Embodied learning with metaphors and Rich Picture-like diagrams in actor training: an articulated, playful approach to teaching and practice-led research

Abstract

Metaphors and diagrams are underutilised in actor training, both for teaching and practice-led research, creating a gap in the literature. Combining practice-led research and phenomenology as a methodology, this paper examines the author’s metaphor exercise “INTERACTION IS PLAYING TABLE TENNIS” and four Rich Picture-like diagrams, all constructed through a personal philosophy lens as an acting teacher/coach in the process of redefining Stanislavski’s term “communication” as “psychophysical interaction” and inventing the corresponding technique named “Transitive Psychophysical Interaction Score (TPI Score)”. This examination draws on an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating Johan Huizinga’s cultural theory of “play” metaphor, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s, and Zoltán Kövecses’s theories of “conceptual metaphor”, along with Simon Bell, Tessa Berg, and Stephen Morse’s “Rich Pictures” concept, to reveal how metaphorical and visual elements rooted in physical experiences such as “games/sports”, “colour”, “icons”, and their inherent quality of “playfulness’ reshape actors” embodied understanding of the concept of “interaction” and fostering trainer-trainee dynamics. This inquiry also critically reflects on ineffective instructions commonly used by trainers, arguing that the combination of metaphor exercises and visual metaphors can bridge tacit and explicit knowledge in a structured, engaging way, thereby improving practitioners’ and researchers’ ability to articulate complex knowledge and reveal deep insights in teaching and academic writing, and fostering a more effective and relaxed communication. This creative approach to teaching and practice-led research can be used by a broader community of actor trainers and researchers in the future.