https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/21548 2026-04-05T02:41:08Z 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 https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/134390 Title: On habit and performance Authors: Camilleri, Frank; Dewsbury, John-David Abstract: A recent editorial, aimed at offering a ‘snapshot’ of the performing arts at the turn of the 2020s, focused on the ‘unfolding debate of decentring the field of theatre and performance studies’ (Zaroulia and Odom Citation2021: 1). This decentring impulse can be situated in the wake of major changes in perspectives and the ways we live on this planet brought about by upheavals and developments such as the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, decolonization, the climate crisis, COVID-19 as well as a heightened awareness about diversity and inclusivity related to gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and different abilities. Faced by the magnitude and wide-ranging impact of such ongoing sociocultural and ecological currents, the customary and conventional bearings of generating and studying performance have been pushed offkilter, demanding calibration even as events are still in motion. Although the authors of that editorial were aware of the ‘inherent limitations’ of any single approach to provide an overview of this decentring, thus endeavouring to include as many realities as possible, the process of going about it still ‘exposed how ingrained, and often unconscious, certain assumptions around knowledge, pedagogies and disciplinary languages are’ (2, emphasis added). For example, the well-meaning invitation itself to individuals and organizations to contribute to the snapshot uncovered hierarchies of power and responsibility, however unintentional these may have been. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/131752 Title: Musicality and the act of theatre : developing musicalised dramaturgies for theatre performance Abstract: This research project is aimed at investigating musicality and theatre, and seeks to develop “musicalised dramaturgies” as dramaturgies for performances that venture beyond representation. The musical dimension is approached as an ontological aspect of theatre manifested in the work of the performer and in the process of dramaturgy as developed kinaesthetically with respect to the audience. The somatic dimension of the theatre act is investigated in terms of rhythmic and melodic associations which are proposed as sources of action in musicalised dramaturgies. The study looks at the conditions of musicality as dramaturgy by exploring the possibilities of developing performance processes generated by rhythms, tempos, and melodies as elements of the musical condition. The study acknowledges important developments that took place in the wake of theatre reforms at the turn of the twentieth century that gave more space to the presence of the actor in the creation of performance. These led to a ‘turn-to-performance’ in theatre which, since the 1960s, characterised practical research where practitioners challenged traditions and pushed boundaries in order to develop non-representational practices. Gradually the theatre event shifted from serving as a basic means of communication of messages to a process where experiences are shared by performers and audiences. Contemporary scholarship acknowledges these developments in terms of a postdramatic critical framework where hierarchies and subordinations in the organisation of the work give way to equality and simultaneity of means. The postdramatic context serves as a theoretical foundation around which this study is set. Investigations were conducted via practical and theoretical analysis. Practical research was done in collaboration with Italian professional theatre ensemble Laboratorio Permanente di Ricerca sull’Arte dell’Attore (Permanent Research Laboratory on the Art of the Actor), and followed two complementary strands, viz. preexpressive and performance work. The pre-expressive strand had two levels: i. daily work with the actors where the research issues were put into practice and developed with professional actors, and ii. workshops and stages for University students, amateur actors, and laypersons interested in the work. The performance strand developed as a theatre work entitled Welcoming the End of the World. The piece was premièred inMalta in July 2011, and served as context where musicalised dramaturgies were put into practice and used creatively as foundations for performance. Theoretical considerations are discussed in a written document accompanying video documentation of Welcoming the End of the World. The written part examines the work of Konstantin Stanislavsky on rhythm and tempo-rhythm, and contributions made by Jerzy Grotowski with respect to what I argue are ideas of “embodied musicality” in his theatre making. The work of Grotowski is discussed in light of the claim for an Apollonian-Dionysian bond proposed by Nietzsche in his The Birth of Tragedy Out of the Spirit of Music, published in 1872. The research also refers to recent developments in theatre practice including the work of Eugenio Barba, and critical discourses expounded by Henry Lefebvre, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean-Luc Nancy. In various ways their ideas inform the investigations and provide this research project with a critical foundation with respect to which musicality is proposed as dramaturgy for theatre performance. 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z