Directorial strategies for enhancing stage presence: When practice- based research meets phenomenology

ABSTRACT

Combining phenomenological methods with practice-based research, this article explores what and how directorial strategies influence stage presence. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology and Joseph Chaikin’s idea of heightened awareness, in particular, it describes directorial strategies that can heighten awareness in the interdependent actor–audience relationship. Adopting the vocative method addresses the research questions by providing phenomenological descriptions of and reflections on the author’s lived experiences as a spectator and an actor. From first-person accounts of lived experience in performance, ‘giving and taking stimulation’ and performing ‘face-to-face’ prove to be two practical strategies for heightening awareness by placing the actor and spectator into each other’s perceptual focus, thereby enhancing stage presence.