Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski (review)

Phillip B. Zarrilli needs no introduction. Author of Kathakali Dance-Drama (2000), coauthor of Theatre Histories: An Introduction (2006), and editor of Acting (Re)considered (2002), his latest contribution to the field of performance and performance studies, Psychophysical Acting: An Intercultural Approach after Stanislavski, is monumental. Recipient of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Outstanding Book award in 2010, Zarrilli's latest book reveals that rare breed of scholar-practitioner able to transition seamlessly between theory and praxis. Part philosophy, part hands-on manual, the book is accessible and user-friendly (if redundant at times), with an interactive DVD created by Peter Hulton featuring exercises, production documentation, and interviews that illustrate examples outlined in the main text. Divided into three parts with eleven chapters and a foreword by Eugenio Barba, Psychophysical Acting is a direct address to the needs of the contemporary theatre actor and director.

Drawing on over 30 years of dedicated study of non-Western practices of yoga, the Indian martial art kalarippayattu, and taiqiquan, Zarrilli weaves personal experience and narrative with theoretical inquiry and analysis. In 1976, Zarrilli embarked on a personal journey to Kerala, India, to study kathakali dance-drama. The phrase, "Use your whole body, Zarrilli, your whole body!" (3) uttered by his kathakali teacher Gurukkal Govindankutty Nayar, one of the great masters of the tradition, sparked a lifelong quest to understand what exactly his teacher meant. Expanding on his previous work, Zarrilli seeks to transpose key elements of these three modes of psychophysical training into the Western actor's process, exploring what he calls the "energetics" of acting.

In his opening chapter, Zarrilli provides a detailed historical overview of the term "psychophysical" as developed by Stanislavski and how his "method" has been severely misunderstood, particularly in the US. While Stanislavski continued to experiment with new forms in an effort to solve acting problems for new forms of drama such as Symbolism, the circulation of Ryszard Boleslavsky's lectures and performances of Stanislavski's realist works was distorting Stanislavski's approach to acting (16). Basing his theories of "psychophysical" acting on the work of psychologist Théodule Armand Ribot (1839-1916) and his limited knowledge of Indian yoga, Stanislavski attempted to bridge the gap between the "psycho" and the "physical" elements of acting to overcome 17th-century French philosopher René Descartes's mind-body dualism, which pervaded Western philosophical thought. As Sharon Carnicke notes in "The Life of the Human Spirit: Stanislavski's Eastern Self" (2000), Stanislavski became interested in yoga as early as 1906; however, the Soviet authorities censored any reference to Hindu philosophy from his 1938 acting manual, "obscuring the importance of Symbolism, formalism, and yoga in his work" (15). While Zarrilli does not reject Stanislavski, per se, he suggests that contemporary actors are expected to perform across a broad range of new, alternative dramaturgies that require a new type of training—conventional realist approaches to acting are no longer adequate or even appropriate for the work required of an actor working with "postdramatic"¹ texts or devised theatre. Zarrilli's book could be seen as a pedagogical companion to Hans-Thies Lehmann's Postdramatic Theatre (2006).

Zarrilli devotes an entire chapter to the importance of the breath (prana in Sanskrit) or life force—identified in Chinese taiqiquan as qi (in Japanese ki)—which animates and activates the actor's untapped potential power. Once awakened, the actor's perception and awareness is heightened and honed, producing a qualitative vibration of energy that is palpable and perceived by the audience, what Japanese philosopher Yuasa Yasuo calls ki-awareness (57). This attention to breath can be likened to Michael Chekhov's psychological gestures and radiation (2002). The end result of rigorous psychophysical training is the ability to shape and move energy and awareness with control, grace, and ease. As in Zeami's "less is more" philosophy, the performer learns how to control energy like a "ki-energy dimmer switch" (102), working with...