The Principle of ‘Breath’: Towards a State of a Performer’s ‘Sincerity’

Abstract

This thesis examines the term a performer’s sincerity taking into consideration issues of the bodily engagement and specifically addressing the place of a performer’s respiration. The main emphasis in this research will be on the tendency to a performer’s anticipation in contrast to a state of being in the moment on stage. Exploring and reconsidering the process of training the performer’s body reminds us the significance of rigorous training in an appropriate way(s) within which the performer’s body enables to meet the principles of acting with the nature of theatre as his/her body is responding and subordinating to the moment on stage. Here, this thesis argues that we need to acknowledge that initiating any bodily movement has to understood and then inhabited by negating a performer’s active willingness where the source of energy, breathing roots, then transfers through the entire body rather than the mere use of the external forms or muscles. To be precise, maintaining the internal energy through the moment informs how the performer interrogates where and what s/he is in a state of whole body engagement preventing the performer’s self-doubt about what s/he is doing in the next moment(s). The process should be considered as a qualitative bodily shift gazing into his/her inner territory to reach behind a linguistic and/or an intellectual sense. The research finding suggests that a performer’s art is to allow the animating respiration in order to facilitate and enliven his/her entire body as oneness which in turn moves his/her scene partner(s) as well as the spectator in the here and now