Theatre/Ecology/Cognition: Theorizing Performer-Object Interaction in Grotowski, Kantor, and Meyerhold (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)

How is performer-object interaction enacted and perceived in the theatre? How thereby are varieties of 'meaning' also enacted and perceived? Using cognitive theory and ecological ontology, Paavolainen investigates how the interplay of actors and objects affords a degree of enjoyment and understanding, whether or not the viewer speaks the language. "With this major work, Teemu Paavolainen takes his place in the vanguard of thinkers who are creatively bringing cognitive science into an exciting and highly productive dialogue with Theatre Studies. With considerable philosophical sophistication and an impressive knowledge of relevant cognitive science, Paavolainen contributes to debates about the nature and workings of affordances, image schemas, and other basic cognitive processes. His is an exemplary enactment of what is best and most promising in cognitive approaches to theatre."--Mark Johnson, Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, USA 'In this brilliant study the opposition between Kantor and Grotowski is deconstructed and some important aspects they both shared appear. Reintroducing the political and social dimensions of the 'poor theatre' by means of the cognitive approach seems to me really fascinating. The case studies give the reader not familiar with the Polish critical reception of Grotowski and Kantor precise accounts of their analyzed performances.' - Dariusz Kosinski, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, and the Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw, Poland 'This is a sophisticated, thorough, and innovative analysis that has the potential to significantly advance the field of cognitive approaches to performance. Eschewing brain-bound models and embracing embodied, distributed, and extended approaches to cognition, Paavolainen deftly demonstrates the potential of these theories to transform current theories of performance.' - Evelyn Tribble, Donald Collie Chair of English, University of Otago, New Zealand Theatrical meanings are enacted in onstage 'ecologies' of actors and objects irrespective of spoken language. Applying the concepts of affordances and image schemas to extensive analyses of Vsevolod Meyerhold's The Magnanimous Cuckold (1922), Jerzy Grotowski's Akropolis (1962-69), and Tadeusz Kantor's Let the Artists Die! (1985), Paavolainen also traces intriguing continuities from their cultural contexts, through the directors' philosophies, to international reviews and scholarship. Artificial divisions of mind over matter and subjects over objects are rejected for the ecological grounding of all cognition: understood as fundamentally embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive, mind also is ultimately performed in the world Cover 1 Half-Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Illustrations 8 Series Editors’ Preface 10 Acknowledgments 12 Notes on Style 16 Introduction 17 Chapter 1 Agents and Objects: A Primer to Concepts and Approaches 29 Chapter 2 The Meyerhold Case: Scaffolding Action and Interpretation 69 Chapter 3 The Polish Case: Poor Theatre/s and Cultural Ecology 109 Chapter 4 Grotowski and the “Objectivity” of Performance 139 Chapter 5 Pillories to Barricade: Kantor’s Infernal Ecologies 178 Epilogue Performing Humanity: Tensions and Continuities 223 Notes 241 Works Cited 266 Index 286 Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-12 Agents and Objects: A Primer to Concepts and Approaches....Pages 13-52 The Meyerhold Case: Scaffolding Action and Interpretation....Pages 53-92 The Polish Case: Poor Theatre/s and Cultural Ecology....Pages 93-122 Grotowski and the “Objectivity” of Performance....Pages 123-161 Pillories to Barricade: Kantor’s Infernal Ecologies....Pages 163-207 Epilogue Performing Humanity: Tensions and Continuities....Pages 209-226 Back Matter....Pages 227-283