Joy, Guilt, Anger, Love by Giovanni Frazzetto

Author:Giovanni Frazzetto [Frazzetto, Giovanni]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Medical, Neurology, Psychology, Emotions, Science, Life Sciences, Neuroscience
ISBN: 9780143123095
Google: zpaJngEACAAJ
Amazon: 0143123092
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2014-02-25T00:00:00+00:00

Fig. 14 Posterior superior temporal sulcus

Concomitantly, during the adhesion moments there was also a decrease in heart rate and reduced activity in midline cortical areas such as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), which are normally engaged in representation of the self, also in relation to the external world (in chapter 2 I explained that in its function the dmPFC roughly corresponds to Freud’s ego). Absence of activity in these areas would blur the boundary that distances us from the reality of the story being enacted. We are helped to get closer to the fiction.

Such results point to adherence to fiction as being a sort of hypnotic state requiring the spectators’ full absorption into the staged action through temporary loss of self-reference and disconnection from the immediate sensory information – the distinct feeling of being ‘carried away’.

• • •

The fact that we can peer at what is going on in the brain when we watch a play is intriguing. But, however fascinating this research is, it seems to work principally to advance the cause of science. What is in it for theatre? Suppose we reverse the flow and channel the information acquired in the scanner into the process of theatrical composition or performance: we might use the data to identify and reproduce the specific devices of language and staging that have been shown to trigger the highest points of adhesion to fiction, increasing the audience’s immersion in the play.

Would this demand new training for actors? Might directors make more informed choices and develop new approaches that are audience-oriented? What types of movement or expression are most poignant when we try to convey grief, anger or joy? What metaphors work best to compress an action or thought? What elements of plot device, vocal emphasis or even lighting provoke an alteration in the spectator’s brain activity?

While this might sound like an exciting, novel possibility, I remain sceptical that one has to dissect a theatre piece into units and put them to the test of neuroscience and brain imaging in order to ascertain their effectiveness.

So does my friend Ben: ‘I don’t know necessarily what it is that I do that would make an audience laugh or cry, but I know how to do it. It’s a raw instinctive thing that I have been training over the years and that has been honed with skill and technique and craft. In some respects, I don’t think I want to know, because I would be worried that it would become too technical.’

Anyone who has worked in theatre knows that fMRI images and good statistics could never fully substitute for the unpredictable and revelatory power of a rehearsal room.

Writing and acting a theatre scene, or deciding whether it ‘works’ or not, is for the most part a visceral process which, despite being based on technique, craft and experience, maintains a high degree of inexplicable subliminal intuition, which has proved successful for centuries. Theatre artists will continue to exercise their metaphors and explore infinite ways of playing with them as they have in the past.

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