피지컬 씨어터의 새로운 융합 가능성

Abstract

Physical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that tells a story primarily through physical movements rather than language. Physical theatre provides a live, human experience, which is very different from any other form, and audiences are affected much more viscerally. The performance, emphasizing the metaphorical aspect, allows the audience to use their imagination to the maximum and induces emotional immersion through the dynamics of mime, gestures, physical movements, modern dance, and acrobatics. Since the 2000s, scientific studies on human behavior and cognitive neuroscience have caught the attention of physical performance researchers and performers, who have started to question the correlation between physical performance and cognitive behavior and neuroscience. The convergence of cognitive science and performance has developed in the direction of reviving “working memory” and “implicit memory” and activating “sensory memory” in people living with dementia in need of behavioral correction. Theatre Re’s The Nature of Forgetting (2017) received the great attention of the 2017 London International Mime Festival with a sell-out run. It is a powerful and explosive physical theatre piece about what is left when memory and recollection are gone. The process of “forgetting” that takes place in the human brain seems to be perfectly realized on stage with the emphasized “physicality”.