Monstrosity in the performing arts lurks in the shadows of the curtain, but thrives on the light of the stage. These monsters can be defined as people or things that bring terror and destruction that interrupts daily life. The world of performance has hidden monsters in the form of mental and physical issues that the artists must secretly deal with. Performers must endure certain stress that many people do not understand. Many performers must deal with high stress on their bodies, exhaustion, and emotional strain. The strenuous work conditions can lead to emotional and physical sensitivity, making them more susceptible to dangerous injuries and mental weaknesses. Performers also must deal with higher levels of anxiety and the effects of that …show more content…
This makes them susceptible to injuries in their careers, as well as injuries further down the line. As they begin to age, the effects of their tough physical activity can show if they are not treated properly. More detrimental to their careers are the present day, short-term injuries that can put them out of work. Being out of work can torment these performers financially and keep them from improving and growing in their career. Therefore, their chance of getting hired once they have healed decreases substantially. Perhaps the more monstrous of the issues is the effect that performing arts has on the mind. Many performers develop mental illnesses and issues due to the stress of performing arts. The monstrosity found in their minds can outweigh their physical pains and injuries. For instance, performers are more likely to develop depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and eating disorders, just to name a few (Miller 19). These are a few of the most common monsters that can be found in the performers’ …show more content…
This attachment can develop into a blessing or a monster. When performers take on heavy or intense roles, it can begin to affect their emotions off the stage and out of the rehearsal rooms. Many performers struggle with separating their roles from real life. Without this separation, performers can become depressed, angry, and even somewhat evil, depending on what roles they take on. A common, yet exaggerated example of a role overtaking someone to the point of emotional monstrosity is the found in the film The Black Swan. In this film, the prima ballerina begins to become an evil monster because of her role as the black swan. She began to transform into an evil, regretless person. Although fictional, this movie revealed the dark side of taking on dark roles and how they can in turn, make the performer monstrous (Black). Some may say that these effects are signs of dedicated and talented performers, however, these side effects can be signs of greater mental monstrosities or issues. Related to this inability to detach from their roles, performers can begin to have fantasy proneness and dissociation tendencies. Disassociation is defined as “a failure to integrate information and experiences in normally associated ways,” which stated by Paula Thomson, “Can be traced back to Greek muses” (Thomson 73). These issues have been around
Tragedy acts as an antidote to human fallibility; it also warns individuals of the dire consequences of follies in a way that comedy cannot. It accentuates how a character of high rank falls from grace due to his or her character flaw. More importantly, the downfall evokes pathos, which results in the viewers’ emotional cleansing and purging. In Richard Van Camp’s short story, “Mermaids”, the main character “Torchy” is a native Indian who struggle to find a goal in life. To cope with the loss of his brother and his traumatic life, he abuses alcohol and drugs.“Mermaids” is not considered as a tragedy since the main character does not fulfill a noble tragic hero, he does not go through peripeteia, and the ending of the story does not let the
There is a term for the anxiety that affects performance. Musical Performance Anxiety (MPA) has been defined by the PhD, Levy JJ. (PhD, MA & BA,2011). MPA is like stage fright. When a drum corps member is performing or they might be nervous, have butterflies in their stomach. These are the effect of anxiety during performance. A study by PhD, MA conducted on drum corps members showed the effects of anxiety and created the term MPA. The highest amount of MPA was found in color guard performers due the effect guard members have on the show appearance. The root cause for this in guard members and drum crop members is how the performers are treated during practice. The comments coaches make during practice effect the state anxiety in performers. These similar thought go through the performer in
David Edwards is a stage and film acting veteran from Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has performed in countless stage performances and several onscreen acting jobs during the last four decades. Mr. Edwards employs both practical and magic rituals to the preparations for his stage performances, and he keeps a good luck charm on his person. His rituals are less extreme than many other stage performers who are extremely observant of superstitions and adamant about preshow rituals. Anthropologists would take note of the greater ritual associated with stage acting than with film acting, as performers feel a lesser need for luck in the mistakes- forgiving world of film. This parallels the dichotomy between hitters and fielders in baseball.
In other words, photography can be used to present objectivity, to facilitate treatment and for future re-admissions of the insane. With his presentation Diamond’s application of photography to the insane in asylums became widespread. Just a few years later in 1858 British psychiatrist John Conolly published, “The Physiognomy of Insanity,” in The Medical Times and Gazette. In this series of essays Conolly reproduces photos taken by Diamond and provides a detail of each photo selected. I have included four of the plates Conolly used in his essay below.
To metamorphose ones character through years of experience and age is salutary. To deteriorate ones character through a short period of fast decisions and unsure actions is perilous. Lady Macbeth proves the truth to this theory. The impulsive mistakes and power-hungry tactics littered the journey Lady MacBeth paves throughout this play that ultimately ends in her death. She feels overwhelmed by all that is happening, both physically and mentally, and decides to end her own life.
