Communication in Theatre Directing and Performance: From Rehears ...

There is further evidence to reinforce this stance. Recent scientific research has established that there are ‘mirror neurons’ in the brain (Gallese and Goldman 1998), a class of neurons that may change the way humans regard their understanding of various forms of interpersonal communication. Manifestations of emotion—originating in one of the most ancient lobes of the human brain, the limbic system (McLean 1973; Lerner, Ganor, Eldar, and Hendler 2005)—were shown many years ago (Smith 1945) to arise from the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), thought by some to be a locus for emotional awareness.⁵ Adjacent to the ACC are the motor areas of the neocortex, indicating an affinity and suggesting a specialized area of neocortex devoted to regulation of emotional and cognitive behaviour (Allman et al. 2001; Bush, Luu, and Posner 2000). Acts of observation were recently shown, through TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation), to fire the premotor cortex in humans (responsible for subliminal motor activity during both action and perceived action), something hinted at in 1967 when Ulich used EMG (electromyographic equipment) and recorded muscle activity in mental practice of a movement.⁶ In the 1960s it could only be conjecture that mental practice might produce an effect on musculature. At that time, there were no instruments available to develop such a line of inquiry. Signals from the brain were undoubtedly acting on the physical body, creating subliminal muscular activity, but it was to be another thirty-five years before technology was able to attempt an explanation for this phenomenon. Now, thanks to fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), one is able to see the brain’s premotor cortex, amongst other areas, actually firing as an observer ponders the movements of another (Iacoboni et al. 1999). This establishes a wordless communication that compels some form of bodily understanding. As such, this type of interaction might be considered a form of transmission, accessible at the neuronal level, both for the body and the emotional domains. Its expression is felt rather than thought and thus is unrequiring of verbal translation. It might even be regarded as one of the unfathomable special qualities evidenced by certain directors and artistes—that ability to tap into depths of memory and intuition to generate understanding — which contributes to their greatness.