ABSTRACT
The actor’s incompréhensible distraction de soi d’avec soi occurs on more than one level. The internal duplication entailed by the actor’s representation of the modèle idéal is complemented by several other instances of alienation. On a primary level, in the creation of a character, actors become ‘suspended’ between their observation of nature and the realm of universal patterns (PsC 52; PoA, 105). But beyond the original creative process of devising a character, the actor becomes double in the process of performance through a method of self-observation: ‘[Clairon] peut, en suivant son rêve de mémoire, s’entendre, se voir, se juger et juger les impressions qu’elle excitera’ (PsC, 51) [[Clairon] can follow her dream from memory and so hear herself and see herself, judge herself and the impression she’ll create] (PoA, 105). The actress steps outside herself to look upon her performance from an external viewpoint. She becomes an audience to herself, with one eye checking the contours of the character she is creating, with the other scrutinizing the effects of her performance on the audience. Skipping between those different externalized vantage points, her inner schism between self and modèle idéal becomes multiplied into a quadruple form of self-alienation. Onto the schism between self and ideal model is added the divided gaze that shifts between audience and the outer signs that she is performing. The actor’s vigilant gaze thus serves as a crucial protean technical aid, facilitating the perfection of the character and the performance, continuously adjusting the dynamics of acting to its effects on the spectator.
