Acting: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Story telling by enacting a character}}

In a 2017 study on American university students, actors of various experience levels all showed similarly elevated heart rates throughout their performances; this agrees with previous studies on professional and amateur actors' heart rates.<ref name = emotionprocesses>{{cite book |first1= Elly A.|last1=Konijin|chapter=What's on between the actor and his audience? Empirical Analysis of emotion processes in the theatre|title=Psychology and Performing Arts|editor-first= Glenn D.|editor-last = Wilson |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3shEzj0wccgC&pg=PA59 |isbn = 978-0312653163|publisher = Swets & Zeitlinger|date = 1991}}</ref> While all actors experienced stress, causing elevated heart rate, the more experienced actors displayed less heart rate variability than the less experienced actors in the same play. The more experienced actors experienced less stress while performing, and therefore had a smaller degree of variability than the less experienced, more stressed actors. The more experienced an actor is, the more stable their heart rate will be while performing, but will still experience elevated heart rates.

This connection with play also informed the words used in English (as was the analogous case in many other European languages) for [[drama]]: the word "[[Play (theatre)|play]]" or "game" (translating the [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon]] ''plèga'' or [[Latin]] ''ludus'') was the standard term used until [[William Shakespeare]]'s time for a dramatic entertainment—just as its creator was a "play-maker" rather than a "dramatist", the person acting was known as a "player", and, when in the [[Elizabethan era]] specific buildings for acting were built, they were known as "play-houses" rather than "[[Theater (building)|theatres]]."<ref>Wickham (1959, 32—41; 1969, 133; 1981, 68—69). The sense of the creator of plays as a "maker" rather than a "writer" is preserved in the word "[[playwright]]." [[The Theatre]], one of the first purpose-built playhouses in London, was "a self-conscious [[latin]]ism to describe one particular playhouse" rather than a term for the buildings in general (1967, 133). The word 'dramatist' "was at that time still unknown in the English language" (1981, 68).</ref>

Depending on what an actor is doing, their heart rate will vary. This is the body's way of responding to stress. Prior to a show, one will see an increase in heart rate due to anxiety. While performing an actor has an increased sense of exposure which will increase [[performance anxiety]] and the associated physiological arousal, such as heart rate.<ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov">{{cite journal|last1=Yoshie|first1=M|title=Music performance anxiety in skilled pianists: effects of social-evaluative performance situation on subjective, autonomic, and electromyographic reactions|pmid=19701628|doi=10.1007/s00221-009-1979-y|volume=199|issue=2|year=2009|journal=Exp Brain Res|pages=117–26|s2cid=12759663}}</ref> Heart rates increases more during shows compared to rehearsals because of the increased pressure, which is because a performance has a potentially greater impact on an actor's career.<ref name="ncbi.nlm.nih.gov"/> After the show a decrease in the heart rate due to the conclusion of the stress inducing activity can be seen. Often the heart rate will return to normal after the show or performance is done;<ref name="journals.plos.org">{{cite journal|last1=Wells|first1=Ruth|title=Matter Over Mind: A Randomised-Controlled Trial of Single-Session Biofeedback Training on Performance Anxiety and Heart Rate Variability in Musicians|journal=PLOS ONE|date=4 October 2012|pages=e46597|pmc=3464298|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0046597|pmid=23056361|volume=7|issue=10|bibcode=2012PLoSO...746597W|doi-access=free}}</ref> however, during the applause after the performance there is a rapid spike in heart rate.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=McKinney|first1=Mark|title=The Effects of Audience Size on High and Low Speech-Anxious Subjects During an Actual Speaking Taks|journal=Basic and Applied Social Psychology|date=1983|volume=4|issue=1|pages=73–87|doi=10.1207/s15324834basp0401_6}}</ref> This can be seen not only in actors but also with [[public speaking]] and [[musicians]].<ref name="journals.plos.org"/>

Acting has been shown to be an effective tool for reducing stress created by [[social anxiety]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Can Acting Help with Social Anxiety? |url=https://blackboxacademy.ca/2024/12/19/can-acting-help-with-social-anxiety/ |access-date=2024-12-23 |author= |date=2024-12-19 |website=Black Box Academy |publisher=Black Box Academy }}</ref>

==Sources==

* [https://exchange.umma.umich.edu/resources/23744 Collection: "History of Acting: Gestural Acting and Realism"] from the [[University of Michigan Museum of Art]]