Characterisation & identity

Red herring?

My initial problem
Is characterisation by actors in current work changing alongside notions of identity?
Wooster, ERS and others playing with characters and so acting; notions of inhabiting, believing, feeling, embodying not as relevant as adopting, mimicking, detaching,...

So what kind of actor training can engage with these new acting identities.

Where does media come into this?


Some transmedia work tells stories differently but presents conventional ideas of character. Linear, logical, psychologically motivated, with firm identity. So is it a red herring in my search for modern character and how it concerns actor training?
Is that fair? Or does the multi platform tell us something different about character in itself?


This is where I keep getting stuck.

So I go to this: can technology help you act better?


Presenting at Manchester in the morning. 


Watched an episode of the wire and rate the acting very highly. How did they learn to do that? And can you teach it?

Digital Learning

In a US paper about digital literacies, the following skills are listed as important to students.

http://digitallearning.macfound.org

Looking at these, i'm struck by how relevant they are to the student actor. Within a digital environment of devising, are these not the skills that actors need either within their role as performer, maker or indeed character actor?

Talk with Hannah Rowlands character constructs/ acting

acting skills

I'm trying to distill what acting is; what are the qualities that are most important and how can new technologies help develop those skills. I will focus on acting at the moment rather than performing.

So, here goes  a risky shortlist.

Actor vs performer

Viewpoints training and new digital technologies

Thinking about actor training; one of my favourite tools for training is 'Viewpoints'. So beginning to think what the two have to do with each other. How could digital technologies reinforce, enrich or enable viewpoints training for actors?