The Royal Academy of Good Letters of Seville has hosted the presentation of the book Acting and Neurosciences by Martín Bienvenido Fons Sastre. The professor of performing arts and researcher in the communication department at the Loyola University He is also coordinator of the degree in Performing Arts and Cinematography. He explained that the book was born from his doctoral thesis defended in 2008 and titled Scientific foundations of the actor’s creative process. Study perspectives. Since then he has focused his lines of research on contemporary stage creation, the interaction between theater and neurosciences and the creative process of the actor.
“We look for the interrelation between scientific methods in the character creation process,” he explained. Until that moment, science had only analyzed performers mainly from the historical, sociological and anthropological framework, but it had not delved into the core of the performance, the organic, psychophysical signals that the performer creates and emits to the viewer. . “Scientific advances in these areas allow us to study and analyze the biological and emotional level of the actor as a body-mind and his psychophysical training as physiological, cognitive and motor-behavioral activation,” explained the author of the book.
The book was presented by Fernando Iwasaki. In addition, Martín B. Fons had the collaboration of Sofía Cruz, also a professor of Performing Arts at Loyola. The actress performed a series of exercises to demonstrate how the body and mind are activated in the acting process.
According to Fons, “we are at a time when neuroscientific advances can redefine acting practice, to reorient interpretive methods. Neuroscientific advances can lead us to provide more effective acting training. If this happens, we will have managed to connect the scientific foundation with the practice artist productively. The applications to the world of the art of the actor could be very interesting. We are probably in a new era where we must speak in terms of neuroperformance,” said Fons.
The book, recently published by Peter Lang publishing house. A work focused on the creation process carried out by the actor/actress from training to representation. A study that combines acting practice from a scientific point of view.
The author has applied the latest advances in neuroscience and cognitive science to the work performed by performers every time they get into character. It is an innovative reinterpretation of the processes and mechanisms that the actor or actress puts into operation when interpreting. “The transformation of the character must be conscious so that the actors use their memory without harming themselves,” he clarified.
