To the unconscious by conscious means: emotion, science and mystery in the UK conservatoire

Jackson, David (2025). To the unconscious by conscious means: emotion, science and mystery in the UK conservatoire. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

The need to embody emotion, in a manner that seems convincing and ‘truthful’ to an audience, is a perennial challenge for the professional actor, regardless of era or style of performance. Most teachers and students, at least in Western traditions of theatre, assume that to meet this challenge, it is essential to activate the actor’s own feelings. But deliberate arousal of strong emotions can have unpredictable results and is, arguably, a threat to the emotional and physical health of the actor. The ethics of actor pedagogy have been brought into even sharper focus by recent events.

Over the last five years, higher education in general, and the conservatoire sector in particular, have faced significant challenges. A demand for change has emerged from the combined impact of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, the Black Lives Matter protests and the Covid epidemic. These events accelerated the existing drive towards Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, founded on the Equality Act of 2010. In response, several schools have implemented major overhauls of staffing, curriculum and teaching style. At a time of rapid change and unprecedented concern for the wellbeing of students, it is vital to ensure that teaching methods intended to manipulate emotions are deployed responsibly.

The aim of this thesis is to identify approaches to the emotional dimension of actor training that are fit for purpose in the twenty-first century, in terms of both ethics and effectiveness. It argues that, as a human activity, theatre must necessarily be underpinned by the biology of the body, and acted emotion, in turn, must be underpinned by the biology of the emotions. Therefore, a renewed understanding of what might be called the ‘pedagogy of acted emotion’ must be informed by an examination of three intersecting theoretical areas. Firstly, I consider ‘life emotion’, from the perspective of contemporary psychology and neurology. Secondly, I discuss theories of ‘acted emotion’, the conscious attempt to embody an apparently lifelike episode on stage or screen. Thirdly, I analyse philosophies of actor training. In short, I undertake an investigation of practice in the context of embodied cognition. This approach places the project in the tranche of scholarship known as the ‘cognitive turn’.

One of the key features of cognitive turn scholarship is a scepticism towards binaries. Part One of the thesis is informed by this stance: it identifies and interrogates a dominant binary in all three theoretical fields. I trace the historical debate between Basic Emotion and Appraisal theorists, with a view to developing a working definition of life emotion. I propose a synthesis of the two opposing views, arguing that emotion is a product of both human evolution and cultural conditioning. I then examine the debate between what William Archer has dubbed the ‘Emotionalists’ and ‘Anti-Emotionalists’, who claim, respectively, that actors must feel the same emotions as their characters and that they must, on the contrary, only represent the outward appearance of emotion. To resolve this debate, I offer a novel hypothesis that unites acting theory and neurology. I draw on Evgeny Vakhtangov’s notion of ‘affective emotion’ and Antonio Damasio’s idea of the ‘as-if body loop’, to develop the concept of ‘Scenic Emotion’. Finally, I consider how actor trainers have approached the challenge of emotion in British drama schools. I coin the terms Mysterians and Scientists to describe two contrasting pedagogical philosophies. Mysterians believe that aspects of acting are ineffable, and therefore cannot be usefully discussed or taught. Scientists, however, insist that, like any other human activity, acting is subject to principles that can be understood, taught and learned. This thesis makes a case for the Scientific position.

In order to test the efficacy of the theoretical framework as a critical tool, Part Two applies it to a cross-section of training practices that attach particular importance to the embodiment of acted emotion: Konstantin Stanislavsky’s ‘System’ (KSS), Lee Strasberg’s ‘Method’ (LSM) and Susana Bloch’s Alba Emoting, now known as Alba Method (Alba). Each chapter traces the artistic and scientific ideas that have influenced these ‘emotion specialists’. The argument then analyses the extent to which developments in the science challenge or validate the approaches discussed. It considers the practice in relation to my theory of Scenic Emotion and assesses both the impact of the training to date and its future potential in drama schools.

I account for the longevity and prevalence of Stanislavskian practice in terms of its underlying dependence on an association between action and emotion. LSM, particularly its exploration of sense and emotional memory, is repositioned in the light of both updated science and the ethical requirements of contemporary higher education. The argument considers Alba as a somatic practice that pays particularly close attention to student well-being, but which has had negligible impact on the conservatoire to date.

Part Three of the thesis consists of a practice-based enquiry that compares the impact of emotion memory exercises with Alba techniques, followed by a conclusion. I identify a potential role for interoception in the selection of students for drama schools and introduce the notion of ‘emotional learning styles’ as a strategy for inclusive learning.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):