Trusting Performance: A Cognitive Approach to Embodiment in Drama (Cognitive Studies in Literature and Performance)

This exciting new work argues for the exploration of drama as a conduit to deep emotional learning that has the ability to change the somatic identity of performers and audiences alike. Rokotnitz suggests that the preference for reciprocity exhibited by human physiological systems also extends into psychological and cognitive processes. Modeling her epistemological inquiry upon the paradigms instantiated by our biological architecture, she argues that effective knowledge acquisition and interpersonal communication rely on the ability to learn from and to trust in our bodies. Focusing on four plays by William Shakespeare, Tom Stoppard, Timberlake Wertenbaker, and Moisés Kaufman, each chapter of the book considers a different dramatic genre, historical period, philosophical context, and performance strategy, and traces in each the crucial and defining influence of bodily presence in establishing trust relations and moral accountability.