Apprendre en copiant : l’acteur / actrice et ses modèles dans les pratiques de copie, d’imitation et de réactivation

Abstract

Despite the rise of the “actor-creator” figure at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, copying, imitation and reactivation processes constitute a significant part of the tools called upon in acting exercises. This persistence, which has its origin in Diderot's Paradoxe sur le comédien (Paradox of the Actor), can be read and declined throughout the history of acting theories, in the frequent recourse to a model, the type of which varies (nature, reality, visual arts, dramatic characters, performances). From this double continuity, that of the copying processes and of the model in acting theories, on which practices are based and from which methods are derived, a practical pedagogical experiment was born at La Manufacture – Haute École des Arts de la Scène in Lausanne. The workshops developed for the students consist of implementing these three operations, offering them a sensitive, i.e. physically experienced, history of acting, and making them perceive the importance of copying, imitation and reactivation processes in their practice.

Keywords

• imitation
• reactivation
• copy
• exercise
• acting
• acting history