https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21547 2026-05-21T09:36:02Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146536 Title: Auto-didacticism : the 3As of bodyworld and the case of invisible hours Authors: Camilleri, Frank Abstract: This chapter on performance pedagogy in the realities of the twenty-first century opens with a retrospective cue from a traditional instructional device: a proverb. The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs cites a twelfth-century source for the old adage that ‘you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink’ (Speake 2015: 156). This proverb is re-read in the present chapter to highlight a foundational aspect of learning: that at the basis of knowledge acquisition lies self-learning. That is, irrespective of set-up, method, teacher, or institution, the final responsibility rests with the learner, with their capacity or ability, motivation or discipline, or any other factor that enables one’s own learning. For one can indeed lead a person to different founts of knowing but, at the end, it is the individual who actions and embodies that knowledge into learning. Accordingly, the selected pedagogical object for this chapter is auto-didacticism, which I exemplify via a temporal dimension denoted by ‘invisible hours’. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/146535 Title: Evolving landscapes of performer training in the twenty-first century Authors: Camilleri, Frank Abstract: The article surveys emerging and evolving trends in twenty-first-century performer training. It updates earlier accounts that focused on ethical and ideological considerations, digital and technological innovations, and the role of non-human agency. Rather than technological, the main element that prompted the current review is an ideological drive that marks a return to the human as evidenced by the emphasis on inclusion, diversity, and equality vis-à-vis race, culture, gender, abilities, class, and other lived realities. One major effect of this development is the reconsideration of technique, specifically the objection to canonical often patriarchal and Eurocentric methods with attendant attitudes that were previously transmitted and received unquestioningly. The article begins with a big picture exposition about some of the key elements at stake, mainly related to the role and status of technique and 'non-negotiables' in training. The second part adopts a sharper focus as derived from an analysis of the topics in the research articles of Theatre, Dance and Performance Training from its inception in 2010 to 2025, which serve at once as an indicator and a propagator of shifts and trajectories in the discipline. The article suggests that the currently ongoing intensified institutionalisation of training needs to be managed with caution. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142890 Title: Stanislavsky from the outside : networking and re-working the self Authors: Camilleri, Frank Abstract: The paper presents an outsider’s perspective on aspects of Konstantin Stanislavsky’s approach, specifically with reference to the fundamental notion of the actor’s work on the self. Although not directly influenced by his practice, the author’s specialization in physical theatre was shaped in Stanislavsky’s shadow. Accordingly, the paper adopts the ripple effect metaphor to exemplify the impact of Stanislavsky beyond his immediate geographical, historical, and aesthetic circles of influence. Starting off with a personal anecdote by the author about a movement-based exercise, Stanislavsky’s work upon the self is identified as a key formative element that is then highlighted in the context of resonances between aesthetic and athletic processes, mainly by the proposal of a via athletae (way of the athlete). Described as a modality of performing that is not based on a specific technique or method but on the qualitative intensity of psychophysical commitment, via athletae is manifested through three main characteristics: play, collaborative competitiveness, and pacing. The interplay of aesthetic and athletic dynamics in via athletae serves to defamiliarize Stanislavsky’s work on the self, which is further problematized by the concept of bodyworld that emphasizes the interconnectedness of the performer with the material world. Viewing the self via the 3As of bodyworld (i.e. assemblages, affordances, and actants) leads to the re-reading of Stanislavsky’s maxim about self-work as a networking and a re-working of oneself in the context of epistemic actions and secondary tasks (both offering insights on scaffolded intentionality) as well as choking, stage fright, and active distraction. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/142884 Title: Milestones in actor training Authors: Allain, Paul; Camilleri, Frank Abstract: Milestones in Actor Training focuses on key developments across time in how actors prepare for performance. Designed for weekly use on actor training and acting courses, the ten chosen milestones cover a wide range, culturally, historically, and geographically; from psychological realist acting in conventional plot-driven drama, through Commedia dell’Arte to the broader church of physical acting that overlaps with devising, mime, circus, contemporary dance, and other body-based genres, including Japanese Nō theatre. The book’s principal concern is the theatre actor in text-based drama, sonic, or movement structures, though the final milestone encompasses acting for film and new media. This volume concentrates mainly on conceptions of acting as emergent or as reformulated in the West, with the majority coming from the late nineteenth century onwards. 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z