ABSTRACT
Chapter 1, ‘Introduction’, outlines the principal question posed by the book: what happens in the body-mind of an actor who changes body shape (posture, gait and gestures) to the point of ‘transforming’ into a character, as appears to happen in celebrated performances such as those of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter, Meryl Steep as Mrs. Thatcher or Daniel Day-Lewis as President Lincoln? Such performances, while much appreciated, are relatively rare, as personality-driven acting tends to dominate our stages and screens. The chapter argues that, although transformative acting makes a significant contribution to shaping the meanings of the dramatic stories being told, it has often been dismissed in recent books on acting. This book therefore takes a fresh look at this phenomenon and investigates it from the joint perspectives of the physical techniques deployed in transformation and of findings in psychology that might explain how physical changes turn into psychological changes.
Finally, the chapter outlines the principal methodology deployed in the book: unlike most recent writing on the psychology of acting, which has focused primarily on cognitive science, this book draws equally from scientific psychology and psychoanalysis. Both, it is argued, continue to throw interesting light on the processes of acting.
