The actor's journey : key principles of performance presence

The central question of this thesis is: what are the key principles of live performance presence? My research and its resulting theories, are firmly based in the integrated and constructivist processes of grounded theory. An extensive review and analysis of literature by the likes of Barba, Stanislavski, Meyerhold, Chekhov, Meisner, Bogart, Chaikin, Grotowksi, Brook, Oida, Suzuki, Fo, Lecoq, Zarrilli and Hodge, was triangulated through a focus group and through the application of my theories as praxis. The results of my research have led me to believe that although many theatre practitioners are not in total agreement on the best way to train actors, they do agree that presence is crucial to successful performance. The key principles of such presence, for the purposes of this thesis, are: energy, imagination, awareness and mutuality. These holistic, dynamic and interactive principles are crucial to the development of an actor's presence in performance