Bakhtin and Theatre

Dick McCaw is Senior Lecturer in Theatre and Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London.

"At last, a landmark book that stitches Bakhtin unapologetically into the performing arts. Bakhtin loved novels best—but this spectacular study shows how keen and creative his thought can be when theatre is its site."- Caryl Emerson, Princeton University, USA"A lucid and stimulating book that does what Bakhtin himself failed to do: bring his theoretical positions into dialogue with the theatre practice of his contemporaries." - Franc Chamberlain, University of Huddersfield, UK

• PrefaceIntroductionMethodology: questions, double-faced images and dialogueThemes: Time and Space, Body and ImageCharacter and Author, Body and Image Realism and RevolutionArt and Life How This Book WorksPart IChapter 1 –Bakhtin and TheatreIntroductioni. Early Manuscriptsii. The Writings of the Bakhtin Circleiii. Dostoevskyiv Dialogue in the Novel and in Theatrev Time, Space and the Chronotope in the Novel and in Theatrevi. Carnival and Theatrevii Last Thoughts and ReflectionsBakhtin and Theatre – Some ConclusionsPart IIIntroduction to Part IITexts and ContextsBakhtin and Stanislavsky as ThinkersConcepts in Bakhtin’s Early PhilosophyPhenomenology, Event Act and ActionAnswerability I and OtherChapter 2 – Time and Space in Novel and TheatreActing from the CentreExperiencing not ThinkingGiven and CreatedGiven CircumstancesValue, Sense, MeaningActs and TasksTime and Timing in PerformanceTheatrical SpaceConclusionChapter 3 – Psychophysical ActingIntroductionBakhtin’s BodyFace to FaceI and other in SpaceTo Know the Body, To Value the BodyThe Value of the Human Body in HistoryStanislavsky’s Resistant Body Internal and External ImagesBakhtin, Stanislavsky and PsychologyCreativity and the subconsciousChapter 4 – The Actor, Author and HeroI and other become Author and Hero Being, Playing and ImagingCreating the Image of the CharacterWho Authors the Character – Writer, Director or Actor?Stanislavsky, the Playwright and the PlayWorking with the Play ScriptThe DirectorThe ‘Double Life’ in Bakhtin and Stanislavsky’s TheoryConclusion: Image and Human BeingChapter 5 – Meyerhold’s Revolution in TheatreIntroductioni. Meyerhold and Stanislavskyii. A Dialogue about Symbolismiii A Dialogue about Physical Action‘a plasticity which does not correspond to the words’The actor’s work on a roleiv Training the Actor’s Body‘The actor’s art is the creation of plastic forms in space’‘the route to image and feeling must begin with motion’‘an actor whose natural abilities have been developed by systematic training’Training, Training, Trainingv A Dialogue About the Traditions of Popular Theatrevi The Grotesquevii Commedia, The Mask and the Emploiviii A Theatre without footlights Chapter 6 Outline of a CareerGrotowski, Stanislavsky, Meyerhold and BakhtinMethodologyGrotowski’s dialogues with the public Grotowski’s dialogue with actorsThe Development of Grotowski’s Actor TrainingIn search of a method The way toward a Poor Theatre Overview of Grotowski’s Theatre of Productions (1959 – 1969)Staging the Dialogue between Actor and AudienceConfronting and not illustrating the play CharacterThe Actor’s Score – in search of true signsThe Actor’s BodyHoliday, Carnival, Meeting – Beyond TheatreFrom Acting to ActionFrom Theatre to Meeting Summary Conclusion