Although society’s view of people with disabilities has evolved over time, becoming more accepting, there is still many barriers that exist for people with disabilities, especially those with mental illness. The book “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka tells a story about a traveling salesman turned vermin overnight, depicting his thoughts and state of his new life. The book is a brilliant look inside the mind of someone struggling with a mental illness. It exploits their general loss of enjoyment, resistance to seek help, and isolation from others. In particular, one group of people, struggling with mental illness, is rarely spoken about, and those people being physicians. The very people meant to keep society healthy cannot even find help
A 1949 study of 113 German artists, writers, architects, and composers was one of the first to undertake an extensive, in-depth investigation of both artists and their relatives. Although two-thirds of the 113 artists and writers were "psychically normal," there were more suicides and "insane and neurotic" individuals in the artistic group than could be expected in the general population, with the highest rates of psychiatric abnormality found in poets (50%) and musicians (38%). (1) Many other similar tests revealed th...
So how is it that in the late 1960s Peter Brook Wrote the deadly theatre? How is it only 30 years after Stanislavski’s death the theatrical world had resorted back to ideas that he sought to resolve? Brook identifies the problems with theatre post Stanislavski, he tells us that Stanislavski inadvertently created a paradox, stating that actors desperately attempting to achieve truth resulted in a uninformed performance.
“...who struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.” Shakespeare penned these words for the tragic king Macbeth, as he contemplated mortality and its seeming insignificance. But in the world of anatomy, once the actor quits his role, he continues to speak. Anatomists, students, the morbidly curious: all have flocked to dissections for centuries searching for answers. Unknowingly, audiences flock to theatres for the same reasons. Theatre, in the same way as dissection, searches for answers within the human self. Sometimes these answers are concrete, like the location of the heart or the rationale behind suicide; other times they are more metaphysical, like the weight of a human soul, or standing against the desires and influences of societal norms (Roach). As curious, sentient beings, we crave answers, especially to our own inner workings; theatre and dissection are both tools used to explore and discover these ideas and answers.
I went on stage, and with the blazing spotlight on and eyes on me I felt comfortable. I fell in love with performance, even if it was three years too late. That is not to say I have cured my anxiety; it is something I carry with me and it certainly has still led to many missed opportunities, but I have made progress. Through the successes and failures I have made since “the incident” my voice is stronger than the screaming in my
Felicity, is dancing before a sea of people. Felicity, is sharing evidence from a successful gel electrophoresis. Felicity, is acting as the group therapist. Since I first stood aimlessly on stage, staring into the abyss of the crowd for the support of my mom, there remains solely true bliss running through my veins when I hit the stage performing. As time crawled, my stage transformed to a gym floor, a classroom, even areas consumed by awkward silence. I find myself continuously chasing after the adrenaline and confidence that the stage lights provoke within me.
There is a correlation between aesthetics and cognitive function, mood, attitude and emotions. The way in which we are affected by seeing art, touching scultures, dancing or listening to music has a profound affect on almost all human beings. Art therapy can help to mend thought process emotions and understanding of ourself, others as well as our environment. “The current gap in our understanding of creativity in screenplay writing by focusing on the cognitive, conative, affective, and environmental factors that come into play at different stages in the creative process” (Bourgeois-Bougrine et al., 2014
My involvement with Theater and stage trepidation , I could never have seen myself on the phase on my our agreement on a terrible day with everything amiss with my head . On the awful days I simply need to surrender I'm no great, what am I doing here doing this when all I committed was one error .The route around it is blocking everything else and simply feel the dread of every other person and that they are relying on me doing this and being scared a short time later .The repercussions and the terrible days of this made me thing I could never do theater in the wake of being constrained in fifth through eighth grade each year at that school. I never saw what number of minutes that influenced me to overlook everything before that minute in time.
In today’s society, high school students are held to high standards. They are expected to be able to keep up grades, perform in extracurricular activities, keep up a social life, consider scholarships and colleges, and volunteer within the community, among other tasks. For most students, these tasks are not a problem. However, all of these things in combination are too high a task for children with mental illnesses to reach. Many students with depression, ADHD, anxiety, and OCD are put in positions where they are unable to perform to the standards that their able-minded peers are held to. These mental illnesses can cause a decrease in work ability, focus in classrooms, and general school performance.
The link between creativity and mental illnesses is a topic that has been debated for centuries. The great philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle all discussed the connection as well. Even in today’s society, there is an ever-present stereotype that creative individuals (i.e. poets, writers, artists, designers, etc.) suffer from bouts of depression, mania, or mental illnesses. It is an age-old question: does depression/mania effect creativity? There is a lot of evidence that both supports and denies the truth behind this question. Some researchers believe the link between depression and creativity is strictly genetic while others believe there is none at all. The argument for this discussion will mostly support the argument that creativity is absolutely a result, cause, and remedy of mania. The manic-depressive illnesses discussed in this debate will mostly include bipolar disorder, mania, and depression. However, there are a lot of factors that play a role in this debate. To discuss, we must first define creativity, the creative process, manic-depressive illnesses, and rumination.