theatre Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), and Professor Alastair Campbell, Director of the Centre for Biomedical Ethics (NUS) for their close readings of earlier drafts of this chapter and for their many suggestions. Paul and Phillip referred me to a great deal of relevant material. In addition Paul invited me to take part in a masters students’ class on ‘presence’ in Theatre Studies. Phillip invited me a drama class at Intercultural Theatre Institute in Singapore, and helped me develop ‘the enactive approach’ I have adopted in this chapter. Alastair Campbell’s comments helped me to bring this enactive approach into a more appropriate balance with normative ethics and standards as they are more commonly accepted and understood. I am fully responsible for any errors, misrepresentations, and failures of reasoning however.
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Macneill, P. (2014). Ethics and Performance: Enacting Presence . In: Macneill, P. (eds) Ethics and the Arts. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8816-8_14
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