Anthony Howell implies that presence and puppeteering are contradictorily connected to each other. Among other examples he refers to the actor, trained with Konstantin Stanislavski’s or Lee Strasberg’s methods, who is the puppeteer of his character and who ‘will breathe in that character’s nature and breathe out that character’s presence, exhaling it onto, or into, the audience.’ (Howell, 1998: 216)

On the other end of the acting scale he mentions ‘the oriental performer of the Kathakali dance (who) is the puppeteer of himself. (...) The mask actor remains a conscious handler of the effigy which incorporates him. He is the motor, the genii within the ikon.’ (ibid.: 217)

References

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