Experimenting with the actor-role relationship in animation theatre acting

For many bachelor’s degree students, one reason for studying theatre is to learn to act in theatrical performance. The usual way to understand acting concerns being psychophysically, authentically present on the stage, exploring and constructing identity, and interpreting an embodied role character. However, post-dramatic theatre has challenged the idea that there are psychologically-motivated role characters on the stage, following some kind of reasonable, plausible action. Postmodernist ideas about narrative, and multiple and ever-changing identities, have also challenged traditional ways of practicing acting techniques. In experimental animation theatre, acting a role is atomised and there can also be medial interchanges. The actor combines embodied acting of a role, presenting him or herself, and dividing the actor and role figure from each other. This chapter analyses experimentation with the actor-role relationship in animation theatre. Concrete examples in this chapter are from the developmental phases of a one-week animation theatre course for first-year bachelor’s degree students. Experimentation with lighting, scenic solutions, objects, shadows and silhouettes offers opportunities to explore the relationship between actor and role. The phenomenological starting point of actor work is combined with the semiotic reading of meaning making.