ArteActa 2023, 10:84-99 | DOI: 10.62804/aa.2023.010

The Actor as a Bodily Document - The Amateur Becomes the Expert

Kent Sjöström

In contemporary discussions about science and politics, truth and post-truth are prevalent, in addition to fake news and alternative facts. The extended use of social media and alternative news, and the technical possibilities for manipulating all kinds of documents allow for a critical and suspicious gaze, where even well-established science might be disputed.
In theatre and film, dramatic material can be more or less documentary: it can range from fiction, as in an ancient drama, to day-to-day observations and documentary events from someone's everyday life. The boundaries are often blurred, even in the case of conventional drama. In the essay, the author focuses on the actor's representational aspect and argues that the actor is a part of the dramatic material and can be considered and judged as a kind of document.

Published: December 31, 2023  Show citation

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Sjöström, K. (2023). The Actor as a Bodily Document - The Amateur Becomes the Expert. ArteActa, 6(10), 84-99. doi: 10.62804/aa.2023.010
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